Lost City (Ciudad Perdida) Santa Marta

We namen een mini busje richting Taganga, van waaruit we de 5-daagse trekking naar de verloren stad (Ciudad Perdida) zouden starten. Om te vermijden dat we weer eens ter plaatse zouden moeten gaan zoeken naar een hotel hadden we eens op voorhand geboekt. Aangezien we dan moeten uitgaan van reviews en enkele foto's op internet is het altijd …

The Mission: Reach the ancient city of the Taironas, built between 400 BC and 900AD, lost to the jungle of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in the 17th century.

The Plan: Hike for three days (mostly up-hill) through semi cultivated jungle and into the territory of the Kogui (descendents of the Taironas) to reach the stairway up to the city …

... but her counterpart, Fatima, reaches the restaurant not too far behind us and tells us that she's not even tired. "Let's walk back to Santa Marta!" she says. (It's a 2-hour drive) I hope that I can take a walk about the block when I'm 60, let alone ...

... overnight in the near 100% humidity of the jungle ... so wet, smelly clothes and boots go back on each morning. Arriving at the Lost City, however, was well worth the effort. Even though the site is fairly small, it is so remote and mystical here that ...

... body will never be the same again..... OK, here is a bit of background. The indigenous Indians in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta built a city high up in the mountains a good few hundred years ago, and for a very long time it lay undiscovered in the ...

... park (and rightfully so). So, after a day of diving in Taganga, we packed our day packs and on Thursday 2 March took a bus from Santa Marta to the Park entrance, about 35km to the east. Foreign visitors pay a steep US$10 entry fee - we made the staff ...

... stay a few days at La Casa de Felipe in the small fishing and "tourist" village of Taganga, just a few kilometers outside the city of Santa Marta. Mainly to relax and spend some quality time on the beach. I am surprised I'm still not tired of beaches, as ...

... cans of beer to bottles of cooking gas. A beer at the Local, Santa Marta Style Our last stop on Colombia's Caribbean coast is Santa Marta, a fairly nondescript town on the west side of Tayrona National Park. Here, the shops double as bars and put ...

Friday 1st October: The 14 hour bus journey had brought me to Santa Marta. This medium size city sits on the Caribbean coast and is the ideal place to base yourself for the two big attractions in the area, Cuidad Perdida (The lost city) and Parque ...

... well, and we really lucked out. the night we arrived, we met walter, who would end up being our guide to the lost city. when we got to santa marta, we checked in to a hostal and were soon talking to walter, who would turn out to be our guide. he ...

... and around the Lost City.  We learned about the head shaman and the monthly gathering of the men in the city.  Spaniards arrived in Santa Marta in 1525.  When the Tyronas, who were the people of the Lost City, heard that their people were ...

... my home for a couple of weeks...the last week of 2010, and the first one of 2011.  Originally I planned to go to Santa Marta because it's the starting point for tours to La Ciudad Perdida (The Lost City), a large ancient city founded ...