Ciudad Perdida

After my Birthday and the tear filled departure of Kitty and Fiona, we went to Ciudad Perdida (Lost City) for the trek that every gringo here does. Basically, in the 1970s, a bunch of Archaeologists rediscovered an ancient city that was buried in the mountains for the last 2,300 years (even older than Machu Picchu) and started excavating. People started trekking there in the 1980's. You sign up with an organization (for a crazy sum of about $360. The Colombian government raised the price for entrance...3 days before we signed up) then take a jeep to a certain point and start walking.

Now I'm sure everybody is familiar with how fit I am. Because of this, I decided to really challenge myself by doing the entire 5 day trek in nothing but aqua socks that I bought off of a street vendor for 5 dollars. What was my reasoning for doing it in Aquasocks and not trainers or actual boots made for trekking like 99% of the other people who do the Lost City? Want a good reason? Want 4 good reasons? Bam:

1) Hiking boots are for girls and French people.

2) Aqua Socks are made of neoprene which is comfortable on the skin, form fitting and durable yet dries quickly which is good for the wet environment of jungle trekking.

3) While having a sole on the bottom that allows you to cling to wet river rocks like a Salamander, Aqua Socks also give you the opportunity to really commune with the Earth by allowing you to feel the intricacies of literally every single rock, branch and pebble that you walk over on the trail.

4) I left my good shoes in Chicago and on a cargo boat in Paraguay because I wanted to make room for the Camp Stove in my backpack that I've never used.

The trek consisted of a graduated time of walking from 3-8 hours a day. You would stop each night in a designated spot with hammocks where you would get surprisingly good food made for you and rest. The trek itself is just amazing looking, like most of the coast of Colombia, and we had a cool group of people. Eduardo and Laura were two Colombians that were with us. It just so happened that they both spoke perfect English and Eduardo happened to be a University Professor of Architecture in Bogota who also had a degree in Anthropology and an extensive knowledge of the area we were walking in..what are the chances? We got alot of great information thru him and our guide Jose who was great. Saw a few snakes that are apparently extremely poisonous. Jose wanted to machete everyone he saw...after hearing that his sister died of one of their bites I was inclined to let him do whatever the hell he wanted because there was no way I was dying in the middle of the mountains.

We also crossed a river that some French man died in a week prior. Based off of years of playing Oregon Trail, when you do a river crossing, rain can cause the water level to literally rise 3 feet in a minute and just carry you away...which is what apparently happened to this guy. Dude should have hired an Indian guide. Anyway, we took the metal box attached to a cable across the river and were pulled across by Jose. I don't know why they didn't do this a week ago thus preventing the death but I also don't know why you turn the doorknob towards the doorpane to open doors here so I'm fine with that.

The lost city itself is great but it's really the trek itself that you come for. I personally think it was really interesting, not Machu Pichhu standards since there are no buildings left just stone terraces, but the views from the top are amazing. We swam in this place called the Fountain of Youth which is a little pool close to the city. There's an army base on the top to control Para Military and Guerrilla presence in the area and the soldiers all go to this pool to swim. When swimming, one of them asked me and the other American dude Grant how to say attractive girl in English and I told him "Hottie." I'm not sure if the kids still say that but he seemed satisfied with the answer and gave me a 9mm bullet as a present. I was looking for it today and I guess I lost it though..some other Cop probably would have confiscated it anyway and made me bribe him for having it so maybe that's for the best.

It rained every day like clockwork at about 2 pm so it turns out we were soaking every day anyway thus making my Aquasocks useless since they never dried. I promptly threw them out as soon as I got back into town. All in all, I was completely satisfied with the whole trek and proud that I completed it without crying or peeing myself.