In Bonaire, around Christmas, 2016, Paul and I signed up for a five-day hike to and from the Cuidad Puidada (Lost City) of Colombia with Magic Tours. We settled Delphinus in Santa Marta Marina for a couple of weeks before packing our rucksacks on Saturday, 22nd January 2017, saying goodbye to Mum and little Sky and boarding the Jeep which would transport us to the start of the hike. We were squashed in the Jeep with a few other hikers and driven to El Mamey, a small village at the foot of the first mountain. We were introduced to our tour guide, Nicholas, and his translator companion Aberhaam (Nicholas didn't speak a word of English), and shown a map painted on the wall of the trek.
And so it commenced. We left the resturant after eating a delicious lunch at midday. The first day was majorly uphill trekking, leaving the village and crossing Rio Rubichaca, the first river of the hike, before the path started to rise pretty steeply, and we were climbing our way up rocks and trees. On the way, I got to know our companions who were hiking with us on the five-day tour. Four of them had come together from Chile, and three others had come from elsewhere: Abigail was from Israel, Stephen from Holland and Dorii from Tunisia.
Paul and I had come with friends from two other boats: Annie and Hugh from Vega, and Stephanie and Ian from Nautilus. So loneliness wasn't at all a problem during the hike. When we had the breath to, we talked to each other about all sorts of things, and they all became almost family by the end.
Once we got out of El Mamey, and the sounds we're used to in towns and cities faded, we could appreciate the sounds of the jungle that surrounded us. The rustling of the leaves, the calling of the tropical birds, the otherwise utmost utter silence.... No cars, no chattering everywhere you go, no loud music blasting from loudspeakers. I liked the tranquil feel of the jungle, though was deeply disappointed not to hear any lions or tigers or such.
It also had that kind of Jungle Book look to it. Although we saw no bears and not many monkeys (when we did see one, it almost always belonged to somebody), we did see many many trees that shaded us from the merciless sun, and apparently there were meant to be snakes around, though we never saw one.
Halfway up a particularly steep bit, we had a "fruit stop", where we sat down and had fruit passed around. This particular fruit was watermelon. Now, I have never liked watermelon before. Don't ask me why. However, at that moment, I would've drank Earl Grey Tea if somebody offered it. My throat was parched and my bottle of water was slowly emptying. The fruit, at that moment, was heavenly, so cold and fresh and juicy. I had two slices, it was so good.
The camp we spent the first night in was called Camp Alfredo. After a long afternoon, it was blissful to stand under the shower and wash off the sweat, even if the water was freezing cold. We ate a delicious meal from the food carried up by the mules, and I went to bed straight after. We were all sleeping in bunk beds with mosquito nets hanging over them. I woke up briefly during the night and had no idea whether my eyes were open or shut. It was completely pitch-dark, not something I was used to.

The second day was our first full day. We woke up at first light, got our gear together and had our breakfast: toast and fruit. Then we started walking again at half six in the morning.
We were climbing two mountains on Monday, supposedly the longest and hardest day of them all. Problem was, it was hard to distinguish: they were all long and hard. However, at midday we had a long break and even a swim in the refreshingly cool waters of the rapid river. It was almost too cool, and half only went in at ankle height. The rest of us, however, dived in and swam to a rapids. It was almost like riding a horiziontal water slide. There was also a small cave in the rocks, into which a waterfall fell. It was awesome (you'd need to see a picture to know just how awesome it was - luckily you should find one just below). After that swim and a quick lunch, it was time to start walking again.
While we were walking, we stopped by a native village. There we saw a few cows grazing in a field, dogs and chickens roaming around the small huts, and some native villagers. There were women weaving, men carrying harvest, and small children running around in play. It was a fascinating experience, seeing a world where money and technology were pretty much obsolete; the people who had settled here seemed very content and happy.
We reached the next camp by five in the evening. We ate and slept in a slightly different atmosphere to the last camp. We were still in bunks, but the air was slightly but noticably chillier now, clearly as we were getting higher up into the atmosphere.

Tuesday morning - first light start again. But this time we're all a lot more excited than before. Today was the day we'd reach the Lost City! We trekked for about three hours before reaching the bottom of the 1200-stair-high staircase leading up to the City. It's not the sort of staircase you'd first think of at first, though. It's more of another large mountain. Although it only took about half an hour to get to the top, it was still hot work, and we were pretty tired out by the time we got to the top. However, eagerness to explore the city's history.
Before reaching the actual city, we came to a proper staircase. It was made of stone and had a bit of plantation growing out of the cracks. These were the final steps we had to climb before we entered the city.
Nicholas explained to us about how the city was deserted in the 15th century and how the native tribes - the Arhuaco, the Koguis and the Wiwas - were wiped out either by the Spaniards or from disease. We were shown stone circles that marked where wooden structures once stood, as well as two boulders which are rumoured to have historically had a map born into each. We ascended up a few more flights before reaching the very peak of the tour, to as high as we could go. A Columbian flag was flapping above our heads as we took photographs and ate snacks that had been brought up to us by our translator, happy to have made it this far.

We weren't finished, though. After spending three hours in the city, it was time for us to head back home the way we came. Although the trek was majorly downhill this time, we still had to climb up the mountains the way we'd come downhill. We made our way back down the staircase, back across the the river, back to the camp we had eaten lunch in the previous day.

The next day was apparently our most relaxed day. The morning was. We didn't do any hiking up until after midday lunch. Most of us used our free morning to rest our aching limbs and relax a little, some of us going for another swim in the river I spoke about earlier. In some ways, that break was just what we needed. In other ways, some of us got so relaxed that we didn't really want to go. For instance, yours truly...
Still, at least we only had half a day ahead of us. It wasn't easy going uphill, and not much easier coming down either, but it was managed, and we were rewarded with some oranges and pineapple after we reached the peak of the mountain.
Our final night of the tour was spent in the very first camp we slept in: Camp Alfredo.

It was hard to believe that we were already on our final day when we woke up the next morning, with only four hours of hiking to go. Those hours seemed to drag on a bit as we got closer and closer to El Mamey, but we made it.

It was sad to see the people we had spent almost a week with depart off the bus. We'd made good friends with them even in such a short period of time. I hope we'll be able to see some of them again one day, since we have their emails now.

It was wonderful to get back to the boat and be welcomed by Mum and Sky. We had an incredible time on the hike, but it was definitely good to be home again.