Day 4 – The Lost City

 

Bloody, sweaty, painful, exhilarated, exhausted. Today was filled with all of these. We awoke early, still reeling from the previous days hike. It was only 12 miles, but there were a lot of ups and downs, and a lot of rocks that beat up our feet. Many of our group wore sneakers. I can only imagine how beat up their feet are from the pounding.

Breakfast was at 5:30 and we departed immediately after just as the sun arose. The first 20 minutes were ups and downs along with a couple of suspension bridge river crossings. The bridges were in disrepair and only 2 people were allowed at a time. As we would walk across the bridge would bounce and sway. It was a little hard to get a picture snapped, but I managed.

No wet clothes were worn for this hike as I wore my dry swimsuit. By the time we reached the 1200 steps to the Lost City, I had not just broken a sweat. My clothes  were almost soaked. At the top of the steps there were some rings of stone where buildings used to be.  The Lost city of Teyuna is around 85 to 100 acres big and had 2000 to 8000 people. It was the capital for the Tayrona people and the central city for trade. It was only foud by the outside world in 1973 by treasure hunters. In 1976 it was declared an archaeological site. Much of it has not been unearthed.

As we explored the city, we hiked higher and higher. So much for those 1200 steps. We met the chief of the local tribe that oversees the area. The pictures below speak for themselves.

At the end of the tour we went to a waterfall pool that was said to be used to cleanse visitors before they came to see the king. Our guide/translator also said it was called the fountain of youth. Only 4 intrepid adventurous in our group of 13 dared to jump in. I was one of them. Right before I went in the guide also told me the “real” reason it was called the fountain of youth. “You go in with a man sized penis and come out with a baby sized one. Yeah, that was some cold water. The water was bitter cold, but exhilarating. I didn’t spend much time in it.

We hiked down after the dip and grabbed our packs at camp starting the trek our nex camp…another 12 mile day. The hike was uneventful except for Nathan got a bloody nose about 20 minutes from camp. He is an experienced bleeder and had packed tampons for his nose. He went through 2 before the bleeding stopped and he barely missed a step as he was pinching his nose, looking down over it with his head tilted slightly back and hiking. Quite a feet (dad joke).

We reached camp Mumake, the camp we swam at and had lunch on Day 2, around 3:30. Upon arrival we didn’t hesitate to gallop down to the river. The water was reinvigorating for our tired bodies.

After that the routine was the same: shower dinner and bed. Tomorrow is another 5 am day.