Lost City Trek

One of the main highlights of Colombia was the Trek to Ciudad Perdida. This of course deserves a dedicated post to give you an idea if this is something you would like to include or not in your itinerary. 

Which Company to Book with

Maybe to start with, you can't do this on your own, you need to go with a guide. 

The general answer would be, any as the price & route are the same, the accommodation and the food will be similar or at times the same. The difference will be in items such as: level of English of the guides/translators, payment/size of group.  

After reading about each and every company (main ones being: Expotur; Magic Tour Colombia; Turcol Travel; Wiwa Tour Colombia) we decided to book our trip with Wiwa Tour, because the guides are all from one of the 4 indigenous communities that can be found in the Sierra Nevada Mountain area. 

Payment Experience with Wiwa Tour. 
Ok, this was not great but here what we managed to do.
When you book, you pay 10% of the price via PayPal. The rest is to be paid in Cash or if you are Colombian you will also have the option to transfer money. 
We wanted to avoid to carry over 3mil Colombian Pesos for 2 people) with us and so we asked one of our friends that lives in Colombia to do the bank transfer & we sent the proof via WhatsApp to the tour company. If you don't have someone who can help you with that, you can still pay by card but there is a fee on top of the tour price. 

Difficulty & What to Pack

I am a regular hiker (nothing extreme, but I have done a few moderately challenging treks such as Trolltunga in Norway, Ben Nevis in Scotland or the Tour du Mont Blanc, Base Camp of Aconcagua, Argentina etc.) so from my perspective this should be a doable trek for everyone that has a decent fitness level. 

You can chose between 4 or 5 days trek, but I would recommend the 4 days tour as on the 5 days one you will not really cover a lot of less km per day, but on the way back you simply take a detour to visit some waterfalls.  

You will also be with a group of different hiking levels, so there will be people in front, people in the middle and people at the end  (obviously) but the guides will make sure there is at least 1 in front and 1 in the back so even if you are slow you will not be alone and you can take advantage of this beautiful trek. 

When it comes to packing, when in doubt leave it at home/in the luggage that you store at the tour company office/previous accommodation.

I used my Osprey Tempest 20 (which counted without problem as personal item on all planes I took in this trip). The 20 L offers enough space for all you need to take with you and has a great back support for a long hike. 

I will not get in detail of all the items I took with me (if you need such info send me a msg on my IG @alusoare), but items that I truly believe are a must are listed below: 

- a good small backpack 
- hiking shoes (that you are comfortable with)
- trekking pole (1 is enough & you can rent it at the tour company office, make sure to ask it early as they don't have a lot)
- sun screen & mosquito spray
- toilet paper/soap
- ibuprofen (and if you know you have bad knees, a knee band)
- super fast drying clothes 
- sleeping sleeve 
​- dry sacks or garbage bags (it's extremely humid) 

Day by Day Info & notes

I will describe here my day to day experience, but based on the weather, tour company, group you travel with my experience will be different than yours.
Remember there is no 4G network in the area but some camps offer wifi against a price (I would recommend to take the opportunity to disconnect, you rarely have the chance)  

DAY 1

We met at the Wiwa Tour office around 8:00 where we all had to register and some people still had to pay. We then left with 2 small buses (we were a group of 22) to the trek entry point (La Aguacatera) where we got some bracelets and we continued our bus tour for another hour or so and the bus dropped us at El Machete where we had lunch.  

This "map" will depend on the company you travel with

After lunch and a few words from the guide we finally started our walk. The first day is relatively easy as it's only about 6km till the WIWA accommodation. On the way you will get some watermelon which is out of this world in terms of deliciousness. 

Once you reach the accommodation, you shower (prepare for cold water) and then around 18:00 you have dinner and you are in bed by 20:30. 

DAY 2

Your day will start with a wake up call at 4:40 (that is AM, yes), you get a quick breakfast and then walk for 7-8 km to your lunch break. 

This night you will sleep close to the last part of the trek before getting into Ciudad Perdida. When we've been there we stayed at camping Lorenzo as the camping which was a bit further ahead was closed due to a landslide. This camping hosts over 200 people so it will be busy and cleanness is nit their highest priority. Also to avoid having too many people sleeping in hummocks they are pairing people together in the same bed. You can opt out, but might end up in a hummock.  

Day 3

The wake up is early and this is actually the day you will reach Ciudad Perdida, but not before climbing 1200 steps (it's quite a stretch). Here you can get a stamp in your passport, bring some extra paper with you as the stamp does not dry fast. 

1200 steps

You get the story of the place both from indigenous and archeological perspective and of course a fruit break. 

If the guide can arrange it, you can meet the Mamu (one of the wise and spiritual guides of the indigenous communities - each community has it's own Mamu).  

You spend about 3h at Ciudad Perdida walking around and taking photos. 

Coca Leaves

On the way back, you have lunch in the same place you slept the night before and on this day you walk a total of 15 - 16 km. 

At the end of the day, we had the opportunity to discover some of the WIWA traditions, listen to local music and learn a few dance steps. 

Day 4

Maybe being the last one, this day feels like a stretch while you walk back to the starting point where you have lunch. From here the buses that dropped us and brought us back to Santa Marta

Keep in mind when you pack, if it rains this is how the ground will look like

The total tour is of about 60 km (my Apple Watch should 52km). Keep in mind that if it rains (at it will very likely rain) the whole road becomes a mud bath. Be careful as it will slide and at times you can have difficulties getting your sneakers out of the mud. 

This was a beautiful experience as it gave us a great combo: hiking in nature, seeing less seen places, fining out more about the local history & meet new people that share your same interests.