I arrived in Cartagena March 26 for a 2 week trip covering Cartagena, Santa Marta, Salento, Medellín and, the highlight, la Ciudad Perdida, a 4-day trek into the jungle to see an indigenous “lost city”. Here are my photos thus far.
From Cartagena:
Walking around Getsemani neighbourhood:
Two days later I was off to Santa Marta in preparation for the hike. It’s a port town, also on the Caribbean, and with none of Cartagena’s charm. The did have some nice street art:
And now the trek. The city, known by its indigenous residents as Teyuna, was believed to be constructed between 800 and 950 AD, making it 500+ years older than Machu Picchu in Peru. It was abandoned after the Spanish conquest and later found by treasure raiders in the early 1970s. Much of the precious artifacts were stolen and sold off before the Colombian government had the chance to impose protections on the site.
Our jumping off point was Machete, a hamlet about 2 hours from Santa Marta by car.
Day 1 (about 8 km):
Day 2:
We had an observer while we ate
Day 3:
sedativegunk 