Myles From Home: Sailing and Trekking

Made it to the Lost City

Last time I updated this, I was 24 hours from leaving Central America for South America. Well, plenty has happened since then and I’ll try to cram all 3 weeks into this post. I spent my last day in Central America exploring the town of Portobelo; the former hub of gold trade in Panama. I hiked up to the fortresses that defended the port from the pirates of the Caribbean where I could see the Mintaka, the boat where I would spend the next five days.

That evening we boarded the boat and had an excellent Italian dinner, prepared by the German captain and his wife. Petra and Manfred had been living on their boat for the past twenty five years and unlike some of the other boats that made the same trip, they cared about the state of their boat. The boat was run with German efficiency and throughout the tip we were reminded of that. Besides for the captain and his wife, we had 4 Swiss and 3 English, so most conversations were a mix of English and German. After dinner on the first night, we pulled up the anchor and set sail for the San Blas Islands. After sailing for ten hours, we reached our first island where we would spend the next day.

The following day we snorkeled for a majority of the day before taking the zodiac to one of the surrounding islands. The San Blas islands are comprised of about 400 islands, inhabited by the indigenous Kuna people. The Kuna’s had been forced from Panama when the Spanish conquistadors arrived and have lived there ever since, speaking their own language and ruling themselves. We went to a local island where they use a mix of Panamanian currency and coconuts for trade. We played beach volleyball and relaxed before returning to the boat with our recently purchased lobsters. After a fantastic lobster dinner and restful night aboard the Mintaka. We spent three hours in the morning sailing to a different group of islands where we spent the day snorkeling on a beautiful coral reef. Afterwards we swam to an island where we traded for coconuts so that we could make Coco Locos, which is just rum and fresh coconut. After a steak dinner we set sail for a final group of islands where we would spend the day snorkeling and relaxing before setting sail for Colombia. We had one last meal on a level boat before spending the next 38 hours at a 30* tilt at the open sea. Half the people spent the next two days sick in the bunks while I slept soundly and ate well. I awoke after two days in the beautiful port of Cartagena where I would spend the next few days.

Lobsters for Dinner

Sunset from the Mintaka

One of 350 San Blas islands

40 hours at sea

The port city of Cartagena is considered one of the oldest cities in Colombia. The colorful walled city is a popular destination for Colombians, and backpackers alike. Therefore it was a great place to interact with local Colombians and swap tales of with backpackers heading in the opposite direction of me. On our second day it began to rain, and I mean rain. I thought I was still on the boat, as I was surrounded by water, with over a foot flooding every street and not dissipating for two days. We walked in knee-deep water throughout the city which was a pretty disgusting feeling. After three days swamping through Cartagena, I headed to Santa Marta with a German guy I had met in Cartagena. After a day in Santa Marta we headed to the small fishing village of Taganga. Someone had recommend a hostel to us, Casa Moringa, so we booked beds there for the next few days. The hostel was the villa of a Colombian governor who had been arrested for corruption. He rented his villa out in order to make some money so we had the opportunity to stay in a beautiful house overlooking the beach. After a few days lounging around the villa and sitting on the beach I decided I needed to be a little more active. So we went on a trek to Tayrona National Park. A beautiful Caribbean reserve with white sand beaches. We rode in on the backs of motorcycles and spend the afternoon cliff jumping and snorkeling before returning to Taganga. That trek had not been enough for me so I signed up for another trek to Cuidad Perdida, the Lost City.

Flooded streets of Cartagena

Cartagena's wildlife

The walled city of Cartagena

Arepas

It rained a bit

Some rain

The next morning I packed up my things and set off for the Lost City. While I expected the adventure to begin after we reached the jungle, it began about an hour prior. Our van was stopped and immigration asked for all of our passports. The passports that we left in Santa Marta because the guides said they would bring copies. They didn’t. Luckily the police let us go on without too much hassle and we continued towards the jungle city of Machete. The final leg of the van ride was an hour of off-road driving until we reached Machete. After a quick lunch we set off on the first leg of the trip. The trip would be a four-day trip into the Colombian rainforest to the ancient lost city and back to Machete. The trek to the Lost City had only become available in the past decade, as the FARC guerillas had been pushed out of the area for the most part. The total length of the trek was about 30 miles but on the first day we only had about 7 miles to hike. Well, we got a late start and torrential downpours because after an hour. These turned the hills into slick mudslides where we all slid down and struggled to clamor up. Soaked to the bone including my backpack we made our ways to the first camp under the cover of night. We had a warm dinner and climbed into hammocks for a short nights rest before leaving camp at 5AM. We hiked 16km on the second day, including over mountains and through rivers. We reached a camp only an hour from the Lost City where we cooled off in a river before resting for the night. We woke up at 4AM for a hot breakfast before climbing 1500 steps to the first terrace of the Lost City. My knees were just about done when I reached the top and was disappointed by the city at first. I learned that we were only at the location of the poorer village. The city was founded about 800 years prior to Machu Picchu (visiting shortly) on a series of terraced mountains. We hiked up to the summit of the city, where we were greeted with breathtaking views. We explored the city for the next two hours before hiking back down the steps to our basecamp. After a short lunch we headed back towards a camp where we swam and slept until 4 AM when we hiked 18 kms out of the jungle. After a lunch in Machete, we all crawled back into the van, exhausted but happy. Our trip almost over, but that would have been too easy. We reached a tollbooth where we were pulled over and after half an hour the police had been paid off for the extra people in our van and we headed back. After getting back to Santa Marta, I needed sleep and rest so I found a hammock on the roof of a hostel and slept. Next up was Christmas in Santa Marta and probably Peru afterwards.