Colombia : Lost city Trek + Small dist. biking
Dec 5 -16 2019
Nothing on thanks giving wknd. long story for a while now. Next 5 some days I was alone in seattle in literal sense no one talks no one calls nothing , not sure what I did to anyone ever and I know , I don't deserve this kind of treatment. ( just went around for couple things & did packing and left on 5th evening in taxi to airport)
It happened so that while watching expedition unknown some episode, came across some lost city kind of thing not this in particular and just remembered had seen this kind of some trek, in a spur of moment thing gets booked only for me. In south America have done Peru Inca trek / section of amazon basin, Chile Atacama hikes / Patagonia trek and now was Colombia. another introduction for the country was from Ana ( long story but just the name is enough)
"Its Colombia and not Columbia" one can find many t-shirts saying that everywhere. Flight was for Medellin, city is little inside from the airport.Taxi takes almost 40 minutes passing through 8.4 km of tunnel. Looking out from window right side on winding road one
can see first glimpse of the place ( many trees and housing complexes). It was kind of late in the evening, dumped stuff in room and I just explored nearby park, nursery, some cafe place for sandwich and fresh juice stall. U walk little farther from hustle bustle and one is in some polished area. Given Christmas time, the decors were everywhere. Its always so that all the decors are made of natural materials or straws etc and for the displays in south /central America vs. other places one can find distinct diff. Both being nice.
Next morning was group meet and pleasantly all enthusiastic youngsters ready to take on new thing. The presentation with lunch hmmm first start of Colombian food ( plantains and mango and lot other stuff) and right in time came the downpour lasted for short while just to clean the streets for you :).
Later the day was spent exploring the Medellin city, the noticeable diff bet areas 1 to 6, with various developments underway, the exemptions for lower income individuals and facilities developed for them, the gondolas, trains and buses , escalators and may other modes of travel, libraries, some skills development community classes. Some sections in the city are not gogo kind which is true for any place. River runs through & creates separation and like plenty rivers everywhere massive cleanup is necessary as per locals. Communa 13 section was nice with beautiful graffiti and development underway, just reminded of Valparaiso section in Chile.
The El Penol and town of Guatape is really beautifully kept.Yes and there was small section of biking too. That was fun.
Many times its been said that when u " means I " visit the place its very different than when others do or U always write about positive things and skip the other bad experiences or stuff etc well ( I do notice like u do, its ok just travel like explorer and try to be like local, that will make your experience nice too. Little flexible, not too fussy if some thing is out of place (happens). If there are specific things / needs just be open to group members or guides or even locals and tell them. As a tourist everyone mostly would try to make your experience nice as that gets the revenue for any country. There is always a clear cut diff. bet when u live in that country and when u visit that country as a traveler ( u notice things which u wouldn't otherwise).
The area is very lush green with many mango and other trees and yes plenty street dogs :) Santa Marta and many places one can walk around to see. Food tastes different and nice everywhere.
First time of trying Colombian food.
From Santa Marta it was some 4 days of trekking with refuge stays, when they say do carry bug spray please do and use it ( mosquitoes). They have all nets and nice bunk beds to sleep into, With showers, rivers to swim into or waterfalls to enter into. It was interesting to see how ways of living are changing for some from their original businesses to this tourist business thing.
The area was originally mainly for (and still is )four tribes kogi, wiwa, arhuaco, kankuamo .....though some reluctantly have adopted new ways to some extent. Its diff culture for them and would be nice to see it stays the same for future generations from both sides to experience ( tourists as well them). Often it happens that more the tourism happens they too change over time. Think the responsibility lies on both sides to set limits. They have definitely restricted areas where tourist can visit and others are sacred places for them and every September they close the lost city trek for some cleansing. (It was even noticeable in africa with masai people how they have set limits in a good way ) The lost city involves many terraces, the original map is carved in stones, the stairways to, some areas which are allowed for tourists and has military base, noticeable even on trek portions. Way to keep travelers safe.
In the Tribes typically boys and girls are differentiated using mochila the cross bags for boys and beads for girls. One would find them wearing all white clothing. One can differentiate bet. tribes by their hats.The top leader " mamu" and his family is allowed to stay in the sacred site vicinity and he wears special head gear woven by him which represents rivers flowing and many other things. It was nice of him to allow us to meet him and visit the area.
Every guy has mochila with coca leaves and for exchange for greeting each other. Special plant is used to make threads & natural dying process is used to make variety of things. Cows, pigs, horses , mules, many farming areas to grow things even coca leaves.
Tyrona national park and many other places have beautiful beaches and sure there is plenty wildlife in many other parks , that is for some other time. Some turtle nesting areas, anteaters, monkeys, condors, many other birds. Tropical fruits which really taste good. " mangoes, water melon, passion fruits" .. tamales with jackfruit.
Post trek just spent a day in Cartagena as the flights are kinda of odd timings & even got to explore the place for a day. Did old walled city exploring and waterfront was diff change. Its kind of smaller and different than Medellin. As is in every developing country or county there exists in nearby vicinity the stark contrast bet. the old city and the highly developed polished new areas. Its nice to see the preserved old sections of cities anywhere you go.
Ya I so wanted some beach kind vacation apart from treks and things I do during summer , it didn't happen. Just one opp. later got in croatia and got to hear plenty after swimsuit wearing, hence went really very conservative here ( now that I think of it , would have been fun in tyrona park... anyways) but post that also got to hear plenty things... so for the next which was kind of unknown to me till end of this trip, wore what i wanted ( for anything i do, there is always that some noise, which isn't even interested in any facts but just want to create chaos all the time, for their reasons whatever they may be ... I hardly care anymore)
Nice place and am sure many other parks have more things...
Besides they had their own photographer for this trip and given all things going around i made my smugmug picture site private long before trek. My taken some pictures are visible here (click to zoom) and had uploaded the next day on instagram of mine "rupsinthewa" besides i have album too on smugmug its private (was asked , so its open again)
Some pics from my cam & cell :-
Smumug gallery of mine
Pics : Instagram
Click to see
Dec 5 -16 2019
It happened so that while watching expedition unknown some episode, came across some lost city kind of thing not this in particular and just remembered had seen this kind of some trek, in a spur of moment thing gets booked only for me. In south America have done Peru Inca trek / section of amazon basin, Chile Atacama hikes / Patagonia trek and now was Colombia. another introduction for the country was from Ana ( long story but just the name is enough)
"Its Colombia and not Columbia" one can find many t-shirts saying that everywhere. Flight was for Medellin, city is little inside from the airport.Taxi takes almost 40 minutes passing through 8.4 km of tunnel. Looking out from window right side on winding road one
Later the day was spent exploring the Medellin city, the noticeable diff bet areas 1 to 6, with various developments underway, the exemptions for lower income individuals and facilities developed for them, the gondolas, trains and buses , escalators and may other modes of travel, libraries, some skills development community classes. Some sections in the city are not gogo kind which is true for any place. River runs through & creates separation and like plenty rivers everywhere massive cleanup is necessary as per locals. Communa 13 section was nice with beautiful graffiti and development underway, just reminded of Valparaiso section in Chile.
The El Penol and town of Guatape is really beautifully kept.Yes and there was small section of biking too. That was fun.Many times its been said that when u " means I " visit the place its very different than when others do or U always write about positive things and skip the other bad experiences or stuff etc well ( I do notice like u do, its ok just travel like explorer and try to be like local, that will make your experience nice too. Little flexible, not too fussy if some thing is out of place (happens). If there are specific things / needs just be open to group members or guides or even locals and tell them. As a tourist everyone mostly would try to make your experience nice as that gets the revenue for any country. There is always a clear cut diff. bet when u live in that country and when u visit that country as a traveler ( u notice things which u wouldn't otherwise).
The area is very lush green with many mango and other trees and yes plenty street dogs :) Santa Marta and many places one can walk around to see. Food tastes different and nice everywhere.
First time of trying Colombian food.From Santa Marta it was some 4 days of trekking with refuge stays, when they say do carry bug spray please do and use it ( mosquitoes). They have all nets and nice bunk beds to sleep into, With showers, rivers to swim into or waterfalls to enter into. It was interesting to see how ways of living are changing for some from their original businesses to this tourist business thing.
 |
| Top respected "Mamu" |
In the Tribes typically boys and girls are differentiated using mochila the cross bags for boys and beads for girls. One would find them wearing all white clothing. One can differentiate bet. tribes by their hats.The top leader " mamu" and his family is allowed to stay in the sacred site vicinity and he wears special head gear woven by him which represents rivers flowing and many other things. It was nice of him to allow us to meet him and visit the area.Every guy has mochila with coca leaves and for exchange for greeting each other. Special plant is used to make threads & natural dying process is used to make variety of things. Cows, pigs, horses , mules, many farming areas to grow things even coca leaves.
Tyrona national park and many other places have beautiful beaches and sure there is plenty wildlife in many other parks , that is for some other time. Some turtle nesting areas, anteaters, monkeys, condors, many other birds. Tropical fruits which really taste good. " mangoes, water melon, passion fruits" .. tamales with jackfruit.
Post trek just spent a day in Cartagena as the flights are kinda of odd timings & even got to explore the place for a day. Did old walled city exploring and waterfront was diff change. Its kind of smaller and different than Medellin. As is in every developing country or county there exists in nearby vicinity the stark contrast bet. the old city and the highly developed polished new areas. Its nice to see the preserved old sections of cities anywhere you go.
Ya I so wanted some beach kind vacation apart from treks and things I do during summer , it didn't happen. Just one opp. later got in croatia and got to hear plenty after swimsuit wearing, hence went really very conservative here ( now that I think of it , would have been fun in tyrona park... anyways) but post that also got to hear plenty things... so for the next which was kind of unknown to me till end of this trip, wore what i wanted ( for anything i do, there is always that some noise, which isn't even interested in any facts but just want to create chaos all the time, for their reasons whatever they may be ... I hardly care anymore)
Nice place and am sure many other parks have more things...
Besides they had their own photographer for this trip and given all things going around i made my smugmug picture site private long before trek. My taken some pictures are visible here (click to zoom) and had uploaded the next day on instagram of mine "rupsinthewa" besides i have album too on smugmug its private (was asked , so its open again)
 |
| this of me was taken by one crew mem. |
Smumug gallery of mine
Pics : Instagram
Click to see
