Our journey to Ciudad Perdida — the "Lost City" — began along the Rodadero beach of Santa Marta, Colombia's oldest surviving city and the rendezvous point for our 8-person party. Arriving on flights from New York, San Francisco, and Hong Kong, we checked into a modest beachfront hotel for a one-night stay, with less than 24 hours till the first step of the hike.

Day 1: Into the Jungle

Geared up and ready to go, the next morning had us strapping our packs to the roof of a 4x4 that would transport us to the launch site, a roughly 2-hour ride on both paved highway and unforgiving dirt paths.

In El Mamey, a small town at the head of the main trail (with a population of less than 200 in a recent census), we met our guides from Magic Tour Colombia, Indio and Eliana, who would see to it that we make it into and out of the mountainous jungle safely.

Setting out after lunch, the first thirty minutes of the hike traversed a climbing, mule-trodden, motorbike-driven dirt trail with unremarkable scenery and punishing inclines. There was little cloud cover, and the heat from the sun was unrelenting.

If there was a moment for wavering confidence, this might have been it.

This first day of the hike was a mere 7 kilometers, but the distance and personal load ensured a healthy appetite by the end of the day.

We reached the first camp, Camp Alfredo, and were pleasantly surprised to find a number of accoutrements that we almost expected go without: power outlets, flushing toilets, and running water for showers.

Fine Dining

The dining experience deserves special recognition, as Magic Tour assigned a cook to each group to prepare all of breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Our cook, Kuko, did not disappoint.

In keeping with typical Colombian cuisine, each meal consisted of a selected protein, accompanied by a light salad, rice, and patacones — a fried plantain dish also known elsewhere in Latin America as tostones. We were served an endless supply of fresh juice from local fruit, and an especially rich Colombian hot chocolate was offered at breakfast.

Day 2: Onwards

Up and At 'Em

Each day, our morning wake-up call came promptly at 5 AM, with the camp still shrouded in darkness. Although early, the previous day's exhaustion ensured we were usually in bed by 9 PM.

After a quick breakfast and morning briefing from our guides, we set out at sunrise for the first full-day hike.

Throughout the day we encountered all manner of terrain, from sunken dirt paths to stone-laden trails, lined with walls of trees and brush.

In some places, the dirt walls lining the trail were exceptionally high, extending a meter or two above the ground, likely a result of the foot traffic and passing mules carving through the muddy conditions of the wet season.

With the first day's hike behind us, the marvels of the deep forest started to reveal themselves to us, and our day was punctuated with insights from our guides, who shared with us the history of the region and tidbits about the local flora and fauna.

Amidst the sea of green were highlights of violet, cerise, and other vibrant hues, owing to the biodiversity nurtured by the forest.

A unique feature of the forest vegetation was the sight of tree trunks and branches lined with epiphytes — plants that grow on the surface of other plants, in a non-parasitic way. Our guides pointed out that bird droppings served as one source of this overgrowth, providing a kind of nutrient cocktail that coats the tree bark.

At one rest stop, we were invited to listen as a man from a local Wiwa tribe described the rituals attending the passage into adulthood for young men in his culture. He also demonstrated the process by which a certain plant leaf is stripped of its flesh, in order to extract the fibers used for making cloth bags.

Jungle Produce

With one's eyes locked on the trail to calculate the next step, it would be easy to miss the array of fruits that dangled overhead. Indio and Eliana were quick to point them out, with a few of them — like breadfruit and lulo — being unfamiliar and hard to come by in our corners of the globe.

Happy Hour & Colombian Flat

The local guides were no short of a sense of humor, and alluded several times to what they called "Happy Hour" — a stretch of uphill trail lasting about an hour if taken at a modest clip. It seems the name was selected to refer to one specific section, though curiously I recall encountering at least three such climbs.

In similar fashion, the term "Colombian Flat" was employed to describe quickly alternating sections of ascending and descending trail, i.e. "flat" only by some loose view of the average altitude gain.

Also awaiting us at the top of a few difficult climbs were strategically placed rest stops, where fresh fruit had been cut and prepared for us. Shopkeepers had set up small stands at some of these rest areas to sell their wares.

After a full day on the trail, we ate dinner and listened as Indio and Eliana briefed us on the following day's events and the climb to Ciudad Perdida.

Day 3: Teyuna

At the break of dawn, we departed from the camp for the last leg up to Teyuna, the name that local tribes sometimes use to refer to Ciudad Perdida. Since we would be returning to the same camp for lunch, we celebrated not needing to carry our full packs.

The steps were shallow and uneven, at times making scrambling the preferred choice.

Our group gathered around one of the plazas to listen to Indio and Eliana recount the history of the city, dating as far back as 800 CE, as well as the culture of the Tairona people and the troubled history of the ruins at the hands of looters in the 1970s.

As Eliana spoke, the sun came over the ridge, washing the area in a golden light that made for some nice portrait shots.

En route to the next area, we stopped to inspect a stone slab with etchings carved into it. We learned that this age-old map of the city had been drawn to a level of accuracy and detail that even impressed the 20th-century excavationists who found it.

Continuing on, we climbed an impressive set of steps towards the central part of the city. We were reminded to step carefully and towards the center of the path, as the stones towards the edges were often loose and easily dislodged.

We finally arrived at the center of the city, with it's unmistakeable tiered levels and plazas out-sizing any that we had previously seen.

Continuing on, we climbed an impressive set of steps towards the central part of the city. We were reminded to step carefully and towards the center of the path, as the stones towards the edges were often loose and easily dislodged.

Indio and Eliana even surprised us with an impressive array of snacks and fresh fruits.

Our appetites sated for the moment, we each found our own spot to sit along the edge of the main plaza. And then a curious thing happened. As the other groups had already left and gone ahead, we found ourselves alone in the central city, and the expanse all around us fell silent.

For some unknown period of time, we sat in meditative silence, each of us lost in our own universe of consciousness.

Finishing our tour of the city, Indio led us down a pathway to an area where water once flowed through the grounds and where members of a tribe still live. Using pigment from the surrounding flora, he helped us apply a local style of face paint.

After returning to camp and a quick lunch, we were back out on the trail to head home.

Day 4: Homeward Bound

Whether we owe it to the dry season or sheer luck, the weather during the entirety of our trek could not have been better. On our final day, we enjoyed some of the best views of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains we had seen yet.

Tired from the home stretch, we enjoyed one final meal with Indio, Eliana, and Kuko, and bid our farewells.