Rumble with the Colombian Jungle - Lost City Trek...

Hello there Folks!

The last week has been crazy, Natalie and I have had a big adventure in the jungles of Colombia. It was a gruelling five day trek to the Lost City. It started out on a beautiful wednesday morning the sun was out and the bus was rolling along up the rocky muddy road to our starting point of our week trek. On the way the bus actually got stuck and we had to get out on hold on to our stuff while the driver rocked the bus back and forth. Luckly we were able to store most of our gear at the hostel that we were staying at in Taganga so we only had a day bag camera bag between us. This was also the time we lost our first possesion (one of Natalie´s shirts). My fault of course.....

Once the bus was out of the heavy mud we were on our way again and at the starting point. The tour provided us with a lunch and we started walking. At first Nat and I were trying to figure out way people were thinking this tour was so tough. Then it started to rain and boy did it rain. Four out of the five days we were walking in at least two hours of rain. Which turned the trail either into rushing rivers or mud bogs that you couldn´t avoid. Natalie and I decided to just wear our sandles for the entire five days. It wasn´t a bad choice due to the fact that we were wet almost all the time but Natalie´s feet actually got some bad blisters. The guides were super worried about her feet (Natalie wasn´t of course) so they gave some herbal treatments. They boiled some leaves (not sure what kind but suspect that they were coco leaves). These treatments did a wonderful job of sealing the wounds up for the next day. She made it the entire way with no problems at all. Unfortuatly I destroyed the camera we bought a week ago by swimming with it.
Forgot i had it in my pocket.

I am running out of time so until next time for Colombia
Bryan and Nat.

Taking off from Vancouver.

Our flight from Vancouver left at 5:30 in the morning, so like good people we decided to hit the hay early. This was a good plan but the dogs had other ideas they decided that it would be good to sleep with us and since we were nervous we did not get much rest. As 4 am rolled around we had to say goodbye to our furry children and Vancouver.

16 hours later we were in Cartagena Colombia and boy it was humid. We quickly discovered our lack of spanish made getting taxis difficult. Some nice backpackers offered to share a cab with us to old town, Cartagena. They thankfully spoke passible spanish and we were on way to the hostel (called Media Luna - Thanks for the tip John). It was a really nice hostel with a pool and big shared rooms. Luckly we got a dorm room to ourselves. First thing we did once we got our stuff stored away was to head to the patio at the top of the hostel and have a beer and look around. It seemed a bit dangerous as we looked up and down the streets that night. We were proven wrong the next night everyone is very friendly and can tell when you have no idea what you are doing or going (Don´t worry mom we are being very careful).

After looking around the city for a day we decide its time to move on. We have read about a mud volcano that is suppose to have medical healing properties. We also found out it is in the same direction as our next destination (the lost city trek). This turned into be both a wonderful experience and a difficult one. Wonderful because when have you ever been in a huge puddle of mud with no bottem and difficult because when we tried to cut out on the return trip to Cartagena. The travel company tried to make us pay twice, luckly I talked them out of it because Natalie was ready to rip a few heads off. To make a long story short we got a money back and we on our way to Santa Marta. This required a few bus transfers and alot of rain.

Till next time people

The pre-trip planning....

As the days wind down and we get closer and closer to our departure date. I find myself becoming more and more excited about the what Natalie and I are going to experience.

The last few days have been a full of us planning and packing for the trip. Where we start deciding what we really want to take and what we really don't need. Basically Natalie is the brains behind this whole operation. I am amazed every day at how organized she can be and how disorganized I am compared to her. The good thing is that we now have all of our equipment in order and now its time to pack everything up and see if we can still stand after.

Next post will be the night before leave.
stay tuned.....