Why did all indigenous South American cultures build there cities in the mountains?

Just over two weeks ago I stood in wonder gazing at one of the newly crowned 'new 7 wonders of the world' Machu Picchu. As I gazed at this incredible site there were a number of thou8ghts going through my head: firstly, this is amazing, secondly there are far too many people here and finally, I am knackerred.

Whilst the Inca Trail was truly one of the highlights of my trip so far, it was also very tiring and I soon after decided that I would take some time off to rest before I excerted myself in such a way again.

However that does not seem to have happened. This is largely because of the tight schedule I have imposed upon myself due to the extensivity of my trip and partly due to my nature, which craves activity most of the time and seldom wants for rest.

So it has come to pass that since the Inca Trail I have either been moving to my next destination, looking around colonial cities or hiking and climbing waterfalls in the Amazon. So it may be little suprise then that around a week ago I decided to embark on yet another epic trek to a ruined South American city, this time to the lost city of the Tayrona's near Santa Marta in Columbia.

The trek itself took six days, and unfortunately my assumption that the trek would be flat and easy as I had left the Andes was false. The six days was generally spent either going up or down various mountains and although I no longer had to combat the problem of altitude, there was the small matter of the 37 degree temperature to contend with.

However although the negativity of this introduction would imply that I had not enjoyed the trek to Ciudad Perdida (literally translated as 'Lost City') as the city is called, that could not be further from the truth. The trek was not only amazing, but in many ways far more enjoyable than the Inca trail, even if the city itself is not itself as truly awe-inspiring as Machu Picchu. To be honest comparing the ruin to Machu Picchu is slightly unfair, firstly it is far older and secondly it is unfair to judge against one of the aforementioned 'new seven wonders of the world', however it is a useful comparison.

The city itself is spectacular, but in a very different way to Macchu Pichu. Firstly, the remain s of the city are not that of temples and houses, but instead stone terraces. This is because the houses theselves were constructed from wood and built on the terraces. These terraces alone are impressive constructions considering they date back to 1000 CE and pre date Machu Pichu by over 500 years. The other major difference between the two sites is the setting. Whilst both sites were previously covered by the jungle until their discovery, where Machu Picchu has been completely cleared, Ciudad Perdida is still in encroached upon by the jungle giving the visitor more of a feeling that he is actually discovering something and seeing the city in much the same way that it was found. The final and perhaps the most important difference between the two sites is the number of people at Ciudad Perdida. When I was at the site, there were six tourists, including me, at the site. Machu Picchu in contrast with its' 3000 tourists a day its' restaurant and its' souvenir shops is the complete opposite. There site does have a miltary regikent at the site also, but they generally stay out of the way in their camp.

There are a number of reasons for the relatively small number of people at the site itself. Firstly the only way to the site is by the 6 day trek which I did (3 days there and 3 days back) and unlike Machu Picchu there is no train or bus to get there. Secondly Columbia itself is a far less popular destination than Peru beacuae although I have found Columbia to be very safe, it still has a reputation for kidnappings and robbery. This is fairly unfair considering the last kidnapping of a tourist happened 5 years ago (admittedly on a trek to Ciudad Perdida) and also because you are far more likely to be robbed in Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador and even Peru. The trek itself is also now completely safe due to the large military presence in the area. This is in part to protect the tourists due to the history of guerilla insurgency in the area, but predominately the military in the area are there to remove the numerous coca plantations that were used to be in the national park.

I am very happy that I got to see the site with so few people around. This is something which will inevitably change as Columbia becomes safer and more of a destination for international tourists. Apparently the Columbian government is also already working out ways to make access to the site easier. So if you are interested in planning a visit to Ciudad Perdida, do so as soon as possible.

I am now back in Santa Marta having a day on the beach before I head back to Cartagena for a couple of days before I hopefully get a boat across the Carribean to Panama vis the San Blas Islands.

Its a hard life.

Speak to you all soon

Phil

Back to the Caribbean!

As I write this next installment of my blog I am sitting in an internet cafe in Santa Marta on the Columbian Caribbean coast. I have now come full circle and to be honest I am exceptionally happy to be back on the Caribbean coast where I started this expedition. Peru and Bolivia were amazing, but it is nice to be back to the kind of weather that I had expected of South America before my arrival; hot and sunny. Unfortunately due to the altitude both Peru and Bolivia were fairly cold.


Columbia is a beautiful place and although I have only been here a couple of days, I already know that i'm going to like it a lot. I arrived by plane in Cartagena (decided taking a bus may not be the best of ideas due to the tensions and tanks on the Ecuador-Columbia border) which is beautiful old colonial fortress town on the Caribbean coast, which I look forward to spending more time in before I leave Columbia. Howevr I swiftly moved onto Santa Marta which is something of a Columbian resort town. I was slightly concerned that it would be dirty and tacky, like my last experience of a South American Caribbean 'resort' in Puerto La Cruz in Venezuela. Santa Marta however could not be further removed from that sty. The town itself is reserved, laid back and has some wonderful colonial architecture as well as most improtantly a clean beach which I look forward to heading to later.


I had to come to Santa Marta as it is the base for expeditions to Ciudad Perdida, the lost city of the Tayrona's. Tomorrow I begin a 6 day trek to the city before returning to Santa Marta for a spot of relaxation before heading back to Cartagena and then on to Panama.

However I have not spent all my time since my last post in Columbia. Following a flight from Cuzco to Lima I sat on a number of buses foraround 60 hours on my way to Tena in the Ecuadorian Amazon. I arrived in Tena, a pretty town sitting on two rivers, rather jaded, yet endeavoured to book a few days in an Amazon lodge including a number of excursions. This was definitely a worthwhile venture as a trip was leaving the next day with space for me, and most the companies would not normaly take solo travellers.


Upon my arrival at the lodge, I was surprised at how nice it was for the fairly cheap price. The photo above was the view from my room which had a hammock out front which I spent a fair bit of time in. I then proceeded over the course of the next few days to visit indigenous communitities, hike through the forest with a local guide tasting it's various foods, I climed waterfalls and rafted down the river with dense forest on either side. The experience was amazing, but largely due to fatigue and partly due to the ever-present mosquitoes I was happy to head onto the capital Quito where I had a day of rest. I headed out briefly to have a look at the colonial city centre, which was certainly worth a look, but I enjoyed my rest day and was then ready to continue onto Cartegena the next day.


Well everybody I must be off, i'm heading down the beach for the afternoon before my hike begins tomorrow.


Adios
Phil

The Inca Trail in two words: Amazing and tiring

Hello all and welcome to the latest installment of my blog. I am currently still in Cuzco having yesterday finished the Inca Trail. With all the hype that accompanies the experience, it could easily have been something of an anti-climax arriving at Macchu Picchu. However I am happy to say that my high expectations were filled and that the whole experience was amazing.


Since I last posted I travelled by bus from Puno to Cuzco (the starting point for my Inca Trail) stopping at a number of Inca sites on the way. These sites were nicestops on the way to Cuzco and helped to build my anticipation of the Inca Trail, as well as helping me to gain a bit more understanding of the Inca culture before I saw their masterpiece.


I then arrived in Cuzco the former capital of the Inca empire which was mainly destroyed by the conquistadores. However many of the major buildings in the city are made from the ruins of the former Inca buildings and it is a spectacularly pretty city with many wide squares to laze around in. As something of a backpacker Mecca it is also a great place to go out, as a I found out in the few days before my Inca Trail. However with so many tourists it is also very expensive. Therefore maybe there is a silver-lining to the cloud that was the bout of food-poisoning I got two days before I left for the Inca Trail. It was so severe I was concerned I may not be able to go on the trail. Also more irritatingly considering how much street food i have been eating of late (it's cheap), I got it from a restaurant. However fortunately it cleared up and I was able to go on the trail. Also realistically I can't expect to travel for three months in South America without getting food poisoning at least once.


The trail itself was spectacular. The walk lasts four days stopping at campsites in the evenings and passes a number of important Inca sites before reaching the famous Macchu Picchu. The trail itself is suprisingly hard. Due to its' popularity, I had expected the trail to be little more than a gentle stroll. However this is certainly not the case. The trail ascends and descends for almost the entire four days, with at times entire days being spent going uphill. Despite the trail being more challenging than I had thought, it did make the experince slightly more of a challenge, it also meant that as I was fitter and a far faster walker than most and because my group was one of the first groups, at times I was the first person to reach Inca sites and had long periods of time in Inca sites alone which makes them slightly more special than when there are 200 people around. Then finally on the fourth morning we got up at four in the morining to head to Macchu Picchu. The city itself is amazing, however to my dissapointment when I arrived it was so misty you could not see ten metres in front of you, let alone the monuments. However with a bit of patince, the mist began to clear revealing the city in all its glory. The presence of the mist also gave the city a somewhat ethereal quality making it almost more magical as it was revealed before my eyes. In time the sun came out and revealed the city as you see in the photo above.


The experience was truly great and probably the best of a great three months, hopefully there are more to come. Next I head off to Ecuador where I am hopefully spending some time in the Amazon.


Speak to you all soon


Phil