Week 23: Taganga, Ciudad Perdida

 

Sunday June 5

We woke up and left with just enough time to grab some breakfast and coffee before heading to our first scuba diving lesson. We learned all about the equipment and what was important about the tempered glass on the goggles, the oxygen tank, etc.

We took a very bumpy boat ride with our teacher from France towards a bay specifically used by the company. We hung out there for a little, then we went on a small dive. He taught us how to empty our goggles of water while underwater and how to clear out our regulators.

We got to see all kinds of wonderful things! The most amazing to me were the 2 squid, the eels, and an incredible amount of coral. It’s so different under the ocean than in fish tanks.

After that dive, we headed back to the beach, had an amazing lunch of meat and potatoes and rice, relaxed, then had another lesson under the water.

This time, we saw these ocean worms in a field and they would slowly crawl down their holes as we arrived closer. I have only seen those on the National Geographic channel!

After another amazing and varied dive, we headed back to Taganga to relax, shower, and rest! We hung out at our hostel some more and wandered around the city, had another round of the delicious baguette sandwiches and then went to bed.

Monday June 6

We stayed closer to Taganga on our 2nd day of scuba diving. We also had a new teacher! On that second morning, we learned about running out of oxygen and how to share our oxygen levels. I have to admit it was kind of scary to run out of oxygen underneath the water. Fortunately, having Luke and the teacher there really helped. This time around we saw a bunch of different eels. They are as creepy in nature as they seem in the aquarium!

The second time around, we saw a massive lobster – like 4 foot long. All I could think about was how delicious it would be with loads of butter! We also saw a variety of corals and fish. All in all it seemed like a very productive day!

Tuesday June 7

It was our last day scuba diving and I think we were ready to go and also to finish our testing! Turns out, that scuba diving 2 times a day can be pretty exhausting.
This last day we had our same teacher, learned how to go to the surface if all else fails, and we went hunting for lion fish since they are an invasive species that cause a lot of harm.

Luke helped our guide catch a HUGE one. He has amazing eyes to spot animals. Anyway, we ended up spotting loads of lion fish waiting around to eat little baby fishes. The second time we went diving we saw an entire cove of lion fish (like 7 or 8 of them!) They said that they would come back to get that bunch.

After coming back, we had a break for a shower and a snack. We ended up staying at the beach and eating at a local restaurant which had some great seafood. I had a bomb shrimp and calamari rice dish while Luke tried a local fish. Both were delicious!

Then we were taught about the physics part of the diving and how to tell when someone is in medical danger from the nitrogen in our bodies. The test was challenging, but we had a little bit of help and we finally passed our test! Luke only missed one question, but I missed 2.

After that, it was around dinner time. We had asked Calipso Dive Center how to sign up for the Ciudad Perdida trek, and it turns out that they could sign us up!

We swam on the beach, watched the sunset, and went back to our hostel. We had to prepare our bags for our trek the next day, and after we went to bed since I was starting to get sick.

Wednesday June 8
We got up early in the morning, left some bags and clothes at our hostel, and grabbed some breakfast before heading to the office to wait on the taxi to Santa Marta.

Turns out, our new travel companions were also in the taxi and so we spent the morning ride getting to know them! Their names we Dan and Claire and they were pretty funny.
When we arrived to Santa Marta, I hit up the pharmacy for as much allergy medicine and cough drops I could get my hands on.
After a while, we finally loaded up on our 4×4 to start our 5 day trek!
The next few days, we hiked through mountains, forest, rivers, and mud. We spent a lot of time walking up and down, sliding up and down on mud, getting rained on and falling asleep by 7 or 8. We would get up around 6 and then have a nice breakfast, hike, lunch break, hike, rest.
It was extremely challenging, but they did have nice shelters. I had to leave my sleeping bag behind because it was unnecessary and I didn’t want to carry the weight the whole time.
Finally, on the 3rd day, we finally hiked up to Ciudad Perdida.

(Check out my post on Ciudad Perdida if you want more information and details.)

Friday June 10

This morning we saw Ciudad Perdida. Our guide gave us an entire afternoon of history, cultural, and mythological lectures – I loved it!
The entire trek was way more than I expected in both beauty and size. Since we had 5 days instead of the general 4 days, we had a pretty easy going (compared to the first 2 days) hike back.

Saturday June 11

We spent another beautiful day hiking in the Sierra Nevada Mountains returning from the lost city.

Sunday June 12

 

Continued hiking back and visited a waterfall before lunch then ride back. Night hang out in taganga.

Upon returning to Taganga, we couldn’t get in to the hostel since the owners weren’t there, so we spent a lot of time resting and waiting until we finally stalked one of the staff members down.

After getting ready, we met up with Dan and Claire for dinner and a few beers before we went back to bed to rest. It was a really great time!

*written by Sarahi