I found the lost city!

I re-arranged my whole schedule (even though i dont really have much of a schedule travelling) to go on the lost city/cuidad perdida. Becuase of this, I have heard the same couple of jokes from about a million people this last week. "Have you found the lost city yet?¨or ¨dont get lost going to the lost city¨. at this point i really only respond with a pity laugh. but, if you would like to know the real answer, i have found the lost city.

The cuidad perdida is one of the oldest cities built in the amazon by a tribe called tayrona around 500 b.c. After trekking through lots of mud, crossing the platform of death over a raging river, and almost stepping upon a poisonous viper snake (which a local quickly killed by hitting it over the head with a stick), we got to the site of the ruins on the morning of the fourth day. it was a perfect sunny morning to explore this old civilization now covered in jungly trees and vines. i really felt like i was in an indian jones movie (minus the large number of military men that now live there and guard the site from travelers like myself who want to sneak up there and camp overnight). However, as i like to say ¨it was not the destination, but the journey that mattered¨. Even though the actual ruins were far more than i expected them to be, it was the rest of the trek that really made it worth it.

We spent the days walking through beautiful shaded canopies of trees, jumping off of rocks into pristine waterholes (although i was too pussy to actually jump), hanging out around the wooden tables playing cards and eating good food, and sleeping in hammocks at night.

I would like to note that hammock sleeping is really not as amazing as everyone cracks it up to be. i feel like everyone is always saying that sleeping in hammocks if great, and it is super cool and traveler-like to just buy a hammock and sleep in it where ever you go. However, this is only in theory. in practice, i think hammocks are good for about an hour of siesta. But for an entire night sleeping in one position (not to mention it does get kinda cold from the draft coming up from under the hammock), it is really not an ideal sleeping situation. and a lot of times the hammock is rarely cleaned so you end up sleeping on a moist piece of cloth that like a million other dirty hippie travelers have slept on. and it really is an art form to get in and out of those things. trying to figure out how to get in and out with a mosquito net and two blankets is a really ungraceful process. i like to pretend that i like sleeping in hammocks, but in reality i would choose for a bed any day.

so anyways, i spent 5 days hiking in the jungle and meeting awesome people. my actual tour group consisted of only 4 other people. There were two really sweet german girls that did not have an ounce of mean-ness in them, and then this hilarious 38 year old gay guy from kentucky. Anthony was born and raised in the south, based out of new york now, but lived in chile for a year to tap into the gay south american scene. he was one of those people who claps at everything and everyone every other second of the day (i had to tell him to shut up some times). he has cried watching star wars and has been a pirate in the pirates of the caribean ride at disney land. apparently during his straight phase in life he dated jasmine from aladin. he loved to analysis and gossip about everyone on the other tour groups. great company on the trek.

my group ended up meeting up with another group and essentially became part of there trip. There were these two guys alex and tim (alex coincidently lives in the mission in sf) who were travelling together. although you would never for the life of you expect that they were friends. total opposites. alex was a super tall, in shape, beautiful muscles, physical trainer kind of guy that ran down the trail in his light weigh vibram shoes. Tim on the other hand had just graduated from med-school and clearly looked as if he had eaten a box of cheesits every time he was studying for a test. it was tims first hike ever and although he came prepared with a uv-light water purifier and biowipes (biodegradable wipes made by coleman outdoor company), he still complained that this was the hardest thing he had ever done. hopefully it did not turn him off to hiking completely. i thought it was a pretty funny traveling pair.

I made a decision to change my name to Anya (my middle name) here in Colombia because i like it better. It has not gone over too well though. I keep forgetting that I want to change my name and introduce myself as Kate first and then instanstly try to tell people it is Anya. People get really confused, and I get really confused becuase I cant remember who i told what. So, I guess i will just stick with Kate. Too bad my parents were super uncreative in terms of naming their kids.

The other dude that was part of the tour group was my favorite guy i met (maybe favorite on my whole trip which is a really big statement). The first 5 minutes of meeting Steve I tried to tell him about this coincidence I had with stealing this girls shirt. He quickly stopped me half way though the story and told me he had already heard this story from a girl he went kite surfing with. After that little coincidence we totally hit it off and ended up spending the next couple of days together. Steve is a Canadian firefighter that might spend the rest of his days in Edmonton, Alberta putting out fires for half the year and travelling the other half. Seems like he gots the whole formula of life balanced out nicely. The best thing to is that Steve has started up his own lawn mowing company that completely finances his travels. He drives around in his truck for 6 weeksish every spring around the cookie cutter suburb houses of canada and gets a butt ton of money from rich people so he can travel. pretty fucking great business if you ask me. We have also decided that we both might go into the business of cleaning windshields at red lights. apparently there is good money in that.

People here sometimes use the word reggaeton as a verb. Like, ¨do you reggaeton¨or ¨lets go reggaeton tonight¨. i love it! i am interested to see if i will like reggaeton when i am back in the states. cause right now, i am mildly obsessed with the act of reggaetoning!