A trek into the jungle in search of Colombia’s “Lost City.”

By Luke Armstrong

Our group grabs the packs from the top of the Jeep’s rusty roof before we set off for Ciudad Perdida, or Colombia’s Lost City. Our guide, Tunyi, decides to begin the six-day trek by telling us about eight tourists who were kidnapped on September 15^th, 2003, by the National Liberation Army (ELN) on the very trail we were hiking. “Three months they held them captive,” he tells us. “They were lucky to be released.” The three Australians in our group find this funny while the two boisterous Russians become quiet and pensive after I translate this bit of information for them. Perhaps Tunyi should have started by pointing out the names of some native fauna.

After the kidnapping incident, tourist treks to the city stopped until 2005. Though an air of danger still lurks on the forbidding trail, Colombia’s army now patrols the path, and according to our guide, the number of robberies have taken a dive. Within the first hour we pass a small group of soldiers wielding semi-automatic weapons. The Russians seem especially agitated by the troops, and they request in broken English that I ask our guide in Spanish their purpose.

We venture into Colombia’s Sierra Nevada mountain range along narrow and seemingly impossible trails in saturated air. After a few hours we have crossed the same river a dozen times as it snakes along our difficult path. (more…)