SUNDAY COFFEE WITH JEB



Seniors Discover “La Ciudad Perdida”

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How does one go about finding a “Lost City?” A good guide will help! Researchers say that La Ciudad Perdida dates before Machu Picchu. Seniors, are you ready for a good hike into the jungle? Are you ready for a true adventure? Then grab your coffee and let’s head out for La Cuidad Perdida in Columbia, believed to be one of the largest known archaeological sites in South America.

The first stones were placed approximately 500 AD and remained unknown until 1972 when the city was discovered by treasure hunters. The Indians who live nearby say the city has always been known, but they have kept it a secret.

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The Ciudad Perdida can only be visited via a jungle trek that may take up to six days. Be forewarned: This trek is not for the timid, the walk is tough but hikers are rewarded with stunning flora and fauna and nature that not many outsiders will ever see.

Senior Trekers Discover More

The Tayrona people built La Ciudad Perdida and called it Teyuna. The Spanish invasion pushed the natives high into the Sierra Nevada until they were so dispersed that their numbers dwindled and their cities were abandoned. The jungle reclaimed the Lost City…until tomb raiders found gold.

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And on your way there’s more than a Lost City to discover in this part of Colombia. From the Guajira desert down to Cartagena you’ll find historical buildings, waterfalls, smooth, sandy beaches in Tayrona national park or coffee farms in Minca.

The trek is a classic Indiana Jones style 6 day/5 night, 20km trek through the rainforest to some of the most magical of South America’s ruins. Many tourists that do visit Ciudad Perdida rank it as one of their most memorable travel experiences ever.

La Ciudad Perdida AKA Green Hell

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That  group of local treasure looters found a series of stone steps rising up the mountainside, through dense jungle and followed them to an abandoned city which they named “Green Hell”. Members of local tribes the Arhuaco, the Kogui and the Assario have stated that they visited the site regularly before it was widely discovered, but had kept quiet about it.

La Ciudad Perdida was probably the region’s political and manufacturing center on the Buritaca River and may have housed from 2000 up to 8000 people. It was apparently abandoned during the Spanish conquest.

The vegetation is still not completely removed. Therefore, the ruins really feel like a forgotten and lost city. In the area, trekkers will discover more than 200 stone structures, roads, canals, houses, storage areas, plazas and ceremonial buildings. The city has 169 terraces that are carved into the mountainside offering stunning scenery of the Sierra Nevada mountains and valleys.

Those who have made the climb found an amazing ever-changing scenery to walk through. From wet rainforest, red clay hills, rocky paths through rivers, grassy cleared land and local indigenous Kogui villages.

So, think you might be ready for this jaunt into the “Green Hell?” Suerte!  jeb

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