March 1 Day 14
We arose after checking our boots for scorpions and had a cold breakfast but were looking forwards to what we supposed to be our easiest day of hiking. We had to backtrack for about 5 minutes to get onto a smaller path upon which we would be the only tourists, and not many mules or motos either. It would be mostly descending today as we were heading out of the mountains back to the city. For a bonus, we had put our daypacks on a mule and so were less laden than we had been previously.
The hike started off alright as we skirted farms and we up and down hills with excellent views. Raphael would often visit people and catch up with us when he was done. Initially, he ran to get up with us after dealing with our backpack mule and was actually sweating, the first time we had seen this.
One of our group was having bad stomach problems so at one of the farms we stopped to hire a mule for her to ride. The mule was led by a smiling girl who looked about 8 years old but seemed to know what she was doing.
Soon after the farm, Raphael warned us of an area that had a lot of ticks. One of our group reached down to grad a dropped pole and his hand was immediately covered with a hundred black specks about the size of black pepper bits that swarming over his skin. He brushed off what he could but ended up finding the little demons on various body parts for the rest of the day. The group moved quickly through this area but the day's morale did not recover.
Meg was starting to feel badly but kept moving forwards along the narrow trail. We had to take another break when the mule's saddle broke and everyone clustered to puzzle out how it could be repaired. We stopped in another farm with very healthy animals and watched a crew of piglets chase their mom all over the place and suckle when they could.
Everyone was exhausted as we continued down our narrow trails in the heat. As we neared the end we had two river crossings which fortunately weren't too difficult. After the last one we rejoiced to see the Wiwa village of Gotsezhi. We walked through it and saw a lively village full of people including a schoolhouse with boards on easels and kids playing ball in the street.
Our destination for lunch was a further 10 minutes past the village and we really dragged our asses there until we could finally sit. Everyone collapsed in their own way; sitting, lying, leaning and drinking the juice that was provided to us.
We were visiting a Planeterra project in association with G Adventures. The village is outside of the normal tourist route to the lost city so the funds go to building eating and sleeping areas for visitors, good washrooms and training the women to cook for large groups of visitors. The lunch was excellent, vegetable soup followed by a whole fish with vegetables and more juice.
After lunch, Filipe went over the project and told us we would only have a short visit with the women's weaving project as he wanted to get back to the city early because carnivale might be starting today which would gum up the streets. We visited a small shelter where an older and younger woman were weaving and many bags of various sizes were on display for sale. We saw the dyed fibres they used and got to ask questions and many bags were sold to our group.
It was then time to get back into our 4 x 4s and head to Santa Marta. The road from the village was much rougher than our road in and Meg had trouble trying to nap as the vehicle bucked from side to side and spun its wheels several times navigating the step, dusty roads.
Everyone was cheered to see pavement and the traffic was thick and slow as we headed back into town. We got back in good time as carnivale wasn't going to really happen until the next day. We found our bags and had a few hours to freshen up before dinner.
As we showered more tick removal happened. Wendy's roommate became an expert after watching Wendy take 10 ticks off of her. I only had one and Meg had a maybe one that we removed anyway. It felt really good to put on clean clothes and bag our reeking hiking gear.
We gathered in the lobby and collected tips for Filipe. Meg and another member weren't up for dinner so we said some goodbyes. The restaurant was a Greek/Italian beast with good pizza and I had the Greek paella which was also tasty. We had lots to talk about and it felt good to sit in dry clothes.
Many goodbyes were said after dinner as we had an early flight the next day. I repacked my stuff for flight while Meg rested and caught another tick scooting along the floor. Sleep was good but far too short.
We arose after checking our boots for scorpions and had a cold breakfast but were looking forwards to what we supposed to be our easiest day of hiking. We had to backtrack for about 5 minutes to get onto a smaller path upon which we would be the only tourists, and not many mules or motos either. It would be mostly descending today as we were heading out of the mountains back to the city. For a bonus, we had put our daypacks on a mule and so were less laden than we had been previously.
The hike started off alright as we skirted farms and we up and down hills with excellent views. Raphael would often visit people and catch up with us when he was done. Initially, he ran to get up with us after dealing with our backpack mule and was actually sweating, the first time we had seen this.
One of our group was having bad stomach problems so at one of the farms we stopped to hire a mule for her to ride. The mule was led by a smiling girl who looked about 8 years old but seemed to know what she was doing.
Soon after the farm, Raphael warned us of an area that had a lot of ticks. One of our group reached down to grad a dropped pole and his hand was immediately covered with a hundred black specks about the size of black pepper bits that swarming over his skin. He brushed off what he could but ended up finding the little demons on various body parts for the rest of the day. The group moved quickly through this area but the day's morale did not recover.
Meg was starting to feel badly but kept moving forwards along the narrow trail. We had to take another break when the mule's saddle broke and everyone clustered to puzzle out how it could be repaired. We stopped in another farm with very healthy animals and watched a crew of piglets chase their mom all over the place and suckle when they could.
Everyone was exhausted as we continued down our narrow trails in the heat. As we neared the end we had two river crossings which fortunately weren't too difficult. After the last one we rejoiced to see the Wiwa village of Gotsezhi. We walked through it and saw a lively village full of people including a schoolhouse with boards on easels and kids playing ball in the street.
Our destination for lunch was a further 10 minutes past the village and we really dragged our asses there until we could finally sit. Everyone collapsed in their own way; sitting, lying, leaning and drinking the juice that was provided to us.
We were visiting a Planeterra project in association with G Adventures. The village is outside of the normal tourist route to the lost city so the funds go to building eating and sleeping areas for visitors, good washrooms and training the women to cook for large groups of visitors. The lunch was excellent, vegetable soup followed by a whole fish with vegetables and more juice.
After lunch, Filipe went over the project and told us we would only have a short visit with the women's weaving project as he wanted to get back to the city early because carnivale might be starting today which would gum up the streets. We visited a small shelter where an older and younger woman were weaving and many bags of various sizes were on display for sale. We saw the dyed fibres they used and got to ask questions and many bags were sold to our group.
It was then time to get back into our 4 x 4s and head to Santa Marta. The road from the village was much rougher than our road in and Meg had trouble trying to nap as the vehicle bucked from side to side and spun its wheels several times navigating the step, dusty roads.
Everyone was cheered to see pavement and the traffic was thick and slow as we headed back into town. We got back in good time as carnivale wasn't going to really happen until the next day. We found our bags and had a few hours to freshen up before dinner.
As we showered more tick removal happened. Wendy's roommate became an expert after watching Wendy take 10 ticks off of her. I only had one and Meg had a maybe one that we removed anyway. It felt really good to put on clean clothes and bag our reeking hiking gear.
We gathered in the lobby and collected tips for Filipe. Meg and another member weren't up for dinner so we said some goodbyes. The restaurant was a Greek/Italian beast with good pizza and I had the Greek paella which was also tasty. We had lots to talk about and it felt good to sit in dry clothes.
Many goodbyes were said after dinner as we had an early flight the next day. I repacked my stuff for flight while Meg rested and caught another tick scooting along the floor. Sleep was good but far too short.
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| Terrain criss-crossed by grazing animals. |
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| Raphael shows us the old sugar cane crushing machinery. |
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| Tired hikers and the Mamo. |
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