Ciudad Perdida Colombia, December 2014 - January 2015 (3)

6 days hiking to The Lost City.

We have reached the Lost City. It was actually not so hard to walk the 1200 stairs. Here we are with Isabel from Colombia. She was one of the few Colombians who came there.

Here we walk around the circle for good luck.

This is a map of the Lost City. Probably as old as the city itself.

The Lost City streches 3 km. Here we look further into it.

We are getting close to the holy center.

Up here is probably the most holy place in La Ciudad Perdida.

Eva wants to practice as shaman.

Edvin and Emilie with the Colombian flag. This is the last day of 2014.

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Bjørn connects to his son over the satellite phone to say Happy new year. There has been no coverage for mobile phones for the last four days!

This is the main shaman and chief of La Ciudad Perdida. As spiritual leader he was not quite convincing, to be honest, but he tried to take care of the spiritual integrity of the place, he said.

We gathered in a circle and had silence to leave the bad thoughts behind and clence our minds for the new year. After that the shaman and his wife tied a small band around our wrists as a symbol of luck and prosperity in the new year.

The tying ceremony. (A father munk did the same for us in Thailand once.)

The shaman and his wife.

Edvin, Isabel, Eva, the shaman, Emilie and Bjørn.

Selfie on the new years eve. At this point we are as high as was allowed in La Ciudad Perdida. Twenty meters further up rules the military.

The view over the holy center.

We did our way back faster than we walked to the Lost City. The Lost City is 1200 meters above the sea, and here we are back at the first camp, just 700 meters above the sea. But many ups and downs.

The refreshing river that runs through the camp.

These young Argentinian girls were just than 22 years old. One of them told us that she had never had dirt on her feet before. Before she left home she did not know that she could do it, living this primitive, without perfume and other luxury things for several days. But she wanted to challenge herself, and did it.

They were good girls, they did not complain, just made jokes about it.

One is an English teacher. The next study drama (I think is was) and the one to the right  (who told about her lack of perfume) studies systems engineering.