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March 18, 2006
Photos from the Lost City trek
here are some of my favorite photos from the lost city trek. the ones at the end featuring the cocaine factory were taken by my friend Lee.
The gringo jeep.
this is what the trail looked like.
leaves.
tiny epiphite
butterfly.
coca plant.
kogi village.
Cutter ants. they cut and carry these leaves, then bury them undergound to grow fungus, which they eat. good old nature.
Ewan from scotland carrying our mascot dog "esparky 2" over a river.
nicolas the cook, and the giant amount of stuff he carried.
indigenous kids of the Kogi tribe.
a frog that carries it's young on it's own back.
my good friend Lee from England, and Esparky 2 our mascot dog.
the stairway to the lost city. it rises right out of the riverbed.
the main staircase.
clouds over the mountains. view from the lost city.
the stream that runs through the lost city. known as quebrapatas.
mossy terraces and stone staircases.
main ceremonial terraces in the lost city.
clouds over the mountains.
metates (grinding stones). lost city.
kogi, the decendents of the lost city culture.
terraces and palmtrees in the lost city.
frog rock.
terraces and mountains.
mossy terraces.
me swinging from vines in the lost city. my life rules.
kogi, a really cool japanese guy. he loved balancing rocks on top of boulders in the middle of the river.
rocks in the river.
rocks balanced in the river.
rocks balanced in the river.
Edwin, a guide and my friend, standing in a guaqua, a grave that has been robbed of it's contents.
evidence along the trail of precolombian civilization.
they cut down the jungle and burn the countryside in order to make pastures for cattle.
me jumping into a swimming hole.
precolombian beads. the Tayrona culture used them as offerings to the gods to maintain natural equilibrium.
borrachera, a hallucinogenic flower. don't mess with it.
the trail back to civilization.
me swimming in rivers.
one of the optional features of the tour is a visit to a functioning cocaine factory. ingredients used in the process include: gasoline, hydrochloric acid, other nasty stuff. cocaine is so lame, for so many reasons.
Note: these photos were taken by my friend, Lee.
check out the cocaine chemist. he looks like a gnome.
mixing coca leaves with gas.
chemicals from the factory.
hope you enjoyed the photos.
the hike was really good. now i'm back in Santa Marta, finishing up my research. i think i'll be leaving on wednesday or thursday. Lee needs to head south, so we're gonna check out San Gil, near Bucaramanga, on the way to Bogota. San Gil is said to have really good rafting. after that, i'm going back to Bogota to finish up research i need to do there. i arrive home 3 weeks from today.
oh, i wrote this. it was on my blog earlier, but i spiced it up a little, correct punctuation, capitalizing words, that sort of jazz.
Posted by bendan at March 18, 2006 11:15 AM
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Comments
Wow! These are so fantastic! Where are you now? Still traveling? Any advice for aspiring travelers who want this experience more than anything? Thanks.
Jennifer
Posted by: Jennifer at May 11, 2008 02:34 AM