Episode 13: How Trekking the Colombian Jungle Quickly Went From Paradise To A Living Nightmare
Hi travel besties & welcome back to another episode of The Just Book It Podcast. I am excited to share this incredibly intense story of my trip through the Colombian Jungle and how I survived one of my biggest nightmares, getting sick in the middle of a 4-day trek. If you like what you hear, be sure to subscribe to my blog for up-to-date monthly newsletters on travel news, new blog posts & inspiration you need to Juast Book It! Let’s get started, shall we?
Introduction
What comes to mind when you first think about a 4-day hike in the Colombian Jungle? For most, they are probably intimidated. Am I strong enough to do this? If you’re me, you’re like OH YES, this is going to be amazing. I need to do this. If you’re my mom, you’d say. “What, you’re doing what?!?” “You know about the guerra in the mountains” “Oh please be careful”. She definitely burst my bubble there. Just be happy that I will be embarking on this life-changing experience. Oh, it will be life-changing. That is no doubt. You never think you’re going to get sick on vacation until you do.
The Night Before The Ascend to La Cuidad Perdida (The Lost City)
It all happened on the third night. For perspective, we’re at the base camp before the main hike to see the ancient Lost City. Basically, it is the night before the LONGEST hiking day. Not only are we hiking all the way up to the lost city, but back down to the camp and to the very beginning. Even if you’re 100% healthy, it’s a challenge so could you imagine if you’re not feeling well? My boyfriend and I were in the same bed & all of a sudden I woke up and he wasn’t there. I was super scared at the moment but surprisingly calm. Where could he have gone? Turns out his stomach was twisting & turning. In my head, I was hoping it would dissipate before the main hike the next day.
The Next Morning: Hiking La Cuidad Perdida (The Lost City)
Unfortunately, the next morning was not better than the night before. He skips breakfast in exchange for more sleep and we were the last tour group to head up to the mountain. We didn’t realize it at the time, but that was a blessing in disguise. For him, hiking up was like hell. We had to climb 1300 steps to the top. So it was hell for all of us & especially for him. Our K-9 friend was with us the whole way. He was super concerned & overall he did it. We were going at a slow pace and throughout the hike to the top, he was throwing up and using the bathroom a lot. Remember how I said we were the last group? It was perfect not having people breathing down our backs to go ahead of us. Naturally, when we get to the top, it’s 1,000 degrees. Probably the sunniest day that we have had. He’s just laying down at the point while the tour guide is teaching us about the history of this place. Everyone in our group was so kind; offering help and asking if he was okay. Then for a bit, he feels okay. We have about 30 minutes to relax at the top so we decide to take a nap and I take photos too. That’s when things start to get a little funky.
Double Trouble: When It Rains It Pours
At this point, my bowels are starting to get really loose. The sun beaming on my head instantly gives me the first indication of a headache. Since I get headaches a lot, I was able to sense one coming. Being aware of that was k e y. After we get to the top, we’re now descending. Since our group liked to take their time (which I loved) we all stopped at this hidden waterfall. It was that cold water that subsided my headache until it didn’t. I had this urge to throw up and immediately felt better, for the time being. I won’t go into too much detail, but the remainder of the hike back to the camp from the morning consisted of many throw-up & shitting breaks some at the same exact time. It was a horrible feeling. I couldn’t believe this is how my boyfriend felt in the morning, ugh. It took a lot of mental power to get through that hike. I felt so weak, defeated & exhausted. When I tell you my body was collapsing, I mean that there was minimal effort to fall to the ground. Since we were hiking by the river, I constantly dipped my sun hat in there and poured water over my face when I wasn’t pulling trig. To say the least, it was a very humbling experience. Thankfully for my boyfriend and the patient guides, I managed to speed through the last few miles.
We’re At The Camp!! Yay Relaxation…HUH?
My only motivation for speeding through was to rest, maybe shower & try to eat something finally. Turns out, we took forever to get down and the rest of the group was almost finished eating and then we had to head ALL THE WAY DOWN to one of the other rest stops. In my head, I was like please no. I literally cannot walk a step further. Our guide Luis set up his portable hammock for me to wallow in. I had previously judged people for taking the mules down the mountain on the premise of animal cruelty and laziness. See how karma works instantly sometimes. I soon will be judged for being lazy and mistreating animals. It was the easiest decision to pay $150k ($30USD) to take the mule down the mountain. No way in hell I am walking again. They take me away while the group is still eating and me being delusional, I’m just honestly relieved to be taken care of and that I am going to recover soon. I was taken away with two indigenous members. Ino, my boyfriend, starts running after me. He didn’t like the thought of me going by myself and honestly thank god, that would have been so scary.
We’re On The Road Again
At this point, I am fragile. I am riding the mule while Ino is chasing me & eventually I tell him to get on the other mule. We let the indigenous people know & I get down and I literally fell to the ground and just tried to throw up. At this point, tourists going up the jolly mountain are looking at me and ugh it was awful. We both get on and my legs hurt just being on the mule and I am getting super emotional. Expressing gratitude for them helping me out and wished I was off this mountain. The fun part at this point was long gone and all I kept thinking about was “am I going to die on this mountain?” I also realized that I haven’t contacted my family in a full 24 hours. “Do I tell them and scare the shit out of them?” “I’m so exhausted and drained, I can’t think about contacting anyone”. We then make it to the first drop-off point and our bodies drop. We are not laying on this bench waiting for another set of mules. It was at this moment that we realized we still had a long way back to the bottom.
On The Road Again: Pt 2
Since we realize we have quite a long ride with them, might as well start to get comfortable. We’re slowly starting to feel better. Their Spanish is not perfect and nor is mine, but we’re trying here and there to just converse so it’s not a 2-3 hour awkward ride down. Eventually, I say, “Do you like Bad Bunny?” and they were like “YES, YES” so with the 9% battery I have left, I said we’re going to have fun and blasted whatever downloaded bad bunny & reggaeton songs I had. Things were starting to look up. You can see that the sun is slowly starting to set. I was thinking about how the rest of the group is still walking. “Will they make it?”
After paying another $200k each, we get to the other camp (it’s not the end just yet) and since our guides aren’t there, we couldn’t sleep on the beds. At this point, everyone knows how sick we are. The other tour guides are offering to give us tea and help us. One of the guides we were closer to let us use his hammocks. We napped and then slept in a bed once the guides got there. For the remainder of the night, I was tossing and turning and Ino is slowly starting to feel better. My stomach is in a knot and it just needed some time to settle.
The Last Hoorah
I immediately feel better when I wake up. I was also optimistic about the rest of the hike. Our tour guides recommend that we actually went on the mules again because our bodies are still recovering. The last leg of the trip was eye-opening. It’s quite amazing to look up and be grateful for what you have. I felt grateful for this opportunity to hike, to be able to see these amazing views and to experience riding the mules on the way down. We got the full experience. At this time, I had some battery to communicate with my family using my satellite device (shoutout Zoleo). Afterward, we got off the mules and had the option to walk or take the motorcycle down which was included in the $200k. In our heads, we’re like why not it was so fun driving down the mountain that I was struggling to hike the first day. Eventually, the rest of the group joined us at the beginning and we headed back to the town of Santa Marta to pick up our luggage and then they dropped us off at our hotel.
Closing Remark
I have so much gratitude for the indigenous, tour guides, our group & my boyfriend for helping to make this an incredible experience. It was a sincere pleasure to be in the presence of so much history, and beauty & all of these memories are in my heart forever. Even though things did not go exactly as planned, I wouldn’t have changed it for the world. This hike is something I will still recommend if you take preventative measures to ensure your health. I have a post in the works on the theories that might have caused this and ways to stay safe on the hike! Thanks for listening and I’ll see you in the next episode! Be sure to check out my page if you like what you hear and follow to stay up-to-date on all of my adventures! Bye guys!
what do you think?