I decided to do this 5 days trekking during my traveling to Colombia after reading lots recommendation in the internet about the trip. It was my 3rd 5 days trekking after Kilimanjaro in Tanzania and Torres del Paine in Chile.
It was quite a hard walking, with lots of uphills and downhills, but I was glad I did it.
I met lots of interesting and fun travelers around the world (many Australians!).
There are 5 companies but I decided to join Magic Tour because they responded to my emails promptly and well. It seemed that I chose it rightly.
During the trip, at the same timing, we trekked with other groups from other companies, but my group was always started earlier, more organized, more informative (all guides didn't speak English though). Our food was a bit with extra of something in several cases, served earlier than others especially our lunch after the Ciudad Perdida, and we got champagne-like-ciders on the last night to celebrate.
Maybe it was because we got a good guide. Our guide was Ali, accompanied by his wife Marta, and the young chochinero (cook) Jon.
Our group was 8 persons, me, Wilco from the Netherland who could speak fluent Spanish that became our translator during the trek, Cate and Darryl from Australia, Lisa from England, Eaman and Nicky from Ireland, and Pierre from France (he separated from us from the 2nd day because he wanted to do 4 days).
I met a lot of young and cool Australians in other groups, also 2 Hong Kong and 2 Germans.
The route was harder than the W trek (Torres del Paine in Chile) with more climbhills and downhills, but not as hard as Kilimanjaro. The temperature was hot, but cooler than I expected, though it was really humid.
The view was beautiful, though less varieties than Torres del Paine.
The ruins were better than I was expected, though not as spectacular as Macchu Pichu.
However the route was fun and interesting, with many river crossings, one crossing by sliding cage, swimming, meeting with indigenous people, seeing insects like ants carrying big leaves, beautiful butterflies. We found also more dangerous ones like scorpion and spider also.
We slept on hammocks in the first night, beds on 2nd and 4th night (same camp), and a choice of bed or hammock on the 3rd night.
The food, the breakfasts, lunches and dinners were amazing. They were delicious and big volume.
During the walk, our guide prepared snacks like bananas, oranges, pineapples, watermelons and biscuits.
Really glad I did it.
Facts
Dates: 28 September - 2 October 2011 (5 days, 4 nights)
Cost: COP 600,000 (USD 1 = COP 1,800) by Magic Tour, all inclusive, except softdrinks and beers
Company: Magic Tour Taganga (http://www.magictourtaganga.com)
in Santa Marta
Calle 16 No.4-41 (Frente a la catedral)
Celular: 317 679 2441
Teléfono: (57+5) 421 5820
in Taganga
Calle 14 No. 1b-50 Taganga
Celular: 317 679 2441
Teléfono: (57+5) 421 9429
Things to bring
Musts:
- rucksack (with waterproof cover)
- several plastic bags to separate wet clothes from dry clothes
- 5 pairs of socks, underwear, t-shirts, maybe less if there is sun to do laundry
- 1 walking shorts/trousers - I started with trousers but they were torn, maybe when they were wet, they were weak and easy to be torn when I made big step for climbing. I continued with shorts and it was more comfortable and easier to walk, but I got more mosquito's bites!
- footwear, a strong and comfortable one.
- evening/sleeping wear - long trousers/long sleeved top
- Sandals (useful for crossing rivers as well as swimming in the numerous rivers)
- raincoat
- Torch (no electricity in the 2, 3, 4 night camps)
- Towel - small light quick dry one
- Insect repellent (a good one) - Mine was only good for 10 minutes, before the next mosquito's attack
- hand gloves - for climbing
- walking stick
- snack for beer or during the card games
Preference:
- Sun cream - I didn't use it, because most of the time we walked under the tree shade. Also I was sweating a lot.
- Water bottle - The water was supplied on the 2-5 day. I brought 2 x 500ml bottles.
- Dry bag for keeping camera, money etc. dry - lots of river crossings - one of our party had one which we all used - but not really necessary because the deepest river we crossed was only knee deep.
- good book - We got free time on 1, 2 day after arriving in the camp, but not necessary because we can chat with fellow travellers or playing cards or doing laundry or swimming in the river.
- playing cards - I borrowed from the camp.
- camera
Other references:
http://www.lonelyplanet.com/thorntree/thread.jspa?threadID=2054538
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