La Ciudad Perdida is a five-day hike in the Colombian jungle. A few summers ago, three friends were coming to visit me and I convinced them that this trek was something we needed to do together. They went for it and so, in addition to visiting Cartagena and Taganga, I made arrangements for us to trek to the "The Lost City" in the Sierra Nevadas of Santa Marta.

Turns out it was by far one of the hardest thing any of us have ever done. We hiked each day for 4-6 hours from one campsite to the next, carrying our overly stuffed packs and regretting every single one of our packing choices. On the plus side, the terrain is absolutely breathtaking and makes up for all those times we occasionally got stuck in ankle deep mud or crossed the fifth bajillion river in one day. (That may be a slight exaggeration, it was probably more like five).

On the fourth day, we reached the lost city.

Then, we turned around and hiked back. Some of it was really hard; some of it was in the rain. At one point, I cried. Okay, maybe more than once. But, was it worth it in the end? YES! It most definitely was. No doubt about that.