Part 2 the return from Ciudad Perdida

Sept.17 2008

We get up and have breakfast and take the tour of Ciudad Pedida. The sun is out and it is a beautiful day. We tour the entire area. Much of it is the same as the main area jsut spread out. After the tour we pack our stuff and leave. Paddy Francisco and I start out first knowing the rest will catch up. As we are going down the first set of steps, the wide ones, an indigenous guy comes from behind us and says "Con permiso" ( excuse me) and passes us. While we are gingerly, carefully, going down one step at a time in our hiking boots and shoes he is running down the steps in his bar feet. Yeah that makes us feel real good, you betcha. In counterpoint, Francisco fell on the steps 3 times. Later on in the day yours truly slipped and fell on the muddy trail 3 times. Did I mention that it started to rain about 1 hour after we left? Well it did. Fairly hard too. When we got to our destination for the day I was very happy to take a shower and get all the mud off.

A word about the indigenos, they are generally speaking, short of stature, with broad shoulders and dark skin. These are the people described the conquistadores, the ones who carry heavy loads all day and all they eat are coca leaves. And yes that is what they eat too, coca leaves. While the people in our party were struggling with backpacks these guys have these huge packs that are fashioned out of 100lb. coffee sacks and such. They are bulging whenever you see them. For footwear there are 3 options for the indigenos: Most common are your average every day flip flops. Next are rubber boots with stiff soles that give good traction. The third option is nothing at all-bare feet. I don´t know why bu you almost never see them smile. They all dress the same a white cottom tunic and white cottom pants. They all look like Juan Valdez. Just joking; but not much. The men all have long hair and none of them have beards.

Sept. 18 2008

Thank god I got to sleep on a mattress last night. I think I passed out immediately. I was so sore that I couldn´t believe it. So although I slept well when I woke up this morning my entire body was as stiff as a board. Large quiantities of Traumeel and Ben Gay were required to move. It was a laid back kind of morning for us as we had a three and a half-four hour hike to our next destination and once we got there the day was ours. To refresh your memory this is the place with the toucan and the guy who claps his hand for service. Before we left our guide pointed the tree that is used to make a date rape drug. I guess it is the flower which is used. The flower itself is beautiful, it is about 8 inches long and hangs down from a branch. We had a long climb out. On the way in it was nice because after an initial day of climbing we spent a large part of the day going down to the seconc one. However as today we were leavind the second one and going back to the first one we were going in reverse which means up. I had heard that the first and fifth day were the worst. So during breakfast I used the rest of my cocaine and put it in my coffee. You know some people use artificial sweetener....well this was more helpful. This is paste not powder, you can´t snort it. Ingesting it gives you an entirely different experience. You still get a head buzz but it is a whole different kind. You also get a body rush. It also gives you energy. There are 2 therapeutic uses of cocaine-energy and pain relief. I needed them both. For those of you who criticize my drug use during this trek all I have to say is: You´re right. There are a myriad of reasons why it is a bad idea. Legally, ethically, morally, and health wise. So why did I do it? Well a number of reasons. First of all I have used drugs in the past. Coke was a very once in a while thing for me. Cocaine is a drug that the further removed from it´s source the more diluted it becomes. The chance to try it pure and unadulterated straight from the factory so to speak was too good to pass up. I mean imagine if you had only drunk watered down whiskey all your life and now you get a chance to get a sample at the distillery. I know it´s an imperfect analogy but you get the idea. The second reason as I already mentioned is therapeutic. At 56 it is no easy task keeping up with a group of 20 somethings. The energy was very helpful. Necessary might be a more accurate word. And after a day of work followed by sore muscles the coke when rolled up in a joint (yup smoked weed too) was very therapeutic in alleviating the soreness. So those are my reasons, I make no apologies. However I will say that what happened in the mountains stays in the mountains and I am not about to start looking for any drug of any sort now that I am out of the mountains.

So, moving right along as I seldom do (D.Damron) we left camp and started the long climb out. Yes the coke helped a lot. We made it to our next stop at about 11:30 am. From that point on the day was ours to do whatever we wanted. There is a natural pool there with a waterfall at one end. After we were done swimming we spent the rest of the day smoking a bunch of weed that I had bought and playing cards. It was about one fourth of an ounce for 5000 pesos or about $3.00. Russ taught us a game called president ( also shithead or asshole). That was pretty much how we spent the entire day. When I went to bed I was sore. In fact every muscle felt sore. I couldn´t quite place it until I went to bed that night but even my toes were sore. Leading a fairly athletic life I´ve had my share of sore muscles but never have I ever had sore toes.

Sept. 19, 2008
This morning is pretty casual we have about a half hour climb out of the camp and then it is all down hill. It was sort of a bitch as I´d used the last of my coke yesterday morning. I struggled some but then YES! All the way down hill from here. We made it back to the town at about 11 am and had lunch, drank beer and played cards until 1:30 when they came to pick us up.