The discovery

Florentino Sepulveda, a santanderean settler have indices of the existence of a Lost City lost under the jungle "San Pedro Alejandrino calling" as the old Indian Kogo said his name was, he dedicated himself to look for it and found it only 35 years later, when lost in a hunting expedition, sent Julio César to look for a route to leave of The Inferno. From there the place began to be looted in secret. Guaqueros soon arrived. Rivalries that arose between them provoked confrontations in which Julius Caesar, the discoverer of the City, died.

In 1976, after these events, Dr. Alvaro Soto Holguín, then director of the Colombian Institute of Anthropology, accompanied by three archaeologists, organized the research expedition.

After several days of travel, most of this expedition managed to reach the archaeological site and from its reports it was found that the "lost city" was an important housing concentration of special importance due to the steep and almost inaccessible place.

The Archaeological Park of Ciudad Perdida is located on the north face of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta in the upper part of the Buritaca river basin, between nine hundred and one thousand two hundred meters above sea level.

The structures discovered so far occupy an area of ​​approximately 35 hectares.
The most recent research carried out in the Park found that the oldest housing areas are approximately 650 d.C. And that they were occupied until at least 1100 or 1200 d.C. The sixteenth century was characterized by intense periods of conflict followed by years of calm and reestablishment of relations of exchange between indigenous and Spanish invadors. Despite the deployment of force, Spanish settlers never could establish permanent towns in the Sierra or dominate its population. Today the Tairona footprints are a heritage for the Colombians.

How to visit from Minca?

To reach this eco-tourist destination and according to the time available of the traveler, the Lost City can be reached with the help of an experienced guide from Minca. From there, and after a road climb in campero to La Tagua, the route begins on foot.

From La Tagua, a very picturesque first day crosses several areas of humid and deep forest, sometimes foggy, with ascents and descents alternating until arriving at the Station "Filo Cartagena". It is located in the middle basin of the Guachaca river where, until 1989, a peasant population was settled, and after the process of land purchase, 60 indigenous families of the Wiwa community live along the basin. There is a small rustic refuge for walkers, built by former Inderena and run by the Pro-Sierra Nevada Foundation.

The second day is also picturesque, and equally with several steps on crystalline rivers of great beauty, but much more difficult; Ends at "Alto de Mira", another station equipped for walkers. The site has a strategic position because of its proximity to the Boquerón de Cantarranas or Caño Negro; Extensive visual domain over much of the headwaters of the Buritaca River. It is located at 1000 m.s.n.m, on a branch that is detached from the Buritaca blade at 1530 m.s.n.m. and goes down to the confluence of the Julepia and Caño Negro streams, tributaries of the Buritaca River at 610 m.s.n.m .; The third day is a very demanding road, by difficult terrain (unavoidably on foot), crossing the Guachaca and Buritaca rivers.

This crossing allows you to admire the ravine of Valencia, in the upper part of the Buritaca River, which is a perfect for the observation of its waterfalls and the landscape.