Rain check Machu Picchu and challenge yourself this year with a trek to La Ciudad Perdida, The Lost City tucked inside the dense jungles of northern Colombia.

The combination of heat, humidity, and inclines will make the 4-6 day trek very uncomfortable, but rewarding. We started off in the small town of Mamey, where we fueled up on bread, ham, and cheese, because, little did we know at the time, we would need all the energy we could get. We kicked it off with an easy hour's walk. But, in the high humidity of the steamy Colombian jungle, even just standing there caused the body to sweat. Slowly, before the hard part started, my shirt was turning a shade darker as sweat spread into larger concentric circles. Unfortunately, whatever becomes wet in the jungle often stays that way.

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Santa Marta is a commercial port city bustling with traffic - both cars and pedestrians. Unlike Cartagena's walled city, Santa Marta lacks the sophistication and elegance that give Cartagena its characteristic charm. The city, at least in the area I was in, was heavily policed, with officers occasionally stopping the locals to conduct a body search. The streets were dirty and at times exuded a smell unpleasant to the nose. The people seemed to prefer to keep their distance, whether it was from everyone or just the tourists I don't know.

However, Santa Marta's temperatures are considerably cooler than Cartagena's; and the city's beach faces west, giving an open view of magnificent sunsets that light up the Caribbean Sea like an underwater fire and bring life to the whispers of clouds overhead.