The day started off with an early wake up at 7 am, followed by breakfast. We were told that we would have the opportunity to hike 2 hours to Stone City and to pack our day packs. Not knowing what to expect we set off on our adventure.

The hike itself was not particularly easy but worth it in the end. We stopped at the top of the mountain where the view was nothing like I’ve ever seen before. It was truly amazing! We then continued walking to Stone City. I had a clear image of what I thought we were going to see but the reality was so much better. Stone City which is also known as the Lost City, is a place made entirely of rock. We walked through this incredible place with walls of rock all around us.

For the last part of our day, all of us had a choice to make, we could either hike all the way back to camp or continue the hike up Eagle Mountain. Personally I chose to go up Eagle Mountain. I was a little nervous because our tour guide told us that this particular mountain was a lot harder than what we had done so far. However I was up for the challenge. Eight of us plus our tour guide and Mr. Weiland hiked the entire mountain in a total of twelve minutes, which is apparently incredibly fast. Although the hike was tiring and at some points we had a lack of oxygen because we were at an altitude of 4,100 meters, we all felt relieved and extremely happy to reach the top but most of all accomplished. We had a perfect 360 degree view of the páramo. On the way back down we watched the beautiful sunset. At the end of the night our tour guides sang Colombian songs before we went to bed. Overall this day was lots of fun and we learned a lot of new things about Colombian culture. –Rebecca Ross ’16