Every year millions of tourists travel to Colombia in order to visit the most amazing places that our country has. Not being the exception, Santa Marta falls in the eyes of those curious travelers, -like you-, who choose to meet one of the most mythical places of the Colombian Caribbean the “Lost City of Santa Marta”. However, although our indigenous communities allow visits of our travelers around the world, the great traffic of people to this place can get sick our mother earth
As is customary every year, the temporary closure of Ciudad Perdida for the month of September was made official. The downside was that several of our tourists did not know that this happen every year and much less knew “what they could do then”.
One day while I was taking my break, I saw several travelers in the agency who were still asking about the tour to Lost City and maybe they didn’t understand why it would be closed in september, so I thought it would be a good idea to tell you the reason why our “Lost City” will be lose during that month of their sight and if it likes you, I could tell you in the next post what I recommend you to do while they wait for your return.
Then let’s get started…
In the basin of the Buritaca river there are two cultures the Kogui and the Arsarios also known as Wiwas. Every year they meet in Mutanyi village or in the Lost City together with their wives and children to do a “spiritual cleansing” of the territory. The curious thing is that when they do this kind of sacred ritual no one, absolutely no one who is not from their community can enter, because if they do, the spiritual connection would be interrupted and the cleaning would be damaged.
You’re maybe wondering how these communities can establish that strange connection with nature, the answer is simple in these indigenous tribes there are some spiritual leaders, known as the highest expression of wisdom among their own, called “Mamos”, it is often believed that these people possess supernatural knowledge and wisdom, which it has been inherited by Seynekun “Mother Earth “and other gods.
But, we rewind the cassette; the Sierra is inhabited by four thousand-year-old ethnic groups: the Wiwas, Koguis, Arhuacos and Kankuamos, these ethnicities, although different, are related to each other and are called the “older brothers”, why? Because they believe that they were born first to us by an universal mother, so we are their younger brothers. – The first mentioned possess the legacy of caring for nature, communicating with it and protecting it-
Taking care for these ancient and vital places is a very important task for each one of us! That is why our older brothers and the Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History (ICANH), have decided to let The Lost City rest for this month. In this time the “Mamos” will be carrying out spiritual sanitations — ritual where they return to earth what has been taken- for the recovery and environmental and cultural sanitation of the territory.
After that the Lost City will be open on September 30, 2018. But …
Don’t worry; this month will happen so fast that you won’t notice it!
The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is one of our most sacred places and it is very important for us that Seynekun not be mistreated and that she rest from time to time.
If you want to know more details about the temporary closure, click on Colombian Institute of Anthropology and History (ICANH)
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