Qualla: Ciudad Perdida

Ciudad Perdida: Introduction

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Dwayne Reilander, CC BY-SA 4.0. A family of treasure hunters shot a wild turkey in the jungle. When they went to retrieve it, they noticed the bird had landed on a series of stone steps rising up the mountainside. They climbed. At the top, they found an abandoned city swallowed by vegetation -- terraces, plazas, tiled roads, all carved into a ridge of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. The year was 1972. The Sepulveda family named the place "Green Hell." The Kogi people, descendants of the Tairona civilization that built it, had always called it Teyuna. The rest of the world would come to know it as Ciudad Perdida -- the Lost City.

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Image: Dwayne Reilander | CC BY-SA 4.0

Ciudad Perdida: Older Than Machu Picchu

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit William Neuheisel from DC, US, CC BY 2.0. Ciudad Perdida is believed to have been founded around 800 AD, making it roughly 650 years older than Machu Picchu. The Tairona people carved 169 terraces into the mountainside, connected them with a network of tiled roads, and built circular plazas that served as gathering point...

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Image: William Neuheisel from DC, US | CC BY 2.0

Ciudad Perdida: Gold on the Black Market

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Shimmy Berkley, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Sepulvedas' discovery did not lead to careful archaeology. It led to looting. Gold figures and ceramic urns from the terraces soon appeared on the black market in nearby towns. Rival groups of treasure hunters fought over access to the site, and violence followed -- one of th...

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Image: Shimmy Berkley | CC BY-SA 3.0

Ciudad Perdida: The People Who Never Left

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Uhkabu, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Kogi, Arhuaco, Kankuamo, and Wiwa people -- all descendants of the Tairona -- never truly lost the city. Members of these communities have stated that they visited Teyuna regularly long before the Sepulvedas stumbled upon it, but kept quiet. For them, the city is not a ruin. ...

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Image: Uhkabu | CC BY-SA 3.0

Ciudad Perdida: Twelve Hundred Steps Through the Jungle

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Uhkabu, CC BY-SA 3.0. Reaching Ciudad Perdida requires a multi-day trek that begins from the town of Machete Pelao, accessible by four-wheel-drive vehicle from Santa Marta on the Caribbean coast. The trail winds through dense rainforest, crosses rivers, and climbs mountain ridges before arriving at th...

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Image: Uhkabu | CC BY-SA 3.0