Tayrona, Day 4

Tayrona National Park is located about a 45 minute drive West from Palomino, and so Billie and I had our hearty hostel breakfast and walked down the muddy street from our hostel to the main road, our suitcases trailing behind. The journey was a bus ride to the entrance of Tayrona National Park. Our hostel was located 15 minutes walk uphill and so we dragged our cases to the beautiful Posadas Ecoturismo Seineken where we’d be spending the next two nights. 

We were greeted by the wonderful owner Lucilia, her two year old son (who was obsessed with my suitcase) and their parrots. Lucilia gave us juice and showed us to our beautiful cabana; built of wood and roofed with palm leaves it was spacious and felt a step up from our previous room in Palomino. We quickly sunscreened up and headed for the Parque Nationale de Tayrona. 

15 minutes down the road and we were back at the entrance where we paid 44,009 COP (about £12) each for entry. We were crammed into a collectivo (minibus) and were driven ten minutes into the park to which was as far as a car could go. From that point on you have to either walk or ride a horse to explore the park. 

The main attraction of Tayrona is the perfect, white sand beaches with tranquil, calm water for swimming. The plan was to hike first to Ariceffes where there was a campsite and restaurant and then continue to La Piscina, the first beach we could swim in.

The walk began through the jungle, twisting and turning upwards between trees and rocks, and sometimes on boardwalks and wooden steps suspended above the jungle floor. We saw huge millepedes and tree trunks adorned with spikes would nearly prove to catch us out. The path then opened up to an incredible view of the beach stretching away and hillsides filled with jungle disappearing into the distance. We proceeded over rocks, through tunnels carved through large tangled bushes and under shady palm trees to eventually arrive in Arricefes, hungry and thirsty.

We stopped at the restaurant there which was absolutely scrumptious. I had deep fried potato pasties filled with shrimp and crab to start and then a white fish with coconut rice which was wrapped up in banana leaves and then barbequed. It was the tastiest and most authentic thing I’ve had so far; smokey and filling. Bill had a mushroom risotto which looked yum.

We continued our trek to La Piscina which took a further 30 mins through lovely environments. We saw bizarre blue crabs on the way who dug holes in the sandy jungle floor, and would scuttle in if we went too close. La Piscina was amazing with serene blue clear water. We had a dip and a twenty minute sunbathe before realising that if we didn’t leave now, we wouldn’t make the past collectivo out of the park at 6, so we packed up shop and began the hour and a half hike back out of the park. The sun was setting as we left and the hills in the distance as we looked back took a sort of misty appearance which was utterly beautiful. We saw what we thought was a possum as we neared the collectivo stop and made it back to the hostel without further incident. 

We had dinner at a local restaurant that served fairly basic food but it was lovely with a bit of wine, and we discussed that the next day, we would start early and make sure we got a decent amount of time at the beaches.

Tayrona, Day 5

With gusto, Billie and I shovelled down eggs and arepas then set off, smothered in suncream and anti-mozzy, for the Park entrance. This time we rode horses in for am extra speedy arrival at the beach. Billie’s horse was called Ferrari and mine Terramoto (earthquake). They didn’t take much after their namesakes but plodded us to La Piscina beach admirably across pretty rough terrain. I saw a monkey in the trees (Billie saw 3, so she says) which was exciting!

At La Piscina we had a wee swim and then paid for a snorkel tour. We were equipped with snorkel masks and flippers and followed him to the coral reefs that ran were inside a ring of rocks that the waves broke against, in a line about 60m out to sea. It was quite hard swimming, mostly against the current, and at first we had to dive to actually see the coral because of the white water the waves created at the rocks. That was getting pretty tiresome, even though there were pretty and weird fish around. We moved on to an area with loads of coral and calm water and I didn’t really understand why he put us through the initial wave-battle when this was on offer, but was relieved nonetheless. We saw a lobster that he tickled out of a hole and pointed out to us a ray that was half covered by sand. He was essential to the tour or we would never have seen the most interesting stuff without him. The coral itself was extremely pretty so that was good too.

We finished the snorkeling quite exhausted, so walked to the beach we hadn’t been to, El Cabo, which is the most popular beach. We had a tasty, reviving lunch there and chilled on the beach. I finished my first book of the hol here, How to Stop Time by Matt Haig.

Book interlude:

8/10 – How to Stop Time was a good beach read and a real page turner. Whilst pretty fantastical in nature isn’t a trivial read but quite emotional. 

Back to the (end of the) action: we did the hike back to the entrance which was the same satisfying hour and a half walk we’d done twice the previous day and returned to our hostel where Lucilia had prepared us a tasty dinner, during which many bugs flew at us at high speed… This is something we’re getting used to! The next day we were to go to Minca, in the mountains near Santa Marta, our most complex journey yet. What will our Colombian city experience hold for us? Not loads actually but it was pretty cool to pop in and see the hustle and bustle. More on that next time in part 3, Minca.