Muddy tracks and beautiful beaches
Trip Start
Aug 08, 2010
1
8
34
Trip End
Oct 18, 2010
Where I stayed
Finca de Don Pedro
Parque Nacional Natural Tayrona, Magdalena, Colombia
Friday, August 20, 2010
Also... thanks to our informants who advised warm clothes on overnight buses. It was FREEZING (something that is hard to say while sitting at this computer on the hot hot coast) on that overnight bus from San Gil to Santa Marta.
Parque Tayrona is reached via Santa Marta, the nearest big city. From Santa Marta, we took another bus to the park, and a mini bus up the road to the entrance. Once inside the park, we began our trek through the muddy trails in the jungle to the campsite. It probably wouldn´t have been too bad of a walk honestly, except that we were a little dehydrated and not feeling the best, had just arrived into town after an overnight bus without much sleep, carrying heavy packs, and dealing with midday heat in the Caribbean. Sounds like a perfect vacation, no? Relief struck when we arrived at a campsite, Finca Don Pedro, and were able to relax in hammocks for the remaining daylight hours. Friday night we were lulled to sleep by howling monkeys, jungle frogs, and a hard jungle rain.
The next day, Saturday, we hiked from our peaceful finca through the jungle - which was extrememly muddy and a little poopy (from horses), see photo - to several beaches along the coast. It is really a nice setting, with the Sierra Nevada mountains and jungle behind you, and beautiful undeveloped coast all around. For a national park, it was quite different from what we might find in the U.S.A.... much less developed and maintained, which in some ways adds to the charm and definitely cuts down on the number of people. But it also makes your feet really really muddy.
We had a great time. But believe it or not, we felt ready to leave the park on Sunday. Neither one of us were feeling the best and we were missing having a bathroom within close range. Not quite Montezuma´s revenge, but close. We decided to forego the trek out of the park, opting instead to leave via horseback, which was much easier, and fun. Once out of the park and back to Santa Marta, we quickly caught a (direct!) bus to Cartagena.
We can hardly remember those chilly days in Bogota. It is flippin hot here!
