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Published: October 11th 2015
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starting the 3 hour trek a 5 hour bus journey took us from Cartagena to Santa Marta. Whilst santa marta itself is nothing special, it is the gateway and starting point for other places in the north of the colombian caribbean coast. Probably the most well known and visited is Tayrona national Park. After spending 2 days staying in an ex cartel hostel lying by the pool and doing very little, it was time to move ourselves outside our comfort zone and get into the wilderness.
After bringing plentiful supplies (we had been told that it was extortionate inside the park) we caught the 1 hour bus north and entered the park. After a quick safety briefing we caught the transfer bus which took us to the furthest point within the park which cars were allowed. After that,it was all treking. The first leg of the trek was to Arrecifes, then La Piscina, then onto our final destination of Cabo San Juan. The first part was the longest, and probably the most difficult. At first wooden planks were put down and it was flat. This seemed easy! Then the terrain became quite mountainous (It is the Sierra Nevada mountain range) and we were going up
and down and up and down. If you were in Scotland it would have been managable, but with all the weight on our bags and the 33 degree heat we had to take regular breaks. Poor Gary was carrying a 5litre water bottle! The views from the top were spectacular, bright turquoise water and beaches with mountains as backdrops. Very surreal. After the mountain terrain it became beaches. Wide areas of sand with very strong waves (at this place you could not swim, hundreds have died in the water and it has now became completely off limits). After navigating the beach, it then became jungle. We were lucky enough to see monkeys in the wild and some kind of boar? I am not sure of the species, but it was like a cross between a pig and a guinea pig, but black. Very cute! Lizards were a constant and hearing all the natural sounds of the jungle was a first for me.
We accidently missed arrecifes, as we couldnt find the exit for the beach, and before we knew it we had walked so far we actually missed it and had arrived at the next place! By this point
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viewpoint-restbreak we had been walking for almost 2 hours and were in need of a break so sat and had lunch at the beach. It was lovely but we didnt fancy walking in wet clothes so powered on to get to where we wanted to be. Another hour after we arrived and were not disappointed. The beach was stunning, set in a cove surrounded by rocks. We had made it! The options for sleeping was a tent or a hammock. We had thought we would pick a hammock as its cooler at night, but they didnt come with nets, so we opted to be roasting rather than bitten alive. that said, we were really consistent in applying our spray and managed to mainly avoid the mozzies, and have actually got bitten more in the cities! The first night we slept okay, the tent was quite hot at first but through the night was actually quite cool. We were so tired from the walk we fell asleep early, which is just as well because as soon as the sun comes up youre up, due to the light and the heat, which was at about 6am.
Th next day was just for
relax, living the simple life. Beach, book, and some beer. What more could you want? We met an irish guy who was on his own and he was a good laugh, so spent a lot of time chatting with him, and through him met an indian lad who had studied in Aberdeen so together we had some laughs after dinner. This was just as well, because the mother of all storms started! Just as we were having a beer the place erupted, torrential rain, thunder and lightning. I felt 50% excitement and 50% fear about sleeping in the tent. Gary had put the tarpaulin cover over it but the tent was quite a cheap one, so we were slightly worried. But what can you do? we just sat drinking until the rain stopped, then went back to hope for the best....and found the worst! Gary had put the tarp over it but had forgotten to close the outer layer of the tent, end result being about 50% of our mattresses were soaked. Lovely! We had to basically sleep in a ball at the top of the mattress. My towel had been up drying when the rain started, so i had
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where we had lunch no pillow. I had to use my uncomfy bag for my head and put a vest in a ball as a mak shift pillow. Whats worse was when we had to go to the toilet we ended up soaked an dbringing dirt in with us, so i had a lovely night of damp and dirt!
The next morning all we could do was laugh about it, thankfully the showers there were actually pretty decent, warm water, sinks and toilets with flushes! So after freshening up I felt fine. We decided to set off early-ish to avoid the heat. We knew we were not going to walk back , so it was either boat or horse. We thoughthorse was preferable as we could see more of the park, as it goes on a different route, and could take in more as we werent on a mission hikng. The path was lovely and we saw indigenous people going about their business, as well as all sorts of jungle noises including a monkey fight! About 1 hour after setting off that was us back where we started. I was kind of sad to leave in some ways as i loved how simple
the life was. You had everything you needed for your basic needs, and life was so simple. No Hagglers, no hassle, pure beauty, beach, sea, and good conversation. But all good things come to an end, so back to the ex cartel house we go.
I wont lie, air con, swimming pool and comfy couches did feel nice to come back to. What a magical place though. We had read about it in the book the Gringo Trail, and wanted to go since reading it, and it definately didnt disappoint.
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