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Published: March 14th 2013
Playa Blanca
the best beach in the areaEverybody looks for information to establish some kind of expectations. It is true with regards to finances, schools, jobs and life in general as well as travels. We read stories, buy guidebooks and gather information to know what to expect when we get to a place. However, only some of those expectations can be realistic. Some are too high and then we are disappointed and then some are too low and we can be positively surprised. And there are those situations that no matter what you expect they scare the shit out of you. This is exactly what happened on the way to Capurgana.
Capurgana is one of those places which is not very straightforward to get to unless you have loads of money to fly there. If you follow our blog you know that we love these places the most. The harder to get to, the least spoiled by tourism the place is. We had to embark on a overnight journey through a district of Choco, which has very poor reputation when it comes to safety. It was either that or wasting our time on a day bus and then overnight in a port town of
Turbo, which has
lizard
totally unimpressed with us even worse reputation that the whole area. We chose the lesser of two evils and in Medellin we took a 9 pm bus in order to arrive in Turbo at 5am. Then it was a short wait in the port until the ticket both opened and we had our places reserved on the morning boat to Capurgana. To be honest, the journey was fine, the bus was luxurious and Turbo was not so unpleasant either. Loads of people were around at 5 am with police patrols everywhere around.
The boat was supposed to leave at 8 but somehow it left just before 10. It was one of those small, open motorboats with capacity of 40 people. They are really deep and if you looked from a side you would only see our heads sticking out. We were lucky to be able to get seats in the middle as we read and heard that it was a really bumpy and rough ride. That was my expectation at least. I had to prepare myself mentally for it as I generally hate boats and always have a feeling they overturn. I can tell you that nothing could have prepared me for what
was to come. The boats go early in the morning as the later they go the roughest the sea becomes. I was already stressed about our 2h delay at the time.
It started pretty good, with just a bit of jumping over the waves and I got calmer. People at the front had more to complain about than us. However the more we moved ahead the bigger the waves became. The driver was clearly having loads of fun going at full speed and the boat was literally flying above the sea level, jumping from one big wave to another and sometimes dropping down with an enormous force. All the women screamed and all the men applauded. I was at the point of crying…seriously. Whenever I looked around I could only see massive waves coming at us and then we would have gone up and down and so on for….3h. Yes, this pleasure lasts between 2,5-3h depending on weather and sea conditions and that was exactly the bad thing about it. Maybe 20 min of that would have been fun but 3h????
We stopped twice on the way in small villages and once in the open sea because one
searching for gold
we have learnt in Bogota that rivers are full of gold in Colombia - this guy showed us his little findings woman in the front complained to the captain. When we stopped I saw waves being much higher than our boat but the boat nicely floated on top of them. The driver then tried to make a point and drove really slow but then water was splashing on everybody at the back. Either way it was not good. When we finally reached Capurgana I told Tomek that I was not leaving for the next week as I could not face that journey soon haha Rough and bumpy are nowhere near the real description of that nightmare.
The village seemed nice from the first sight and initially we decided to stay in Capurgana Hostel in the centre (20$ double room) but it did not offer kitchen so we decided to move the next day to a lovely Fatima Posada, which was like a home stay with a local couple, with garden and kitchen for us to use. We loved it, it was outside of the main street, very quiet at night and close to all the trekking paths. Capurgana is a lovely Caribbean village, with authentic feel and very slow pace of life. It is not a typical paradise place but
the more time you spend there the more you see its beauty. Even though we came there for some beach time we ended up doing complete opposite and spent all days trekking and visiting nearby places.
We started from visiting
Sapzurro, sister village on the other side of the mountain which was supposed to be more paradise-y and low key. I thing word has been spread out as guesthouses and restaurants mushroomed over there and it is not so quiet anymore. It is very pretty though so worth a look. The trek itself was great as well, not too long and not too short but just perfect. Lush green jungle connects these two villages and we could admire amazing views of the coast on the top of the hill. It is an easy hike up to the Panama border from there as well, where you can spend a day at the most beautiful beach in the area- Playa Blanca. No crossing formalities are necessary just a signature in a book – very easy. We actually bumped into our Polish friend in Sapzurro so she spent a day with us.
It was lovely to be at the beach again
after months of cold, trekking, sightseeing ancient and colonial stuff. We love soft sand between our toes and
Playa Blanca was just perfect for swimming and chilling. We even got a look of infamous Darien jungle, which is just kilometer or so away. We had to trek back though so this day gave us plenty of exercise. The next day instead of going to the beach again, we decided to trek in the jungle and visit
El Cielo, little sanctuary around 1,5h from Capurgana. It was a great trek with stunning scenery, fantastic flora and many rivers on the way. Initially we tried to jump from a rock to a rock to cross them but we finally gave up and just went through them in our shoes. It was a good way of getting cooled down hahah When we reached El Cielo we stopped by a little lagoon and Tomek jumped into the water to swim. Mountain water is s little bit too cold for me, I suppose. We saw loads of wildlife on the way and were generally in high spirits again. What is it about this place?
We also did a whole day trek to another village
our fab breakfast
we just discovered arepa (corn bread) and used it instead of bread Aguacate and swam in the bay over there. Waves are massive around this coast so you can really only swim in bays like this one or in Sapzurro and Capurgana’s beach was always crowded. There are also natural pools 20 min away from the village where in the evening big waves rush the water into them and you can enjoy some safe bath. I enjoyed the walk but getting into that hole when waves were so high was not so tempting for me. When it comes to food we tried some nice meals over there but much more enjoyed cooking and drinking cuba libre every night while around us local discos were competing for the
‘loudest reggaeton music award’. It was lovely but our cash started to run out and it was time to go. I was dreading the boat again but because I already knew that the waves were getting bigger gradually on the way here, it should have been much better on the way back.
In a way it could have been but our captain/driver was not into speeding so instead of jumping on waves we were wobbling from side to side for 3h untill we run
out of fuel and we had to wait for another boat to help us haha I am not sure which was worse to be honest. Lonely Planet says that
‘you will one day laugh at this rough ride’ and I am not sure I agree. It has been more than a month now and I am nowhere near to laughing ;-) Was it worth it though? Yes, I suppose it was. Capurgana is a lovely place with real Caribbean charm and this was a very pleasant introduction to the Caribbean for us!!!
Additional Information: •
Transport from Salento to Turbo: Salento to Medellin 35,000Cop/18$; Medellin to Turbo 52,000Cop/27$ every two hours untill midnight from the Northern Terminal. To make it for th eboat you have to go by 9 or 10pm. •
Boat from Turbo to Capurgana costs 55,000Cop/29$ each but you have to pay extra for every kilo of your big luggage above 10kg; they run early in the morning only and fill up fast so you have to come early or buy a day before •
We really recommend Fatima Hostal as the owners are wonderful and very helpful. In the port just ask for Turko – this is how people call him in there.
•
Capurgana Hostal was nice but we thought that the staff was rather rude to us. This is the only place in town where card payments are accepted so if you run out of money you can stay there. They also sell bus tickets to Cartagena or Medellin for which you can pay by card. •
there is a small place by the football field in capurgana called Arepas con Todo and it was one of the best budget places to eat - really recommended.
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GRACIELA
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QUESTION
I am planning a trip to Cuba and Panamá. I think Playa Blanca is in Panamá, right? Or is it in Colombia? How did you get there? Thank you.