Parque Tayrona, Magdalena, Colombia
Friday, June 19, 2009
We packed some days packs and shared a cab with a lovely couple from Holland to Tayrona which is roughly and hour away, on arrival we paid the 31,000 pesos (9 pounds) each entrance fee which we all thought was extortion but being in a taxi the driver was able to take us a further 6 KM into the park until the road was no longer and people with horses wait to take you if you want to your destination, we all decided to walk having had the luxury of driving up to this spot and to be honest it was a lovey walk, not at all strenuous just a little hot being the middle of the day, we arrived at Arrecifes which is the first and beautiful spot with hammocks and tents but the beach there is to dangerous to swim, we decided to push on to Cabo another bay roughly and hour along which is the highlight of the park, along the way we passed La piscina another beach bay where you can swim but cant stay as there is no space really and the next bay is Cabo. Beautiful, but on arrival being later in the day the hammocks where gone and we were forced to take an over priced tent at 40,000 pesos (12 pounds) This hammock unfortunately was not water proof and yes it rained a little whilst eating dinner, the beds were wet and nothing we could do. We decided to indulge in some overpriced beers and drunkenly fall into bed hoping it would be a little better, by the morning the tents where boiling and at 6.00am we took our beach towel and sat and swam in the cool waters of the Caribbean. The surrounding is very beautiful, large big boulders and rocks with palm trees and clear waters, it was a small paradise but over priced, over populated and in our opinion not the second most beautiful beach in the world as it has been named.
We decided another night in the tent was a no no and negotiated a boat back for a small sum and on our return journey nearly had a heart attack with us flying over waves and pounding back down on the water.
We made it alive and jumped in a cab to Santa Marta where we are to spend our last days on the coast before heading home.
