Tayarona National Park, Colombia
Trip Start
Mar 25, 2008
1
10
54
Trip End
Nov 22, 2008
Tayarona National Park,
Colombia
Saturday, April 19, 2008
OMG do we ever get out of bed early these days....we are up at 6.30 most mornings when we are traveling and especially this morning as we have to hike in the National park and want to do it a bit earlier in the day....hmmm that didn't happen tho and we ended up hiking for a few hours in the middle of the day which was a bit hot and sweaty!!!
I have attached a mud map of how we got to Tayarona from Taganga...first it's the little bemo bus back over the hill to Santa Marta...cross the railway tracks...go a further 800 mts get out walk another block over, get on a bus for 1 hour and get off at the National park entrance. Walk up the hill to the front gates...pay and then get on the back of a ute to be driven into the first check point...from her you can either walk or ride horses into the first camp ground which is about a 50 min walk....we chose to walk
Mud map to get to Tayarona
. It was beautiful being in the forest and we saw monkeys, squirrels butterflies and pretty birds. The path wasn't too bad and I was able to do it in flops...there weren't too many steep bits and they were only slight inclines anyways. The scariest thing was the locals brining the horses thru for the people at Aricifices...the first beach as they raced them thru on the same path as us...sounded like we were going to be stampeded...but in reality we stepped aside and they galloped on thru. We also bumped into a man bring a team of mules thru with supplies for the various camp grounds in the park...there are no roads except the first one we road the ute in on.
The first two beaches are really rough...we heard El Cabo the third one was the prettiest so we walked on till then....stopping for fresh pineapple juices along the way. It's a 30 min walk to the second camp ground then the final one, El Cabo, is 20 mins more.
It was worth the walk the beach was lovely palm tree lined and there was a choice of camping in tents or sleeping in hammocks under palapia (thatched) roof....we chose hammocks and then chose the rondaval up on a cliff (rock) out over the water as you can see in the pictures....it was an extra US$2.50 pn to stay out there instead of the flat ground...but it was well worth it as the views were amazing and the sound of the waves crashing on the reef loud and thunderous!!
Back of the ute
!We stayed out here for two nights chilling out on the beach during the day reading books and eating yummy fresh fruit salads!!! Night times were interesting as the winds picked up quite a bit the first night and it was cold...so I think we all spent the night semi freezing...I only had a sarong as a sheet....brrrrrrrrrr. Hammocks were swinging fairly freely!!! :o)
We strolled out the 3rd day and did the same trip in reverse back to Taganga....most of that day was spent chilling on the warm sunny beach in the afternoon and in a black out for the evening....tomorrow back to Cartagena via Baranquilla where we will stop to have lunch with Carmen a friend and work colleague from Cayman who is down visiting her family. It will be exciting to see her.
