Parque Nacional Tayrona

Tayrona is an incredible place set in the jungle covered coast near Santa Marta. It is an hour long bus ride from where we were. Once at the entrance you can either hike for 45 minutes into Arecifes or you can go by horse. We hiked in. The winding jungle trail is beautiful and when you arrive at the site, it is absolutely breathtaking. The beach part in arecifes is off limits to people because of the incredibly strong currents that have taken over 200 lives. The waves were breaking large a few yards from shore. That night I chose to sleep in a hammock. I can´t remember the last time I slept in a hammock. Although it seemed strange at first, I did sleep very well.

The next day we headed out to through the jungle again to a small beach called La Piscina. This part of the beach is swimmable and we jumped right in. After a couple of hours or so, we were off into the jungle again through some more beautiful trail for about another hour. We entertained ourselves by not trying to step on horse shit and trying to remember the discovery channel show´s name where Bear Grill has to survive in the wilderness for a week. I hate it when you know, but can´t remember something. We never figured it out while walking through the jungle.

Finally we arrived in Cabo San Juan de la Guia. This was as beautiful than either of the two previous beaches. I guess what makes it so appealing is how remote it is and what a mission you have to bust to get there. We met a very charismatic and funny French man named Marc. He was a French boxer. Apparently it is a style of boxing similar to kickboxing but only the feet can be used to kick (no shins). He spoke 3 words in Spanish, no English so imagine how communication went between us. Between word negotiation, lots of hand signs and a lot of nodding, we managed to figure out that we would label our picture together, ¨los Cuatro Burros¨.

After some hanging out and a very long walk back. We made it to a bus and were off to Santa Marta for the night. The next day Vic and I were headed back to Cartagena with a quick stop in El Volcan de Lodo, El Totumo and Samantha was going to explore the Lost City. It was sad to see her go. I was really enjoying her company and her Master´s degree in smiling. She is a sweetheart and a very interesting person. But we had places to go and people to meet...

Next stop the muddy pictures of El Totumo