Wild and Spectacular Coastline - Parque Nacional Tayrona

With John feeling better we decide to head to the Parque Nacional Tayrona for a couple of days. The Parque is touted as one of Colombia's most popular - wide stretches of white beach with beautifully vibrant ocean backdropped by the encasing jungle and looming palm trees.  We catch a ride with Jose who comes by our hotel everyday rounding up people to take to the park. Its an hour drive but we also make a pit stop at the grocery store. We have been warned that the prices are high and the guidebook suggests bringing your own water and snacks. Along with Patrick, who we met on the ride in, we hike 45 minutes on a dirt trail to the coastline.

The first beach area you come to Arrecefies. the scenery is absolutely stunning. A windswept coastline with a beautiful beach and occasional huge boulders add to the surreal landscape.

There is an upscale place right as we get to the beach - Finca Yulupa I think it is called. They have some fantastic cabins - we are afraid to ask how much - a few tents and a palapa covered area with numerous hammocks covered with mosquito nets. These look romantically invitiing - until we consider 8 hours lying in a hammock with our aging backs .. hmm maybe not for us.The facilities look new and the bathrooms and showers are definitely a few levels above "camping". But you can't swim at this beach due to rip tides so we decide to see what else there is to offer further west.

We walk along the beach passing a few more secluded coves before reaching La Piscina - or the pool which is a calmer beach just perfect for swimming.

We are bummed we don't have snorkel gear as there is a reef enclosing part of the beach that we would have liked to explore. We end up spending several hours lounging on the beach and at 4 decide we better head on to see where we will spend the night.

Another 20 minutes along a beachfront trail brings you to Cabo San Juan de la Guia which is where most backpackers head - something that becomes evident as you turn the corner to a long row of tents, lots of people and an open field just waiting to be filled with more campers. There are also hammocks for rent in a 2 story palapa building built on an outcropping of rocks and overlooking the ocean. A truly great spot - but fully occupied. The only hammocks left are right next to the restaurant, literally you are swinging in arms reach of the plastic tables and chairs. Although this beach is spectacular we decide to head back to the more serene feeling place we saw first.

Having let our age decide against the hammocks, we opt for a tent facing the ocean. The location is ideal - a grassy lawn shaded by trees with a view to the ocean only hampered by the occassional palm tree. We head over to the neighboring restaurant and share dinner and conversation with Patrick and Heath, another guy met on the way to dinner. One great thing about traveling is how open most people are to striking up a conversation or joining you for a meal. I don't think I have ever asked someone I just met on the street to join me for dinner in LA. Maybe we will have to try that when we get home.Where we decide to eat there are only a few tables full and the owner starts putting the chairs up on the table pretty early. By 10 he actually turns the lights off on us.

So its off to our tent which turns out to be more like a sauna since the wind has died. Our first guest of the evening is this giant cangrejo (crab).  John downed the beer rapido so we could use it as a prop in the photo to show how big the crab was.  We had a second little guest as well - a scorpion had taken up residence inside our tent! or maybe he thought we were the guests! Sorry, we paid, and John "disposed" of him but he still left his mark, fear that is ... Do scorpions travel in packs or are they solitary creatures? No se (I don't know) so by headlamps we search the tent for any other visitors. It was an uneasy night ...

Early to rise before the tent was too unbearable.  The morning view from our tent was spectacular.

We head off to the beach for a relaxing day of lounging and reading. John has been reading this book about a guy who decides to live according to the bible - literally - yes John the self proclaimed atheist is reading bible stuff. Of course he really likes it because the author is essentially poking fun at the "good book" - highlighting how ridiculous it could be if taken literally, i.e. It allows stoneing of people, capital punishment for worshiping other idols, ok to beat your slave as long as it isn't so bad that he dies within a day, and then there is the prohibition of wearing mixed fabrics and it goes on. I did not plan for this beach outing too well and finished my book early in the day leaving nothing else to do but work on my tan.

Here's a few more pics of the Parque.

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Jose will be meeting us at the Parque entrance for the drive back to Tagana so we make our way back to the trail.  This horse, and a few of his friends, caught up with us along the beach.  Then on the trail out of the park we ran into a slew of monkeys playing in the trees above. Actually they were eating, but the technique is to take a bite and throw the rest down at the tourists below, repeat. I'm not sure who is watching who. Our ride home gets more interesting when we are pulled over by the police at one of the random checkpoints. Jose looks a bit uneasy - not a good sign. He returns to the car several times for different paper work. Then a guard comes over and asks to see our documents. The van is full of 6 of us. 2 of the guys pull out their passports while the guy next to me says we don't have them with us. The cop walks away - we don't know what's going on. Finally Jose returns and rambles on in Spanish about the paperwork but we are good to go. Next obstacle to a getting a shower is a  road block. A big truck has flipped over so we take a major detour through a local town, as does everyone else. But eventually, after some crazy driving, we are back on the main road and in Tagana in no time.