Caribbean Chilling

Cruising up the Caribbean Coast to the small town of Palomino, it was a hot journey on the crowded public bus. We were happy to have fellow trekker Katie with us, to make sure all 3 of us disembarked at the right spot as we stumbled through the heat, just a 15 minute walk from the 'bus stop' to our respective accommodations.

With our main objective of this destination being to chill & plan, we were very pleased with our choice of Palomino Sunrise, complete with a refreshing pool, bar, and coworking space with excellent wifi. There isn’t a lot going on in Palomino, so we didn’t feel guilty at all resting our legs and taking it easy for a couple of days after the 4 days on the Lost City trek. We had kept our next 3 weeks in Colombia very open, almost too open as we had no bookings after this point, so needed to reassess where we wanted to go from here, and how to make it happen. A lot of admin and pool time lay ahead, and we stayed an extra night at the neighbouring property with an even bigger pool all to ourselves!

Although photos online portray Palomino as having a nice sandy beach, coastal erosion, particularly in the past 12 months, has wiped away much of the sand and also the beachfront infrastructure of hotels and restaurants. Sand bagging and attempts at rock walls were underway in the hot sun as the locals attempted to save the remaining property and beachfront land from a similar fate. A couple of days in, we climbed over the debris and through resorts and did eventually reach a sandy stretch at low tide, which resembled the photos online and was quite a nice spot in the end!

Our Dutch friends Manon & Arran, plus Germans Mikal & Toni from our trek arrived on our final night in Palomino - we ran into them on the street! - and we reconnected again for dinner. Pizza for our third time in a week .. we were already getting a little bit over rice 2 times a day. Arran and Manon in particular continued to surprise with their ‘type 3’ fun travel stories of sharing a single bunk bed and showering with a bucket the night after the trek due to overbooking, and reminded us that we were no longer young backpackers, but more 'on the older side of people they'd met travelling in Colombia'.

Until quite recently, Palomino was a bit of a dangerous region with drug-traffickers controlling the area, and has only changed its image and begun welcoming tourists for around 6-7 years. Due to this rapid expansion, the infrastructure hasn’t quite caught up at the same pace, and there was no surprise when a 6 hour power cut struck on our final night. It was a hot night without a lot of sleep, and we were starting to get eaten by mosquitoes - our sign to keep moving in our travels!

We were really looking forward to the next stop on our trip, a must-visit for any travel to Colombia - Tayrona National Park. It is quite the effort to get into the park, but 100% worth it once you’re in! We arrived to the area the night before, with the aim to secure hammocks on the mirador (rocky outcrop) at Cabo San Juan campsite for our overnight experience. We were told ‘you can’t book now, come back at 7am tomorrow’, which we merrily did. No sign of anyone until 7.30am, to be told that the mirador was fully pre-booked and there wasn’t a chance we would get a spot! A tent it was, and after we collected this wristband, we proceeded to another line for a second wristband and payment for ‘mandatory insurance’, before joining the line to enter the park, passports in hand. Several payments later, and thinking we were ready to jump on the shuttle, it appeared we had missed a third wristband, and had to return to the park entrance to make sure we had all of the right colours to proceed on our journey.

The walk through Tayrona National Park was beautiful, with very different flora than our time in Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta National Park. We were greeted early in our hike by a troop of Capuchin monkeys, which made the uphill section on rickety wooden stairs much more enjoyable, before we decided to take a scenic route along Arrecife Beach to meet back up with the track. Jelley instantly regretted this decision to leave the canopy of the trees into the searing sun, and had further regrets as we walked alongside a lagoon with signs warning of alligators. We were pleased to rejoin the track with other walkers.

Colombia seems to love their 'piscina naturals' (natural swimming pools), and we could see why as we approached the stunning La Piscina Beach. Sheltered by an offshore reef, this was the safest and most beautiful swimming spot of the entire park. Crystal clear, with varying blue hues, the warm water was a welcome relief, and it was the perfect spot for a break.

Early afternoon, we reached Cabo San Juan to find our tent for the night. Teeming with day trippers, it was hard to find a spot on the beach to hang, and the sea was a lot rougher with waves than La Piscina. We could see what all of the fuss was about, and why the crowds flocked to this area, although we also knew being a weekday it gets even busier here during weekends and Colombian holidays. Around 4pm, the day trippers started to disperse by foot or boat, and shortly we were greeted by the solitude and magic of Cabo San Juan. These moments before sunset, and again at sunrise, were super special.

The campsite was a fun experience, and more comfortable than expected, with the tent being around 4 times the size of our own backpacking one in the US. There were a lot of Colombians staying overnight, and the friendly game of football was fun to watch before dinner.

Walking out in the morning, we decided to forgo the shuttle and walk the extra 5km along the road to the exit of the park. We’re really glad we did because we got to enjoy even more wildlife taking this route, listening to the sounds of the jungle. We were surrounded by vibrant blue butterflies, noisy woodpeckers, and even a howler monkey, which was way up in the canopy and impossible to capture on camera, but fun to watch from below.

Walking back to our hotel for our larger backpacks, we saw 4 buses go past in 20 minutes, and wrongly assumed we wouldn’t have any issues hailing a bus back to Santa Marta. After an hour waiting roadside, we finally got lucky with a bus crammed full, standing room only. It turns out there was a huge driver strike and protest further up the coast on the only road through, which explained the desert of vehicles we experienced. Our Dutch friends were trapped on the other side of it and had to walk through to make any progress to their next destination!

Back in Santa Marta (for the third time..), we stayed at a cute new guesthouse that was newly opened, in a much quieter part of the busy city. Realising it was now the awkward stage of 4pm and not having eaten all day, hanger threatened as we quickly found a cute vegan cafe for lunch. While we had a better experience than expected in this stifling hot city, an essential transport hub for the region, we were pleased to be leaving again first thing in the morning.

A 1 hour shuttle up the windy hillside brought us to the small town of Minca, our final destination in this region of Colombia. We based ourselves at Jungle Joe’s Ecolodge for the weekend, a 15 minute walk from town and situated on a beautiful spot on the hillside with views stretching right across to the Caribbean sea, especially beautiful at sunset. The vibe was great here, as we met many other travellers and shared stories of our Colombian adventures to date. The lodge was constructed out of bamboo, and we were surprised to learn there are 29 species of bamboo in Colombia.

We had a full day tour ahead, checking out a local waterfall before a visit to a local organic coffee farm, where we were greeted by the resident toucan and a cup of fresh, premium grade coffee. It was here we learned why our coffee experience in Colombia had been so bitter and gross to date. The premium quality beans are exported for international sale, and the coffee served in local cafes and hotels are from the second grade beans, which have been intentionally over-roasted/burnt to disguise the bad taste of the damaged beans.

Our guide for the day, Toni, was an extremely knowledgeable biologist and expert who emigrated from Venezuela and had been a guide for 40 years.

It was really interesting learning more about Colombia - the 2nd most biodiverse country in the world, home to 99 different ecosystems, and more than 50 endemic mammals, over 150 endemic reptiles, and 380 endemic amphibians. (Endemic meaning they only live in that certain country). Colombia is the first in the world for orchids, butterfly and birds, and second for plants, amphibians and freshwater fish. It was fascinating to learn information on this from Toni and several other expert presenters - we also learnt how to spot a venomous snake from a friendly one, differences in crocodiles and alligators and what not to do around the world’s most deadly frog. A cacao bean presentation concluded the action-packed day, as we learnt the process from plant to product, and enjoyed some handmade chocolate.

The next morning, we rose before sunrise to embark on a birdwatching tour with Toni again. Not usually our preferred activity, and certainly something we’ve never had any luck with in the past (thinking back to our wild kiwi spotting failures), we went in with low expectations. It was a great experience, as we hiked up to several lookout spots outside of the town, seeing both varieties of the local toucans along with their iconic hanging nests, and a lot of other types of birds (we can’t recall their names!) through our binoculars.

Toni informed us about a phenomenon he was the first to discover within Colombia (as he recognised from his experience in Venezuela), where a fully black bird develops a condition where it transitions to white. This is a phenomenon happening near urban centres, and we were able to spot the 1 bird in the town of Minca this is happening to and Toni is actively studying and submitting evidence to several international universities for proof of this happening in the country.

We met another new friend along the way at Jungle Joe’s, Jaia, who would be on the same flight to Medellin with us and we shared a taxi to Santa Marta’s airport, where we enjoyed a stunning beachfront sunset from the outside of the tiny terminal. Jaia was following a similar route to us for the next week, and we were stoked to get to know her over this time and travel through to Medellin and onto Guatapé together, some of the final legs of our Colombian journey.

We were relieved to land in the cool rain in the mountains of Medellin, happy to have left the intense humidity of the Caribbean, and excited to explore this transformed city we had heard so many incredible things about.

Until then,

- A Kiwi and A Cali