Spring Break in Parque Nacional Tayrona

After my Spring Break visitor arrived in Colombia, we were off to the Caribbean Coast to one of my favorite places in Colombia! Despite only spending one night there in early 2010, I knew that I had to return to Parque Nacional Tayrona before leaving Colombia. Spring Break provided us with ample time to fly to the coastal city of Santa Marta and spend some time in the city before heading to the park for two nights.

Michael and I traveled with Kelsi and our friend Lauren, who also teaches third grade with Kelsi, and I think everyone enjoyed the week of beach time together! Even Kelsi, who before this time had not found anything comparison-worthy to the beaches of her Southern California home admitted that it was impressive.

On Monday we flew to Santa Marta, via a layover in Bogota at Juan Valdez in the Bogota airport, and spent the night there. Kelsi led us to an amazing coffee/juice cafe appropriately named Lulo after one of Colombia's most unique fruits. We also enjoyed a delicious dinner at Bistro that involved dos por uno (2 x 1) copas de vino (glasses of wine). Overall several wins for a city that doesn't always look as cute as its more famous coastal neighbor of Cartagena.

Oh Lulo, how I wish you existed in Cali.

On Tuesday we headed back to Lulo for breakfast (it's that good!) then took a cab out to Parque Nacional Tayrona. We could have taken a public bus, but with four of us to split cab fare we figured it was worth the time saved. Once in Tayrona the check-in process went super fast since we had purchased our park entrance fees and paid for our reserved hammocks in advance.

Since Tayrona is one of Colombia's most famous and beautiful national parks, we knew it would be super busy during Semana Santa (Holy Week) and we weren't about to wait in line to get to the beach. After checking in, we trekked into the park (about one hour hiking) with our all our possessions for three days (essentially swimsuits and snacks) in our backpacks. The trail had been remodeled since my last time there and about 30 minutes in we were greeted with stunning views of the beaches I remembered. THIS was what I came back for.

Happy (and apparently hydrated) hikers. 

First sights of the beaches, which extend one after another as far as the eye can see.

We finally arrived at our campsite at Arrecifes Beach and had no trouble checking into the Aviatur campsite. Thanks to tips from some friends who went last year, we knew this site had the most comfortable hammocks, individual lockers, and its own restaurant/bathrooms. This became super important as the week continued and Colombians seemed to be pouring into the park from all directions. We dropped our stuff in lockers and headed for the beach! 

Michael walking along the beach in front of our campsite - gorgeous but not for swimming due to the strong riptide. Signs everywhere warned people not to go swimming and become "part of the statistic" of people who have died here.  

Michael, Kelsi and Lauren headed down the beach. 

Happy to be in Tayrona! 

The first day we didn't get too far since it was a bit cloudy and we left all the snacks at the campsite, so we only made it one beach past our camp. However, after a night spent sleeping in hammocks and a typical breakfast of eggs & arepas, we armed ourselves with (not enough) sunscreen, books, and snacks for a full day of beaching. We ended up exploring four beaches during the day and running into a variety of friends who also happened to be in Tayrona along the way. We even spotted our friend Hana  swimming at Cabo San Juan.

La Piscina, the first swimmable beach in Tayrona. 

Sunburnt by late afternoon - oops. 

 Group photo at Cabo San Juan beach. 

At the end of the day we realized we all got a little bit pinker than intended and back the trek back to our campsite to find dinner...and aloe. One more night in the hammocks and some early morning beach time the next day were in order before we made the hike out of the park. The steady stream of people headed into the park made us very glad to be leaving, despite our sadness at saying goodbye to the beach. Back in Santa Marta, we enjoyed some (real) food at the Mexican restaurant, Agave Azul before heading back to Cali the following day.

Kelsi in her hammock withe the mosquito netting cover.

One last morning on the beach... 

 Obligatory jump shot - it wouldn't be a vacation without it :)

Out for Mexican food at Agave Azul. 

One last group shot - sunburnt and happy. 

I loved this vacation so much, mostly because of the excellent company, but also because it was my last long vacation in Colombia. As the weeks are starting to tick by fairly quickly in anticipation of my move back to Minnesota, I am growing very aware of how difficult it will be to leave a place I have called home for three years. I am extremely happy and excited to be back in Minnesota, but there is always something sad about leaving a place that has been so important to one's life. While there are still things I don't love about Colombia, for me it will always be a place of beautiful landscapes, friendly people and some of my very best friends.

Parque Nacional Tayrona (National Park Tayrona)

As I said, the vacation's over...so here are the rest of the pictures! After completing the trek to Ciudad Perdida, Allison and I needed some serious recuperation time and what better way to rejuvenate our souls then with some quality beach time???

The morning after we returned from the lost city we left Santa Marta for a Colombian national park called Tayrona. I had heard fabulous reviews about the park from almost everyone I knew, so I was psyched to get there. We loaded up on snacks and books, and took the 40 minute bus ride to the park's main gate. At the gate we paid the entrance fee for foreigners ($34,000 pesos) even through I tried to negotiate with the woman for the $12,000 Colombian entrance fee since I live here. She wasn't having it and $17 US dollars later we were in the park.

Dresses & backparks? Ready for a day at the Colombian beach!

Perfect.

From the entrance we embarked on what we now call Day 7 of our trek, because we walked about 2 hours just to arrive at the beach. Needless to say, we didn't think the walk would take nearly that long and by the time we arrived, we were quite irritated and ready to settle down. After about 30 minutes we located the guy in charge at the first beach, Arrecifes, and secured ourselves some $12,000 peso hammocks for the night. Lodging handled we ran to the beach and found ourselves astounded at the gorgeous atmosphere.

View from our hammocks = amazing!

Huge waves! You cannot even swim at this beach because the waves are so intense and people have actually drown in the past. :(

These huge rocks line the shore of the park as you walk from beach to beach.

After a night in our hammocks with sleeping bags (these seemed like a luxury after Ciudad Perdida!) but without mosquito nets we woke up super early and ready to explore more of this gorgeous park. We left our hammocks around 8 and headed west along the coast. From our beach, Arrecifies, we walked about 20 minutes to a small cove where you are allowed to swim.

Allison at the cove.
Enjoying the gorgeous morning walk beachside.

From here we walked about another 15 minutes to a beach called La Piscina. You cannot stay the night at this beach, but it is a great beach during the day. Calm enough for swimming, but lined with fresh fruit vendors in case you need a quick pick-me-up hydration from the equatorial sun.

On the trail, just before La Piscina.
Coconut trees overhead make for a gorgeous landscape...so long as the coconuts remain in the trees and not on your head.

We continued on our walk for another 30 minutes on a path before arriving at the last beach on our tour, Cabo San Juan de La Guia. This beach is definitely camper central with tons of tents and hammocks set up all over, and an on-site restaurant! I can definitely see why people come here as the atmosphere seemed open and welcoming. Everyone seemed to be having a great time and the beach included two separate coves for swimming. Allison and I of course took this moment to pause for one of our mutual favorite activities - jumping pictures. As you know, I love in motion photography, and she does too so we promptly headed to the beach for a long series of photos. Colombian looked on with amused grins at these two crazy white girls jumping and laughing on the beach, but we didn't really care. The pictures turned out great and we had a blast!

View of one cove at Cabo, with the other hiding in the background. Please note that the hut on top of that hill has hammocks in it where you can spend the night and truly be lulled to sleep by the sounds of the Caribbean. AMAZING!

Allison loving the beach :) I took this on the big try...no big deal.

So happy :)

While December and January are vacation months in Colombia, making the national park more crowded than usual, we truly enjoyed all of our time in Tayrona. I think it will definitely remain one of my favorite places in Colombia and I cannot wait to return for many visits in the upcoming years!

And with that...the vacation posts are over. So long sunny beachfronts, hello Algebra textbooks.

Guest Post - SURVIVOR Ciudad Perdida: 1 Guide, 3 Porters, 16 Tribemates...Who will make it?

Hi friends!

Well we made it! After 6 days and 5 nights, we have returned from the jungle alive, well and with significantly toned calf muscles. For all the nerves of wondering if we would be able to do this and survive, we actually kind of rocked together... :) I will provide more thoughts later, but for now, here is Allison's step-by-step account of our jungle excursion to the lost city!

Enjoy!

Have you ever seen the show Survivor on CBS? Ever wondered who in their right mind would think it's a good idea to go to a desolate place on earth and then have minimal resources necessary for suvival with a group of complete strangers for six days? Well apparently those types of questions never occurred to us when we signed up for our hike to the Lost City (Ciudad Perdida).

Day 1

7am: Allison conveniently wakes up with a swollen left eye/face from a bug bite that gives the appearance of a black eye...great for creating stories of fighting off guerillas, not so great when we are about to embark in the jungle as far away as humanly possible from medical help. Shoot.

8am: Get to the check-in office and discover they have over booked our trip from a maximum of 10 people to 16. In total Colombian fashion, we aimlessly wait around for two hours before they decide we should pack up and leave. Kristin locates an extra car that they tracked down since 16 people will not fit into two jeeps and off we go!

12pm: Arrive at a small tienda at the base of the mountains...the four of us in the car are directed to motorcycles which we will ride on for 30 minutes up to the start of the jungle. Motorcycle rides on narrow dirt road on top of mountains in Colombia = gorgeous, exhilirating, and much more comfortable than a hot jeep packed like sardines with soon-to-be jungle victims.

2pm: After lunch we embark from the village of El Mamey to actually begin to hike! All smiles!

3pm: Locate our first river pool with lovely cliff to jump off to enjoy a refreshing swim. What the guides fail to tell you is that this is the last time you will be happy and excited about the hike. They officially have all of us thinking this is going to be a fun relaxing stroll through the woods.

4pm: Haul ass up our first mountain. Dripping in sweat we are now on top of clouds where they give us a piece of watermelon at which Kristin declares, "This is the best watermelon I have ever had in my entire life!!!".

6pm: Arrive at camp to scope out the hammock sleeping situation and take our first of many river baths. Still under the false impression that one may be able to sorta keep up with hygiene in the jungle.

Day 2

7am: Rise and shine- oh wait, we're already awake because we have been freezing to death in our damp hammocks all night and have been passing the time by praying for sun and warmth. Until then, our porters have made coffee and hot chocolate to sustain us. Thank God.

9am: Hike through mountain farmland in scorching sun. Repeated fruit breaks of oranges and pinapple provide the perfect "pick me up" throughout the day. Must find the balance of stopping long enough to eat the fruit without letting the mosquitoes attack in full force. Apparently the fruit breaks are why we needed yellow fever shots.

3pm: Arrive at camp and immediately locate a fantastic swimming location to wash clothes in the river and attempt to freshen ourselves up. What a joke.

8pm: Bonding with the tribalmates at the candle lit tables. Play the "Who Am I?" game where you can only ask yes or no questions to get clues as to the name of person you are wearing on your forehead...discover from our tribalmates coming from other countries that people such as Bono are perhaps not as worldwide as we thought. Apparently learning happens both on and off the trail. Crazy Germans.

Day 3

7am: Begin the day with jumping jacks, yoga, and awkward hopping around all in attempts to not freeze to death in our wet clothes that we have to put on to hike in. Remind ourselves that we must conserve our only dry outfit to stay warm at night and that as soon we start hiking we will be sweating profusely.....

8am: Did we say hiking? Perhaps we should clarify with rock climbing. Although not listed as a prerequisite when registering for the hike, it becomes a huge part of our day when we start off scaling gigantic rocks without the safety of ropes or craftfully designed grooves to put your hands in. Even been to REI for rock climbing....yeah it's a whole lot different when there's a raging river below you instead of a rubber floor and no victory bell to ring at the top. I guess surviving is the victory replacing the bell ringing.

11am: Another mountain climb...huff and puff and sweat all the way to the top. The panoramic views of the jungle are indescribale, but quickly interrupted by the sounds of a mule panting and struggling as it reaches the summit. Jumping off the top of said mule is a middle aged woman who resembles an evil high school librarian in both looks and demeanor. While the rest of our 16 group tribe nurses our aching muscles and wipes beads of sweat from our face, Mule Lady loudly proclaims that her knees are sore from riding a mule up the mountain that we just hiked up. Really Mule Lady, you must be joking?

1pm: The start of 9 river crossings in one day. Becoming somewhat savy hikers by this point, we both make it without falling once!

4pm: Arrive at the base of the 12oo steps that we will climb to the Lost City. Interestingly enough, the first set of steps are approximately 3 feet high each and covered with wet slippery moss. Hmm...at this point we can only pray that it gets better.

4:30pm: Still climbing up stairs...playing a Spanglish version of categories with our guide and two friends from England. Word from camp is that Mule Lady was seen crawling up the steps by #50. Bahahahaha.

5ish - 6ish - who knows: We make it!!!! Somewhat delirious, seriously dehydrated, and definitely devoid of all energy we pretty much stumble our way into camp.

8pm: After dinner we get the best sleeping accomodations of the trip- 8 twin sized mattresses that have been joined together to sleep 11 adults. This large bed even features a single, gigantic mosquito net so that it not only keeps out unwanted pests, but gives the bed the appearance of fort that you built when you were si years old. Cool; sorta. Everyone spoons in a gigantic mass of smelly and exhausted hikers and we're sound asleep by 8:30.

Day 4

6am: Do fried tuna empanadas sound good to you for breakfast before another long day of hiking?

9am: Tour the terraces of the Lost City with tribalmates. Turns out that lugging the backpacks around for 3 days to get here may have actually been worth it. Proceed to take many pictures where upon we literally jumped for joy at our accomplishments!

10am: Come across a pool in the river that the Tayrona people use as a wishing well. Walking back from the river Kristin asks Allison, "What did you wish for?" and she replies, "A helicopter to get me out of here asap." Clearly this day was starting off on a rough note.

12pm: Finish re-crossing all the rivers we crossed the previous day. At the bank of the last river is a mule patiently waiting to carry the almighty Mule Lady all the way back to Santa Marta.

4pm: Walking solo in the jungle one begins to question whether or not this is really the original path we took to arrive in Ciudad Perdida? Did we really walk for this long on the way here?

8pm: Turns out that making friends with the porters has the added benefit of being served coffee in your hammock. Kristin rocked this one.

Day 5

8am: A group of us take off for the trail and hike for less than 5 minutes before we get confused in a rocky ravine, somehow navigate off the trail, and have the be herded back by our porter to the actual trail even though it's not really visible to the human eye.

10am: Last big mountain climb of the trip! THANK GOD! It's much harder this time around because we had previously hiked down the mountain and knew what we were getting into.

3pm: We're at camp and ready to celebrate our last night together. It's gotta be happy hour somewhere so our fellow tribalmates take turns going to the tienda and stocking up on beers and Ron Viejo de Caldas rum.

6pm: At dinner, following the creation of a beer pyramid, our guide, Omar, announces that he has arranged for a mule to carry our backpacks (commonly referred to as our small children), because at the rate we are drinking, he doesn't think we are going to do so hot tomorrow.

8pm: The whole tribe, including our guide and porters, is off to the the makeshift bar. Whoops, Allison fell in the river on the way over.....and oh, what's that? Oh it's Kristin, salsa dancing with Wilson, the lone Colombiano in the group who is sporting his sweater inside out in an apparent attempt to revolutionize fashion in the jungle.

12am?? Navigate with tribalmates back to camp and into hammocks. Give a friendly shout out to Mule Lady who is stationed at the camp next to us.

Day 6

6am: Despite the late night, we still wake up with the sunrise since we are sleeping outside.

7am: Our Colombiano friend Wilson wakes up and decides to hand out shots of rum with breakfast to help us all get going on the last day.

9am: Depart for the only uphill of the day. Congratulate ourselves for only stopping 2x on the way up!!! Somehow we're improving at this whole fitness thing.

11am: Last downhill so we decided there's no better way to go down than a mountain than by running. On tiptoes, we sprint down in a zig-zag pattern that goes easy on the knees and allows one to have hope that if they trip, they will fall sideways and not careen face first down a mountain without stopping.

12pm: Return to the first pool we swam in on day 1. Jump right off the same cliff and joyfully celebrate the near completion of our hike!!!

1pm: Arrive to base camp and pose for one final round of sweaty faced pictures. Frolic around with tribalmates and make plans to immediately reunite with our new found friends for dinner that night in Santa Marta!

Allison