Parque Tayrona Nacional

Tayrona National Park is about an hour out of Santa Marta. We took the collectivo to the front of the park and then walked into the park and paid our entrance fee. We were told that it was best to take one of the local cars from the front entrance to Canaveral. Glad we took every ones advise. It was a long ways in. As it was; once we were dropped off we then had a 2 hour hike into the park. We had spoken to several backpackers who had done this trek and said it was a fairly easy walk in. No problem. We like to walk. It was shady and we followed the track. That is the last time I listen to 20 yr backpackers. I had thought I was in some kind of shape but that was a grueling 2+ hour hike in. We were climbing over boulders and the walk was a hike of a bit of difficulty. I was hating it. In my mind; I was going over in my head which one of my friends or family member would actually enjoy this. I came up with one name. ONE! And that's my crazy cousin, Tunisia. She's a triathlete and marathon runner and young. Other than that I couldn't think of anyone. Bob & I were the oldest on this path. Everyone was a good 15-18 years younger. I'm thinking what in the heck are we doing? Just so we can say we slept in a hammock on the beach. Good grief! Looking back now, I had to apologize to Bob. By the time we reached our final destination; I was dehydrated, hungry, angry and had that possessed tone in my voice. Bob was trying to get me to eat our lunch on the beach which required us to walk a few more yards. I was done. I didn't have it in me to walk few more yards. Bob was trying to get me to eat but I was so mean. I'm sorry Bob! Above is the path which we walked. The small black line is the highway we traveled via collectivo. We walked from the far right to the far left. Which was the 2+ hour hike in. The terrain was hilly and some places were a little steep.

Bob doesn't like his picture taken but I needed a break so I used him so I could catch my breath.

The path you see behind was the easy part. I could have done that all day long. Once we got to our destination, ate and re hydrated...I finally started to enjoy our surroundings. It was beautiful.

We saw a nice sunset in the horizon.

En route to Playa Cabo San Juan where we camped out; we walked thru several beautiful beaches. As I had mentioned before we were dropped off in Canaveral by van and walked to Arrifices. Arrifices has a nice beach but you can't swim in the ocean due to strong riptides. The Eco-cabanas in this area were very expensive and but were done nicely. I wouldn't have mind staying here except I didn't like the idea of not being able to cool off in the ocean. The crowd was our age and enjoyed a much nicer accomodation. From Arrecifies we passed La Piscina beach. This is a natural swimming hole. The water was calm and clear. The area here is just for swimming and hanging out. No camping facilities. And then finally El Cabo. This area is where we found tons of campers, the water was very refreshing and they had a restaurant serving breakfast, lunch and dinner. The bathroom was primitive but clean and the showers were outdoors. We were assigned our hammocks and we got settled in. What was surprising to us was that the hammocks were clean. They were freshly washed when got them. That was cool.

The thatched roof housed about 20 hammocks and the restaurant. We were told it was going to be noisy in the evenings while trying to sleep. It was a party scene in other words. We didn't have a choice. By the time we arrived to the campgrounds it was almost totally booked. Do you know how upset I would have been if we had gotten there and no hammocks were available. Don't even want to think about. And I'm sure Bob doesn't either.

Believe it or not; I was starting to feel ill. I didn't have an appetite for dinner and I was ready to crash early. Poor Bob, he had to deal with me gripping all the way in and now I was a party pooper. I was exhausted.

Bob was a trooper though. He came to lay down in his hammock while I went to sleep. He had his cocktails and read before he finally fell asleep. We were told correctly; it was loud. We had never been around a bunch of Israelis before and this campground was full of them. I never bad mouthed a language before but if I don't hear it again will be fine with me. Their language sounds like they are hacking up a luegy. It sounds horrible.

We had intentions of renting a hammock up on the hill but we had gotten to the park too late in the day. It would have been quieter with a hell of a view but it too was sold out. I'm sure it was cold up there too. We were rather cool where we were sleeping. The breeze was constant all night long. Can't complain about that. Bugs were minimal.

This is the beach at La Piscina. The next day when I finally had energy to move we did walk 20 mins to La Piscina and checked it out. The water was clear, cool and calm. We hung out for about an hour before jumping on some horses back out of the park. There was no way I was walking back out.

I guess now we can say we did that. Sleep overnight in a hammock! I won't do that again until we open our bar in Guanaja.

We miss you guys! Bonnie & Bob