Hiking day in Tayrona, a natural park near Santa Marta.
This time I don’t get fooled, I leave in flip-flops. Mistake!!! Again!!!
As soon as I get on the bus, the guide explains the route, which involves a two-hour walk in the forest, through a path that involves ascents, descents, lots of mud, rocks and fording streams. Fortunately, just before entering the park, there is a little shop on the road that sells shoes for entering the water. Best purchase ever! In the end, the walk is not difficult at all. The nature is beautiful, with palm forests, huge rocks and breathtaking views of the ocean. But the mud! Very, very deep, heavy!!! Sometimes the feet sank past the ankles! And the fords were seen as manna from heaven!
When we reached the first beach we jumped into the water and there we met the three Israeli women from the Cartagena excursion. Today, however, not in the mood to perform in the water!
The beach is dark sand and the ocean is not very clean to be honest.
After a few minutes, we continue on to the next beach.
This time the sea is much cleaner, behind the beach are hills covered with tropical vegetation, beautiful to see, it really feels like being on a pirate island, like those in the films! (We are in the Caribbean after all).
Only Jhonny Depp is missing, no, it’s Luis!!! 😆
We walk a little more, looking for somewhere less crowded… and there it is, a deserted beach, with a forest of palm trees behind it. The perfect place to dive in!
We spend about an hour and a half in the water and at the meeting time with the guide for the return we decide to walk on our own. We are much faster than the rest of the group so we can afford to stop again for another swim along the way. And that is what we do. Another swim at the last beach on the way back and off we go, at a furious pace towards the bus. We don’t meet anyone along the way, so we doubt either that they are incredibly behind or that they have abandoned us there! We arrive at the meeting point and realise that it is the first option. We return rather late, as the bus drops us off in a village before Santa Marta and we are forced to take a taxi to the hostel… another unexpected adventure 😅