We were given a strict start time of 8.15am Thursday morning for our sizable drive to Tayrona National Park. It was nice to have a lovely breakfast of scrambled eggs once again which was one of 5 options prior to leaving. After packing a day/night bag for our visit to the national park, we loaded all our luggage onto our bus which is a brand new truck called amber. It holds 24 people and there are 22 of us right now. If does seem that I have a lot less luggage than some people though which I'm not sure is good or bad!
First stop of the day was a visit to the mud volcano about an hour outside Cartagena. Local myth says it used to spew hot lava before some priest poured holy water over it to make it become mud. It is not in fact a real volcano but just a natural mud pool. It was here we had the option to go inside the mud, which I agreed to, climbing up these stairs before entering this liquid mud and getting a vigiurious massage inside! God knows how deep it was but you couldn't touch the bottom and it was very difficult to put your feet down!
After the mud volcano we jumped in the lake where we were literally washed down by these woman from head to toe, although they kept asking me to get naked if my Spanish is correct! After cleaning myself up we continued driving, although there was very heavy traffic through Barranquilla which delayed us a bit due to roadworks. After negotiating the city we stopped off at this local roadside restaurant where I had chicken and rice, before continuing on past fantastic coastal scenery and deprived villages where the locals were very excited to see us pass.
We finally arrived at the national park at dusk which was a lot later than planned. We had issues entering with our truck which meant we needed a transfer by the park inside, before embarking on a good 45 minute trekthrough what can only be said as ridiculous humid weather through the jungle in pitch black to our campsite on the beach. It is here we're staying in hammocks which is a very interesting set up! That evening we had a meal where I had the pork and yukka accompanied by a lot of beer (to the point we emptied the fridge twice).
The sleep in the hammock was very interesting and muggy, where I was up at the crack of dawn due to the sunlight, although I stayed in the hammocks relaxing while other people were doing all sorts. For breakfast this morning I decided to have the tropical fruits with scrambled eggs, toast and potato cakes which was very nice but took ages to come! Today was essentially a free day to explore the national park, although our group leader gave us the option to go with him to ruins of El Puibito, which I decided to do.
Just to give some information about the place, Tayrona National Park is a wonderful protected area on the northern coast of Colombia, which contains a huge diversity of animal and plant species including 2,000 species of animals and 800 types of plants. This is in part due to the variation in geology of the area - at sea level the climate is arid and the rugged coastline has some excellent beaches and coves, but the terrain quickly rises as you travel inland, where we find a sub-tropical climate and cloud forests on the foothills of the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
To get to the ruins we walked about 45 minutes through coastal jungle, to another beach which was spectacular. From here there was a signposted track up to the ruins which were at 260m above sea level. Walking along sandy paths with ferns and palm trees, we soon began to climb on some very challenging terrain which involved a lot of scrambling. The path was essentially boulders which at times we had to crawl through and teamwork was vital in places to climb up them. About half way up I tanked on ahead with someone else as some of the others were struggling. The issue was the path wasn't just physically demanding, but the humidity levels were stupid. I've never before literally been dripping all over with my clothes wet right through. I needed a lot of water.
When reaching the top we waited for the others, and after about half hour they arrived minus 5 people who had turned back due to the challenging nature of the hike. It was ironic that the only people who made were the two oldest people in the group, me, and the two tour guides. The ruins weren't anything special, with just old walls and steps, and some replicas of the huts. There was a small hut up here selling fruit juice though which was very refreshing. We went back down a different way back to the beach, although the path we took continued to climb for a while before finally decending. The terrain was very different here being loose soil which needed to be treated very carefully.
We eventually made it to the bottom, where we met a few of the others at the beach we started from to have lunch. I had the fried chicken with rice and chips. From here a few people went off to do there own thing, although I stayed with a couple of others to swim in the warm waters of the carribbean. The beach was beautiful being situated in this bay surrounded by big rocks and palm trees. We stayed here for a while before continuing onto another beach further down where we met a few others. This beach was a lot busier although it was still just as beautiful. We had to leave after though as there were way too many sandflys.
We ended up getting back about 5, and while everyone else jumped in the shower, I went down to another beach to watch the sunset. It was alright although it was cloudy so it wasn't as good as it could have been. After relaxing in my hammock for a bit I joined the others for dinner where I had beef medallions. It was a complete surprise because I let someone else order for me! Come 9 however everyone had gone to bed due to an early start tomorrow, although I stayed out a bit longer. I then finally went to the hammock about half 9 and relaxed due an early start tomorrow morning.
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