Day 73
Today I'm in: Taganga, Colombia
A word of advice: if you find yourself in north-central Colombia and consider a trip to Tayrona National Park, do not go by boat.
It started out innocuously enough. The boat was pretty small and had a full complement of passengers, so I wound up in the middle of a bench seat with nothing to hold onto. The water in Taganga's bay was smooth as glass, though, and even at speed it was smooth and pleasant. Then we rounded the headland at the mouth of the bay and hit the open Caribbean Sea.
That's when the boat ride turned into probably the most miserable experience I've had on this trip. A small boat traveling at high speed across large ocean swells literally smacks and up and down over and over again. At first it was a little fun and some of the passengers up in the bow were squealing. But we had to cover seven miles, and within about five minutes the fun was gone and everyone was holding on to whatever they could to avoid getting thrown out of the boat. For me that meant trying to maintain a grip on my increasingly slippery bench seat. At times it felt like entire waves were hitting us. By the time we pulled into the dock at Cabo San Juan inside Tayrona, we were soaked to the skin and two of the passengers had thrown up.
Fortunately, Tayrona turned out to be pretty nice. I don't know if I can say it was worth the boat ride (I'm not sure anywhere is worth that) but it was awfully spectacular. The park sprawls along several miles of jungly coastline to the east of Santa Marta and includes some of Colombia's finest beaches. Unlike the gray, polluted beaches in Cartagena and Taganga, these have golden sand and the clean, clear water that's more representative of the Caribbean.
I did about a two-mile hike through Tayrona's western stretches, where the jungle is thickest and beaches are most accessible. From Cabo San Juan I walked to the aptly named La Piscina ("the pool") where an offshore reef keeps the surf to a minimum; most of Tayrona's other beaches are classified as unsafe for swimming. From there I hiked to Arrecifes - a long, lonely strip of sand with pounding surf and almost no shade - and on to Canaveral, the final beach. None of the beaches were particularly crowded (Tayrona's not easy to get to) and the weather was really cooperative as well.
After the trauma of the boat ride, I elected to make the trip back to Taganga by bus, even though it meant I'd be dropped off in Santa Marta and have to make the final leg of the journey in a cab. About 20 minutes out of Tayrona, we were pulled over at one of Colombia's ubiquitous police checkpoints. Everyone was ordered off the bus and about ten police officers spent a half hour literally taking the inside of the bus apart. Everything - seats, flooring, paneling, even the instrument panel in front of the driver - was unscrewed or pulled off in the search for illegal drugs. I was nervous we'd all be asked to show ID (I'd left the photocopy of my passport back in Taganga and only had my drivers' license) but nothing was found and we were allowed to continue on our way.
Tomorrow afternoon I leave Taganga and fly back to Bogota, where I'll spend the final night of the trip. I'm looking forward to coming home; I feel like I haven't been truly fair to Colombia because my readiness to be in one place again has clouded my judgment a bit. But I'll save all my weepy reflections for a special post when I get back to the States, don't worry.
Today I'm in: Taganga, Colombia
A word of advice: if you find yourself in north-central Colombia and consider a trip to Tayrona National Park, do not go by boat.
It started out innocuously enough. The boat was pretty small and had a full complement of passengers, so I wound up in the middle of a bench seat with nothing to hold onto. The water in Taganga's bay was smooth as glass, though, and even at speed it was smooth and pleasant. Then we rounded the headland at the mouth of the bay and hit the open Caribbean Sea.That's when the boat ride turned into probably the most miserable experience I've had on this trip. A small boat traveling at high speed across large ocean swells literally smacks and up and down over and over again. At first it was a little fun and some of the passengers up in the bow were squealing. But we had to cover seven miles, and within about five minutes the fun was gone and everyone was holding on to whatever they could to avoid getting thrown out of the boat. For me that meant trying to maintain a grip on my increasingly slippery bench seat. At times it felt like entire waves were hitting us. By the time we pulled into the dock at Cabo San Juan inside Tayrona, we were soaked to the skin and two of the passengers had thrown up.
Fortunately, Tayrona turned out to be pretty nice. I don't know if I can say it was worth the boat ride (I'm not sure anywhere is worth that) but it was awfully spectacular. The park sprawls along several miles of jungly coastline to the east of Santa Marta and includes some of Colombia's finest beaches. Unlike the gray, polluted beaches in Cartagena and Taganga, these have golden sand and the clean, clear water that's more representative of the Caribbean. 
I did about a two-mile hike through Tayrona's western stretches, where the jungle is thickest and beaches are most accessible. From Cabo San Juan I walked to the aptly named La Piscina ("the pool") where an offshore reef keeps the surf to a minimum; most of Tayrona's other beaches are classified as unsafe for swimming. From there I hiked to Arrecifes - a long, lonely strip of sand with pounding surf and almost no shade - and on to Canaveral, the final beach. None of the beaches were particularly crowded (Tayrona's not easy to get to) and the weather was really cooperative as well. 
After the trauma of the boat ride, I elected to make the trip back to Taganga by bus, even though it meant I'd be dropped off in Santa Marta and have to make the final leg of the journey in a cab. About 20 minutes out of Tayrona, we were pulled over at one of Colombia's ubiquitous police checkpoints. Everyone was ordered off the bus and about ten police officers spent a half hour literally taking the inside of the bus apart. Everything - seats, flooring, paneling, even the instrument panel in front of the driver - was unscrewed or pulled off in the search for illegal drugs. I was nervous we'd all be asked to show ID (I'd left the photocopy of my passport back in Taganga and only had my drivers' license) but nothing was found and we were allowed to continue on our way.Tomorrow afternoon I leave Taganga and fly back to Bogota, where I'll spend the final night of the trip. I'm looking forward to coming home; I feel like I haven't been truly fair to Colombia because my readiness to be in one place again has clouded my judgment a bit. But I'll save all my weepy reflections for a special post when I get back to the States, don't worry.
No comments:
Post a Comment