Tayrona National Park

A convenient door to door shuttle service transported us the 4 hours to Santa Marta, the perfect base for visiting Tayrona National Park, Taganga beach or the Lost City Trek. We couldn't resist helping out the amusing local who jumped on board to flog his Spanish Karma Sutra books, purely for the articles of course. Our chosen lodging was the Drop Bear Hostel (Drop Bears are a fierce Australian creature that waits in hiding amongst tree branches until unsuspecting tourists walk underneath), the recently opened hostel is a converted ex cartel house.

On Sunday evenings the hostel owner runs a tour starting in the bar which explains a very colourful history of the town, once used to transport mammoth amounts of cocaine up to the US on boats, the numerous secret walls and rooms inside the house used to hide cash, drugs and even people, the cellar which was used to execute participants in Marijuana deals before Pablo's regime kicked off and the frequent sightings of the wet ghostly figure of a little girl who drowned in the pool during one of the many parties held at the mansion(like a scene straight out of The Ring).

Conveniently located at the end of our street, a local bus drove us the hour to Tayrona National Park entry point. This is where you must be sneaky if bringing in any prohibited substances including alcohol, Maddy was not very creative with his rum hiding spot, much to the delight of the armed soldier who joyfully passed it around to his mates in the parked truck. A cheap ride in a waiting mini van saves walking 45 minutes on a paved road, dropping you in the jungle just behind the beach. After paying the entry fee we hiked the 3 hours out to El Cabo beach, famous amongst the backpacking community for its hammock accommodation tucked in amongst the trees on the shores of a beautiful beach. I was a little disappointed with the trail as it had been constructed with walking paths and rails at points, the scenery certainly made up for it though.

At El Cabo the hammock hut up on the point overlooking the water was fully booked (made famous by being inside the cover of many travel guides), this turned out to be a blessing in disguise as the evening breeze made it quite cool even at our hammocks located further back. Food and alcohol inside the park was rumoured to be rather expensive, so I had come prepared with 3 days worth of meals, the menu prices however were actually quite reasonable. There is plenty of restrictions within the parks boundaries including a ban on fishing!

The next couple of days were spent exploring the beaches and clambering around the rocks to the northern point, apparently this is also not allowed but it was too irresistible, you even have to manoeuvre diagonally through a small bat cave at one point. There is a man who walks around late morning each day selling amazing warm chocolate filled buns, which lived up to the reputation, even being one of the last few squashed at the bottom.

Maddy and Lawrence left a day early so I made the journey out with Lilly who had hiked in an alternate route which ends directly at El Cabo, rather than a longer beach section passing other camp / hammock sites. This route was what I had been expecting at the start as it crossed lakes, ducked through caves, wound up over boulder laden hills and twisted through a lush jungle canopy. All the time monkeys would be swinging overhead and Leafcutter ants would march in hordes across the trail as they laid waste to entire trees.