Tayrona National Park, Colombia, October 9, 2017

This morning we left Taganga-

for Tayrona National Park in a nice air conditionned van-

The Parque includes the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta.  It covers 12,000 hectares of land and 3000 hectares of sea.  We had to walk 2 hours up and down, through mud and jungle-

and over rocks to get to San Juan Del Guia where we spent the day.  I had paid to take the van back which meant walking 2 hours back to the pickup spot rather than take a lancha back right from the beach because the water can be very rough and it might be 45 minutes of bang bang bang - not much fun, very uncomfortable and hard on the back.  However, by the time I made it to San Juan, I was dripping wet and couldn't imagine walking that 2 hours again so soon.  Luckily the boat company exchanged my van ticket for the boat and I just had to pay the difference.

There are 54 different species of animals in the park.  Leaf cutter ants are everywhere!  Unfortunately my picture is blurry :(  We saw millions of them!  There are so many they have dug a small trench from walking where ever it is they walk.  I have no idea what they do with these large leaf chunks that they carry-

These gourds are used for maracas-

A dart frog-

It's about 1.5 inches long.

Termites-

Once we arrived at the beaches, it was all worth it-

San Juan is past the farthest point on the right-

There is a nice view from the wooden structure.  If you want to get lots of looks, have a tattoo...at least I think that's what they were all looking at.  Unless it was my broad shoulders or my bountiful breasts - no I don't think it was either of those things.  Speaking of breasts, I saw a woman who had breasts like small watermelons and they looked hard and perky.  I had to stop myself from reaching out and poking one! Really!  Anyway, the structure is filled with hammocks where people pay to spend the night.  Back on the grounds, there is also a restaurant and permanent tents too.  I posted this picture as motivation.  I am going to lose 20 pounds, aka 10 kilos before I come home. I'm tired of wearing the same pair of shorts because I'm too stubborn to buy larger ones. Take note!  You will see=

The lancha left at 4:30 and it was a 45 minute ride-

We had to stop and pick up 3 passengers from a boat that was broke down.   They were waving their arms like crazy!  At first we just drove past and  lots in our boat were freaking out, wonderingwhy weren't we helping.   Then a  boat in front of us turned around to go back so we did too.

The scenery was nice along the coast: black volcanic rock, cacti and jungle-

The boat was really smooth, thank goodness and I didn't get wet!

Back in Taganga-

Tomorrow will be a lazy day until the evening when we have a group barbecue and our first meeting with our new tour leader.  Unfortunately the truck is not going to arrive in Colombia until tomorrow  so we're taking a night bus for 16 hours to Medellin Wednesday at 4 pm! It's supposed to have reclining seats so I hope it's like the buses in Vietnam!

P.S.