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.

Taganga, Colombia, October 8, 2017

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!  No turkey and dressing here unfortunately :(

Cartagena to Tananga is 229km-

We left Cartagena at 8-

packed into a bus with our luggage all around us.  The truck hasn't arrived yet, or if it has, it's sitting in the port.  We're supposed to have it in a couple of days-

We are an older group, ranging in age from 78 to 27.  There are 10 men and 11 women from New Zealand, Australia, Germany, Belgium, the U.K., Holland, Italy, the U.S., Colombia and Canada.  

We drove along the coast for 4 hours to get to Tananga-

 

Northeast Colombia reminds me a lot of Africa.  It's a desert climate so the trees are of the acacia species.  The villages look like townships in Cape Town and there's just as much poverty and garbage lying around-

Once settled in Tananga, the beach was just a 5 minute walk away-

Fishing is the main occupation-

There were many people on the beach-

And in the water-

It's very dirty!

I decided to try a SIM card in my phone so stopped at the Tigo shop-

I have no idea how long the data I bought will last or if I'll even use it.  We have wifi in every hostel and it doesn't seem like we'll be camping for quite awhile so.....

Next door was a tienda where no one trusts anyone.  One person handles the money and he's probably the owner-

The coolers are only accessible from the back-

Dario, the Colombian on the trip was saying that at our hostel in Cartagena, the owner was away for a month and when he returned, there was no money for him.  The workers claimed NO ONE had stayed at the hostel while he was away!  Banditos all of them!

I met an interesting individual while walking along the beach-

He was missing a few teeth and was a philosophical intellectual.  He explained the colors of the Colombian flag from a different point of view than what I've heard before and then talked to me about Gabriel Garcia Marquez, a Colombian author who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1982.  He wrote 100 Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera.  I have just downloaded the later on my kindle so will see if I agree with everyone else!

Tomorrow a bunch of us are going to the Tayrona National Park for the day.  It's a couple hours walk to San Juan Beach from where the bus drops us off.  I'll walk back to catch the bus at 5.  Some are going to spend the night in tents but I was thinking that this hostel is so nice with AC in the room and a lovely swimming pool steps away.  I'm not going to sleep in a tent if I can come back to this!

P.S.-