Exploring more of the Caribbean coast - the Tayrona National Park and Palamino

After nearly a week relaxing in the lovely Airbnb cabin in Minca, we packed up the bikes and headed an hour east along the carribean coast to our next stop: a hostel just outside the Tayrona National Park. 

The Tayrona National Park is an area of protected land lying between the Sierra Nevada mountains (the highest coastal mountains in the world!) and the carribean sea. The National Park has lots of walking trails through forest and mangrove swamp to beautiful beaches and coves. The land is owned and inhabited by indigenous Kogi people, who believe it is sacred land. The Kogi people allow public access for most of the year, closing the park for one month each year for spiritual cleansing and rituals. It’s actually the most visited national park in the whole of Colombia. 

We stayed at a lovely family run hostel just outside the park entrance, and there were two huge but friendly dogs, and one smaller one. The hostel had a pool and lots of hammocks to chill it. It also had a lovely garden with fruit trees - we had fresh mango juice from the mango trees in the garden with breakfast every day. 

We spent a day exploring the area on our bikes - we rode to a nearby beach, Los Cocos. Though Ash couldn’t swim, actually there were strong waves and currents so you wouldn’t want to anyway (lots of beaches along this part of the Carribean coast have dangerous currents and sadly lots of people lose their lives here each year). We were happy to have a walk on the beach and a coffee. We then drove to a mirador restaurant and had some lovely seafood and enjoyed the views. 

Our initial plan was to hike and camp in the Tayrona national park for 3 days and 2 nights, using our own tents and staying at the beachside campsites. However, because of Ash’s bite wounds still being open and weeping, we were worried about camping on the beach increasing the chance of infection (not to mention sand in the wound!). So we decided instead to do a day hike in the park, and possibly do a second day if we thought it was worth it. 

We arrived early at the park entrance to buy our tickets, hoping to beat the crowds and the heat! We went on the bikes and we were able to take our bikes into the park and park them at the start of the hiking trails, saving us having to pay for a bus/bike to the start. Though we had got there early with the hope of beating the crowds, sadly the first hour of the hike was in a queue closely following hundreds of people - not our idea of a good time! After an hour or so, the crowds thinned out as people stopped to rest or to visit beaches along the trail, and we enjoying having the trail to ourselves and going at our own pace! 

lol

The walk itself wasn’t difficult, though it was a hot and humid day. The path was smooth, and it only took us around 1.5 hours to reach the beach of Cabo San Juan. The views along the way were beautiful, and when we got to the beach we stopped to get some cold drinks and take some photos. Though Ash couldn’t swim because of the bite wound, I couldn’t resist to take a dip in the warm, crystal clear water (sorry Ash!). Before we went to the park we had heard from lots of people how amazing it is, and that it’s a ‘must do’ in Colombia. Though we had a good time in the park and enjoyed the beaches and views, we were left disappointed and we were glad we didn’t spend three days there. The hiking trails were short and boring, the campsites were very crowded, and there were way too many people for us to enjoy the nature and views. 

The next day we had to head back to Santa Marta to visit the hospital for Ash’s last rabies shot. As we had moved a bit further away, the ride took us around one hour, and we decided to make a day of it and go for lunch at the nearby beach town of Taganga. Taganga is a resort town popular with divers, and though the beach wasn’t that great, the views on the ride down to the town were good.  We returned to the hostel glad to have finished Ash’s course of rabies shots so we could move on and continue exploring. 

The next day we packed up the bikes again to ride for an hour to Palomino, a small beach town popular with backpackers. The town had a laid-back hippy vibe, though it was a bit pretentious too. We stayed at a lovely hostel with a really lovely host and a swimming pool. The beach itself at Palomino wasn’t that great, and apart from some good food options, there wasn’t much to do in the town. So after two days we packed up and moved on again.

Next stop: the Guajira desert