Minca - Mountain Retreat

Santa Marta from the balcony of the hostel

My time in Colombia seems to be hitting a nice stride of big city to isolated getaway and back again, so Minca was an obvious step after Cartagena. After a night in Santa Marta we packed into a dinky collectivo and made the 45 minute journey into the hills overlooking the city.

What we stepped into was a whole other world from the town we just left. From roasting hot stone streets and the nearby sea we were taken to the forested and mercifully cool lower reaches of the Sierra Nevada. Birds and motorbikes buzzed around us as we wandered all three streets of Minca, the sun shone overhead and everything seemed right in the world.

Waterfall and frenchies

Our first day in Minca took us to a waterfall about an hour's walk from the town. It looked like an easy enough walk, but what our map didn't tell us is that it was almost all uphill...even in the cooler weather you can soak through a shirt thanks to the humidity! It was very much worth it when we got there, as we found a cool little spot with a big, deep swimming hole and plenty of high spots to jump off. On the way back the sweat didn't matter as we got absolutely drenched by a sudden storm that turned the track into a river.
A cute moment caught on a dead beer

The next day we were going to go to a bird sanctuary, but due to a dispute with the hostel we were staying at we couldn't make it. That didn't stop us seeing our fair share of wildlife: that morning on the way down to the village, we saw a Toucan! It was a smaller one with a green beak that was hopping around on a roof. I couldn't get close enough to get a picture to share, but it was a crazy moment seeing that wonder bird from Nat Geo and every rainforest book ever right there in front of me.

"Gonna get the queen some leaves. Queens love leaves."

On the smaller side, you can also find large numbers of leaf-cutter ants around Minca. These guys are absolutely fascinating. They march together in columns to and from a desired source of leaves, going out empty handed and returning with a shred of green in their jaws. The colony moves inexorably towards its goal of leaves, marching through the undergrowth by literally creating mini trails through the leaf litter, sometimes scaling trees and travelling hundreds of metres from the nest. I really don't know why they go after one plant over another, but every now and then you will see plants in the forest with their leaves reduced to skeletons and an army of red critters plodding steadily forward and back with their green bounty.

Two days here was all we could manage, but we loved it nonetheless. Next its back to sea level for Tayrona!

Steve Buscemi cat, found outside an empanada stand

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