Tayrona National Park - Coconuts, Sand, Rain and Snakes

So here i am, finally getting some jungle action after missing the Amazon completely. For four days i trekked through Tayrona, a small national park on Colombia's Caribbean coast, seeing lush forest, amazing beaches and finding out just how sweaty a human can get.

Welcome to the Jungle!

DAY ONE


After loading up on food and water (you will need LOTS of both if you want to keep it budget) we took a local bus to the main entrance to the park. Immediately we were hounded by some guys asking us to reserve bed space for later. It was confronting at first, but we later realised this is actually pretty handy - the accomodation spots have little communication and won't be found on booking.com, so its better to book at the entrance than slog in and find yourself without a place to sleep.

Unfortunately we got there too late to take advantage of the 9,000 peso student price which was discontinued a few months ago, and we were forced to cough up 45,000 pesos instead (about $20 AUD) at the entrance. A quick minibus later and we arrived at the track to our first stop, Castilletes. This is a leisurely 15 minutes stroll to a park area filled with palm trees, cabins, and our choice of accomodation, hammocks. The hammocks are covered with mozzie net that drapes to the ground to prevent any midnight bites and they have a little roof over the top to stay dry. There was also a very nice beach that was unfortunately too dangerous for a swim but was lovely for a sunset stroll.
If you look under those rocks and plants and take a glance at the fancy ants..
There was food service here which wasn't too wildly priced: civilised Cat had a chicken dinner while I embraced the savage and tore apart a freshly fallen coconut with rocks and bare hands. Both were delicious. We fell asleep while distant Howler Monkeys bellowed across the forest.


DAY TWO


We woke up after a very nice sleep in the hammocks, had some breakfast and water before heading to our next destination, Arrecifes. This looked like a quick jaunt on the map, but in the muggy heat of the late morning rainforest this proved to be a challenge. We sweated through it with a detour to see the Nueve Piedras, ancient carved stones left behind by the indigenous Tayrona people.

One of the 9 stones of the Tayrona

We also had the chance to see some very cute Tamarin and Capuchin monkeys! You can only find them high in the trees, tracking the sounds in the canopy until you see one of the tiny critters, and I couldn't get a good snap with my handheld camera.

Arrecifes had more options than Castilletes, so obviously we went with the cheapest hammock for just 15,000 pesos (6 USD). To be clear, none of these are villages or anything. They're convenient locations where you find one or more places to lay your head.

After a backpack lunch, we headed to the beaches. The beaches get better further down the coast as the water becomes less dangerous and they come with more friendly locals selling snacks. After strolling down the beach from Arrecifes, we came to a spot called Piscinas, a series of lagoons bordered by a distant reef. We sat in the warm sea, watching fish as thunder from another Caribbean storm boomed overhead.

Playa Arrecifes from a lookout on the 9 Piedras track

In fact, we got caught badly by that storm. A small shower went overhead with some lightning and we assumed that was the worst of it and stuck around in the beautiful Piscinas lagoon. Little did we know, another, bigger storm was following, which we only realised when we noticed the thunder was also coming from behind us. Before we could even retreat to the trees, we were drenched in the strongest rain I had seen yet. The dirt track through the trees turned to boggy sludge that sucked our jandals off our feet, and with lighting crashing around us and hitting nearby trees we managed to stumble back to our hammocks just as darkness fell. We dozed off in the unmatched tranquility of lying peacefully in a hammock under a roof as nature raged around us.


DAY THREE


This day was an easier walk with plenty of time to stop again at Piscinas with the sun above us instead of a storm. The final destination was Cabo San Juan del Guia, where arguably the best beach in Tayrona waited for us. This was the most touristic site in the park, with a big roofed area holding close to 100 hammocks with a village of tents outside. At 25,000 pesos, it was also the most expensive, with a restaurant that wasn't exactly value for money. However, with our food supplies running out, we didn't have much choice but to have dinner there.

Main beach at Cabo San Juan

The beaches really are something though. Endlessly warm and picturesque, with plenty of coves and rockpools to explore if you're up for a swim. Snorkelling is also available, but it isn't cheap at 50,000+ pesos. After a couple of steamy hours on the trail, even just bobbing in the light swell of the sheltered bay was wonderful.

That night, an unexpected visitor came to the camp - a snake! It was only small, not much more than 40cm, but some Americans were freaking out thinking they would get bitten in their sleep. Enter the hero, me after a few drinks of Aguardiente, Colombian sugarcane liquor. After saying a quick prayer to Steve Irwin, I picked up the snake and took it off to safety to the sound of Californian jaws hitting the floor.

No wuckin' furries mate

It was pretty calm even after I held it, and from the way it behaved I guessed it was a constrictor of some kind, so not dangerous unless it grew bigger. Funnily enough that was also my first time seeing a snake in the wild despite all my time in Australia and my first time handling one.

DAY FOUR


Cabo San Juan was our last stop in Tayrona, and after consulting the map we decided to make our trip out a challenge. No speedboat round the coast or van to the bus stop for us intrepid adventurers - we would hike our way out of the jungle on our own two feet!

Is the part where we run from the giant stone?!

So we packed up and hit the trail. It became quickly clear that this would not be easy. It was the same unbelieveably humid heat as it had been this whole time, but now we were only going uphill, sometimes with just a few rocks to jump between for a path. When the jungle closed around us, it was very Indiana Jones: deep jungle, full of insect and vines and misty sunlight.

We stopped for lunch just outside of an ancient Tayrona settlement, known today as Pueblito Escondido, the Hidden Village. Old stonework was all around, but the current residents lived in huts made of palm. The people here seemed quite traditional, dressed in baggy white outfits made with an unknown material that looked very good at staying cool in the heat.

New huts on ancient stone ruins

In the afternoon, the vibe turned from Indiana Jones to Bear Grylls. We were low on water, and with no end in sight, the daunting forest was beginning to close in on us (did you read that in Bear's voice?). We had heard that it would be a two hour journey, but we quickly realised that that was the time to Pueblito, the highway was much further. Finally, we reached a part where the trail went mercifully downhill, and a while later we finally reached the highway after about 5 hours. Exhausted but very happy, we grabbed a celebratory ice cream before heading back to Santa Marta.



That is all sweat, not rain. The hat that looked so nice two weeks ago did not enjoy the weather :(

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