Dec 2016: We left Santa Marta after a delicious lunch of crepes and headed east. Directly to the east of Santa Marta is Parque Tayrona, a large national park with mountains jutting up to a beautiful and rugged coastline and home to some of the Kuna indians. Many people have told me that we should definitely see this while in Colombia but I decided to forego it this time around.
Instead, we went around the park to an area called Los Naranjos and found a little piece of paradise on the other side called Finca Barlovento. This hotel sits on a point where the river flows in to the ocean and everywhere you look, there are breathtaking views. There is a large sandbar that runs out between the river and the ocean so at the end of the river is a small lake. While lovely to look at, no swimming is recommended due to the caiman population. The kids were very excited about the great surf but didn’t wander too far in due to possible rip currents. Delicious meals were prepared for us by the local staff and we slept in open rooms with the sound of the surf lulling us to sleep. Here are some photos from this spectacular place.
The next day we continued east along the northern coast to a small town called Palomino. The road along this part of the northern coastline was spectacular with lush vegetation and a beautiful rocky shoreline. It reminded us so much of the California coastline. It was hard to believe that we were headed toward a desert.
Palomino is an up and coming beach haven. There are lots of hostels and open air restaurants and, although the narrow dirt roads accommodate cars, everyone walks everywhere.
Since it was the holiday week, finding lodging was difficult and we ended up staying away from the beach up in the mountains in a one room B&B called Mamatukua Eco-Hostel. The view and the birds were lovely. The hosts, Alexis and Maria, were super helpful with giving us directions and helping us get inner tubes and dinner delivered.
Tubing the river is a popular activity here in the mountains. Alexis had inner tubes delivered to us and showed us where to put in and get out of the Palomino River. We hiked for about 30mins up through the mountains and passed several groups of Kuna Indians. We floated for about 50mins until we reached the exit point. It was very relaxing.
After dinner delivery and a quiet night, we left Palomino early in the morning. Our next stop was Cabo de la Vela, but along the way we strayed off course for a little adventure.
About 45mins from Palomino is the little town of Camarones, which is known for its Flamingo sanctuary, and we decided to stop here to take pictures and have lunch. It was an amazing experience! You can read more about it here.
From Camarones, it was 20mins to Riohacha, the capital city of La Guajira. We passed through quickly on an outer road and then it was another 2hrs of paved road to get to Uribia. The vegetation was more like Texas scrub bush now. We passed several large Wayuu communities and they reminded me of New Mexico and the Native American communities there.
Uribia is the cultural center of La Guajira. It is also the end of the paved road and the last stop for gasoline. The side of the road is lined with guys selling gasoline from huge drums smuggled in illegally from Venezuela. I was wary of buying this gas so we drove to the town center looking for a legitimate gas station. We passed two and they were both closed – put out of business by the entrepreneurship of the locals. So we submitted and stopped to get 7.5 gallons for $10USD from a guy who sucked it out of the barrel and into a smaller container to measure it and then poured it in to the gas tank through a funnel.
Leaving Uribia, you almost get the feeling that you are leaving civilization itself. The road is now packed dirt, although sufficiently wide enough with at least 2 lanes in each direction. It is mostly smooth but occasionally, we hit some ruts or bumps in the road.
There are many children begging on the side the road and they hold up a string with flags across the road to get you to stop. We stopped once and then realized what was going on, so from then on, we just kept driving and they would drop the string at the very last moment before the car could destroy it. Most people in this area have no means of transportation and public transportation is non-existent, so we passed many vehicles that looked like this.
When we reached the huge sign that said Cabo de la Vela, we turned right. The road was actually paved for about one mile and then was dirt and sand for the next 9 miles.
There were no directional signs and no clear path so we picked the one that looked more traveled. The landscape was clearly semi-desert.
We passed many small Wayuu communities. The fences around the community are made of the stalks of a tall cactus. Goats are their primary livelihood.
Cabo de la Vela is definitely off the beaten path!
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