Dec 2016: Cabo de la Vela (Cove of the Sail) is the northernmost town in Colombia. The people who live here mostly make a living with fishing, but tourism is also slowly blossoming. Simple hostels with hammocks for beds draw the backpackers looking for a remote paradise, the Wayuu women sell colorful traditional hand-made bags, and Cabo de la Vela is considered one of the best places on earth for kiteboarding due to the constant winds. Several excellent kiteboarding schools have opened here. Although the wind is constant, the bay is calm and very shallow for a long way out, so it is perfect for those learning.
As you drive in to town, there is one main road. You will notice that there are electric lines and street lamps (a campaign promise from a previous election) but there actually is no electricity to the town. Everything runs on generators.
Since I wasn’t sure I wanted to sleep in a hammock for 3 nights, we stayed at the most upscale place in town; Rancheria Utta. It is actually about 15mins outside of town, but since we had our own vehicle, that was not an issue for us. Rancheria Utta is a complex of small cabins, covered hammock areas and a central restaurant. They have their own water tanks and a generator which runs from about 6pm to 2am.
Each cabin has a high thatched roof that peaks in the center. Under the roof are two rooms, each with a bathroom, and a porch. The walls around each room go up about 8feet but do not meet the roof so we, somewhat intimately, could hear the activities of our neighbors. The floors are dirt, the walls are made of sticks woven together, the bathroom is tiled and there is no shower head so the water flows easily. There are fans, but we did not need them since it was cool at night. The sparse room has 4 twin beds and they are clean and firm. There are no bugs, but due to the constant wind, a thin layer of dirt covers everything after 3 days, especially our feet.
The meals at the Rancheria were varied with a different menu for lunch and dinner. The showers were refreshing. The staff were super friendly and cleaned our room every day. The beach was a little rocky, so the kids preferred the one at Pilon de Azucar.
We arrived at Rancheria Utta on New Year’s Eve and they had a delicious buffet spread, including lobster! This was followed by a dancing presentation by the local Wayuu youth.
Luckily, there were no loud fireworks that night to keep us up, just the sound of the wind.
Although we did not swim at this beach, we did manage to take a nice family photo.
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