Happy belated Easter to whoever is reading this. Back home in England during the Easter period, it’s a blessing with Good Friday and Bank Holiday Monday giving people deserved time off. Over here in Colombia though, they take it up a notch – everyone has the whole week off! Take note England! So with this in mind, i decided to travel North and explore a few areas. I started off with Tayrona National Park, on the outskirts of Santa Marta…
Apparently, Parque Tayrona sits within the highest coastal mountain area in the world. I was pretty surprised. When you arrive, it doesn’t look like a big deal, but there is no denying this park’s beauty. Imagine gorgeous crystal clear turquoise water that meets spotless, soft sandy beaches whilst surrounded by emerald green bushes and vast jungle. Throw in 100s of species of birds, a variety of monkeys, turtles and jaguars. Well done, you’ve just visually created Tayrona. From the entrance it was a 3 hour hike to where i was staying. The choices for beds were either tents or hammocks. I wasn’t particularly fussed.
It’s funny, when people look at places like this in a book, on a postcard or some photos, they naturally only think about how amazing the scenery looks. However, when you’re actually somewhere like Tayrona, the noise of the jungle is equally amazing. I’m not trying to go all “Colours of wind” blah blah to quote Disney and what not, but seriously, the hustle and bustle of the jungle evades your expectation radar so to speak. It’s just surprisingly brilliant. Hearing the howler monkeys howl (oddly enough) at the crack of dawn, the snapping of branches as iguanas jump from tree to tree and the cries of dozens of birds all merge together to create this wonderful, evolving and continuous sound. What a truly wonderful place.
After sweating buckets of water due to the heat and humidity, I arrived at El Cabo – where I stayed the night. Reading books on the beach, having a few naps and several dips in the ocean – what a life. As the sun went down, i was presented with 1 more treat. A perfect full moon, suspended in the sky that just glowed and glowed like a radiating orange for a few hours. Stunning. Simply stunning.
