Tayrona National Park

We were up early, like 6am. It's uncomfortable sleeping in a small bed to Ryan. It's like a twin bed, so not much room for the both of us.

Yesterday we booked a trip to Tayrona National Park for Ryan and me. This morning dad decided he'd go as well, if possible. We packed stuff for the day and headed to the front of the hostel to wait for our 6:30 pickup. When they arrived, we asked if our was possible for dad to come, they said no problem.

We piled into the back seat of the car. We have a driver and a guide. Both speak just bits of English.

It was about a 30 minute ride to the spot where we hiked to the park. We started hiking and it didn't take long to realize this was going to be a strenuous hike. We saw some titi monkeys. They started dropping nuts and other stuff on us as we passed underneath. Up and down and up and down and pretty soon we were all drenched in sweat. Ryan had told dad it was a short walk on the jungle. Not! We hike for maybe 2.5 hours in the scorching heat. It was clear and sunny today. Dad wasn't really complaining, but I don't think any of us was expecting another hike like this.

We finally made it to an old indigenous village, Chairama or El Pueblito in Spanish. It was inhabited by the indigenous people up until about 1600, when the Spanish arrived. It was not unlike the Lost City, bit on a much smaller scale and not at the top of a mountain.

After that was even more crazy hiking, down an old river valley with absolutely massive boulders that we had to climb over and under. This went on for a long time, probably another two hours. Very hard hiking! Just before noon we finally arrived at Cabo San Juan, an absolutely beautiful beach and backpacker hangout. You can hike in to here and sleep in tents or hammocks. There's also a restaurant. Stunning!

After a swim and lunch at the restaurant, we hiked out via another (much easier) trail, that kind of went along the coast. This was another perhaps 2 hour hike, ending at a parking lot in the park. We hopped on a minibus for the trip outside the gate, then onto a local bus to Santa Marta, then a taxi back to out hostel. We arrived back at the hostel around 5pm.

We didn't do too much in the evening. Ryan beat me at a game of chess (it was a good game!), we had supper, then just read and used the internet and such.

I stayed up until about 11:00pm, when I went to bed, Dad and Ryan were already in bed.