Dreamlike Tropics (Tayrona)

Actually, I was resistant to clichéd advertising reports in the sense of a package tour provider. The goal of this blog was not to present glossy pictures of the joys of traveling. Instead, I wanted to reflect on what I experienced, spread thoughts, write down anecdotes, and also report on worries. Today's text is therefore an exception.

The visit to Tayrona National Park was undoubtedly one of the highlights of my trip so far. Several Colombians warmly recommended a visit to me in advance. Tayrona offered dream beaches in a national park, only about an hour away from Santa Marta.

It took me three attempts to finally gather the energy on Monday.

Contrary to my memory, I had not booked my onward journey to Bogota for Monday, but for Tuesday, as I had already discovered on Saturday. True to my motto: 'One day lost, one day gained!', I set my alarm for 7 am on Monday. After all, the park opened early and closed at 5 pm. The number of daily visitors was limited to under 2,000.

I arrived at the park at 10 am. I was lucky, it was obviously the low season. Without queuing, I could immediately pay my 5,000 pesos for accident insurance and 57,000 pesos entrance fee (13.50 euros).

Then the adventure or rather the hike began. It was about 13 km from the entrance to the picturesque beaches, a two-and-a-half-hour walk. Sometimes a nature trail, sometimes rocky, sometimes jungle, sometimes palm grove, always varied, then the view of the coast opened up, pictures like on a photo wallpaper. Perfect beaches, turquoise sea, bays, and white sandy beach left nothing to be desired. I spent a little over an hour in awe and paddling at Cabo San Juan before starting the two-hour return journey. I enjoyed every minute of this day and every step of the hike.

I spent the evening in a neighboring hostel with catering and felt the more than 25 kilometers in my exhausted limbs under the Caribbean sun, looking forward to being able to sleep in the next day. When checking in online for my flight to Bogota, I then found out that the airline had brought forward my flight from 4 pm to 9 am. It was already midnight and I set my alarm for 6 am. Good night!!