Palomino - Welcome to the jungle

After a long bus ride from Bogotá we finally arrived in Palomino. It's a small village at the Caribbean Coast of Colombia. As we (Lea and me) stepped out of the bus, the suffocating heat surrounded us. Finally some really hot weather.

After our host Manuell told us that he can't pick us up, we had to take a Mototaxi to his farm. Quite small such a motorbike with 2 guys and all your luggage on.

After a 5 min ride, we arrived at the farm. Manuell is living in his self made house made out of wood in the middle of the jungle. It had 3 floors, an open air toilet, many hammocks to sleep in, a view on the nevados (mountains with snow) and the sea at the same time and no walls or windows. A walk to the private beach took about 7 min. through his plantation of coconuts. If that's not enough, there was also a river that ended in the sea. We were told that there were crocodiles in the river. I didn't feel that comfortable when we swam through it. All extremities are still at their place.

Everyday we tried to start working early in the morning, so we won't have to work in the midday sun. I had to collect Coconuts, cut all the grasses and bushes with a machete, make construction work on a little hut, plant trees and plants, repair fences, cook, give English lessons to kids or rather play with them.

I have never worked before in that kind of heat. Immediately all my clothes were wet. I have to say that we wore long clothes and big boots against the mosquitos, animals and the sun. But there were also some little breaks in which I drank and ated coconuts, pineapples and oranges directly from the trees, for sure. Paradise! Also the bedbugs, all the mosquitos, ticks and the spiders and big frogs on the nightly toilet walk couldn't make our stay bad. How could you be not happy, waking up by the sound of the monkeys which cut of the branches in the tree next to you?!

At the end it was a great experience living on the farm and a beautiful stay I won't forget. I got to know so many new fruits and vegetables, I have never heard about!

After one week we decided to move on. Our next destination is Tayrona National Park.