9/13: Hiking with Monkeys in Tayrona National Park near Santa Marta, Colombia

The main reason we’d chosen to come to Santa Marta was its proximity to Tayrona National Park, the most popular one in all of Colombia. After a quick breakfast, we got a local bus at 8 to take us to the eastern entrance of the park, located an hour away in El Zaino on the Caribbean coast. The bus kept picking up passengers along the way by beeping his horn, the same method used by taxi drivers in Cartagena and all developing countries, it seemed, when hoping for fares. 

The  park was once the territory of the Tayrona people and some archaeological remains have been found in the park, including more than 5,000 dwellings, estimated to have been home to more than 4,000 people. From the entrance, we joined other hikers going to one of the park's gorgeous beaches deep within the park, set in deep bays, and mostly shaded by coconut palms backed by mountains.

However, vicious currents meant that most beaches were never open for swimming. We had read that we should never go in the water where there were any red flags posted; seems so obvious but many swimmers drown there each year.

The park entry cost 88,000COP, i.e. Colombian pesos, a little less than $30 for both of us. That seemed a little steep to me for two pedestrians entering even a national park here in Colombia. From the entrance, we caught a collectivo, a 12-seat van that took us directly to the park trail that led to all the park’s beaches and our goal for the day. 

The central and eastern parts of the park are wetter and more verdant and largely covered by rainforest. This was the beginning of the area’s wet season so rain had been a distinct possibility when planning our day trip to Tayrona National Park. 

We were so lucky that the rain held off all day. It must have rained a lot recently, however, as we had to hike through a lot of very muddy ground. We were lucky, though, as there were a good number of elevated, wooden walking sections which we came to appreciate a lot especially when we came across sections like this one!

We had applied copious amounts of bug repellent at the beginning of the hike. Either that was key or there were no mosquitoes! We had been worried because we had seen so many tourists with huge welts especially on their legs as we'd read again about mosquitoes being so vicious in the park.

We could have been lazy louts and opted to ride a horse most of the way to the beach we were headed to but, crazy us, a 2.5 hour plus hike one way sounded like more fun!

An interesting fruit:

A traffic jam in the rainforest could only mean an animal sighting up ahead! Where were Jerin and John, our incredible animal spotters from Panama, when we needed them?!

Luckily even I managed to see the monkey, hiding almost in plain sight this time! I say that because I had had such difficulty spotting the parrots and toucans when we were on a hike in the Panamanian rainforest about ten days ago. It was such a thrill and not a sight I wanted to take for granted.

We were fortunate that we were generally walking by ourselves and thus could pause and take time to gaze around us and especially above us to try and figure out where all the amazing sounds were coming from.

It almost seemed like a mirage when, after hiking a fair piece, we had our first sight of water even though the view only lasted for a moment before we were engulfed in the trees again.

A sign, in Spanish only, indicated that one of these plants had been found to be of help treating people with bronchial issues. Take your pick as to which plant the sign was referring to as I couldn't tell!

This sign, including in Hebrew which seemed surprising to me, warned people not to climb on the nearby rocks high above the water. Otherwise, it would be a lonnnnnnnng way down before you went kerplunk!!

I think this was Canaveral beach, home to upscale cabanas and golden sand but apparently no shade and swimming could be dangerous because of treacherous, offshore currents.

Sorry that this photo of the tiny, lime-green lizard is blurry.

It was great to just enjoy the stunning views for a while and catch a breath before continuing our journey.

Lovely seeing these wild petunias growing. I had thought they were only cultivated plants.

Looking at these photos several days later, I can still feel what it was like to be at this spot as it was the start of a steady, uphill climb that continued for a good piece.

Can you read the faded English script near the bottom? It warned that more than 100 people drowned at the next beach and not to become a statistic.

I was glad that someone pointed out this lizard to us as I am sure Steven and I would have both missed it otherwise.

We could understand that we were 90% of the way to some place but we didn't know enough Spanish to understand where that place was! 

I loved looking at these snake-like Tarzan vines as well as knowing they were sturdy enough to hold onto when going down some slippery rocks or spots! Recovering from a second broken foot and hiking this trail was not exactly what the surgeon would have recommended but we took it slowly and Steven was my rock helping me more times than I could count over some tricky spots.

For the last long stretch of our hike, we had heard a gazillion birds in the rainforest. Their noise was almost deafening but nothing like the howler monkeys we heard and saw in Panama, luckily.

We then spotted more monkeys who put on a big show for us as they scampered from branch to branch.

What a wonderful sight it was when we came across three indigenous people making freshly-squeezed orange juice right in front of us. They worked furiously to satisfy everyone's thirst as quickly as possible. The juice was just what I felt for after a pretty tough slog so far. I was certainly willing to pay a pretty penny at that point for it so the 4K pesos (~$1.33) cost seemed very reasonable. 

Steven didn't feel for more than a sip, preferring his water instead. Aww shucks!

Nearby monkeys were attracted by the scents of all those oranges as we saw many more of them in the clearing pouncing on the empty orange halves.

The man lured the monkey to come down the tree to fetch the orange - it worked!

Throughout the hike, we kept hearing what we later found out to be coconuts falling to the ground. I don't know whether monkeys or other animals had dislodged them so they could then eat the fruit or whether they fell 'naturally.' It was more than a little off putting as we wondered if all of a sudden one would fall on our heads!

We came across piles and piles of coconuts along the trail. Don't know what they'd been used for and why they were there.

Remember my earlier comment about the occasionally very muddy terrain? One spot was so bad it was like quicksand and I could feel my left foot sinking into the deep mud. I finally was able to pull my foot out but my shoe got stuck behind. I only just saw an inch or so of the shoe still above the muck and it, too, was sinking fast. I can’t tell you how very lucky I was that, with one good pull, I was only just able to retrieve the entire shoe before it disappeared into the morass forever. 

Thank goodness there was the first bathroom we’d seen so far on the trail just ahead and I could wash my filthy hands and foot. I guess I didn't do a very good job as I still have some of that mud on my shoe as my 'souvenir'!

Our goal all morning was to reach 'La Piscina' - literally the pool but just one of the loveliest beaches or so we read. That sign had to have been in the wrong spot as it sure took us a lot longer than 20 minutes to reach that beach.

Just when we hoped and hoped we'd reached our final destination, we learned we were only at La Aranilla, a gorgeous tiny cove framed by massive boulders.

Trying to remove some of the sand from my shoes - a lost cause but at least it wasn't mud!

Another tempting view but still not there yet.

After close to three hours, what a huge relief it was when we finally got to La Piscina. I could understand why so many of the younger tourists had decided to stay the night sleeping in hammocks for a fee rather than having to turn around just two or so hours later to hike back before the park closed at 5.

We couldn't get rid of all of our clothes except for our swim suits fast enough and jump in the water at long last. We had fun swimming and didn't notice any currents or undertow. Time went by far too fast before we had to tear ourselves away and start hiking back. 

We could have lengthened our stay on the beach if we'd decided to return on horseback but that would have been too easy and not as much 'fun,' right?!

Luckily, we both were able to skirt most of the mud on our way back.

The horses and their handlers weren't always so lucky, though.

One of the 'camps' that had hammocks for far, hardier souls than us.

A long line of leaf ants carrying, what else but leaves!

More interesting vines, at least to me!

Another petunia peeking out from under a leaf:

More leaf ants. Isn't nature incredible?

Steven was so hot on the return hike, he could have wrung out his shirt, it was so wet!

Was La Piscina or any of the other beaches really worth all the hype we'd read about the beautiful beaches in Tayrona National Park? Probably not but as the adage always goes, it's not the destination that counts, it's the journey. And the journey to the beach was unforgettable for us and not one we would have wanted to miss at all.

Posted on September 18th from Bogota, Colombia.