Unfortunately, as a teacher who has uber amounts of holiday,
the one holiday that you are sure to catch the largest holiday crowd no matter
where you go, is during Easter week.
Especially, along the Colombian Coast, because schools, and most offices
close for the entire week of Semana Santa or Holy Week. Colombians from the interior flock to
the warm Caribbean waters to vacation with family and friends. I didn’t do any preparing for this
virgin trip because as a solo traveler, you always leave room for spontaneity
of chance and discovery.
Most guide books focus on the Colombian islands just off the
coast like San Andreas, so it was gonna be difficult to find accommodations
beyond a hammock. Everything is
booked well in advance and prices are usually more than double.
Another popular option with just as many tourists is the
area just north of Cartagena, particularly around the city of Santa Marta. Nearly everyone I spoke with who had
been there, said it had less charm, so why bother if you only have a few days in
Colombia. What I wanted was less
urban and more nature, so I considered Tayrona National Park, but being a
national park, you won’t have nothing beyond nature. I needed a mix, so I “discovered” the town of Palomino about
two hours drive further northeast along the coast.
For about $20 USD and six hours later from Cartagena I found
myself in Palomino and just as I expected, it was perfect for a solo backpacker
looking to chillax for a couple days.
An equal mix of domestic and international tourists getting along like
rice and beans. The scene is a far
cry from Santa Marta or Tanganga. Comparatively,
Palomino still maintains a rustic charm without all the modern
infrastructure. But that is
quickly changing, as Palomino is developing rapidly. I was told there were just thirty campsites/hotels/hostels
in the area compared to 180 choices now.
But these are not large hotels by any means. Mostly just one and two story brick and wood structures
designed to blend in with the surrounding palm forests and sandy beaches.
Even the popular place I stayed (Dreamer’s Hostel) felt more
like an upscale property with bungalows than a hotel. A pool, bar, outdoor bbq pit, and plenty of grass for yoga
with massage chairs just a few meters from the beach.
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| Dreamer's Hostel |
The beach is lovely with tiki bars stretched along an area
of a few hundred meters. It wasn’t
too crowded by South Florida standards, but I imagine at this time of year it
feels like South Beach landed on Palomino without the pretentious crowds of
drunken craziness, just families and young people enjoying the sun.
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| colorful murals on some of the buildings |
Palomino's main water activity is tubing, which I enjoyed the best. For about $10 USD, you can rent an inner tube and hire a motor taxi to drive you into the rain forests and drop you off for a three hour slow float down Los Coquitos river. It was perfect to combat the humidity. Peacefully surrounded by the rainforests and sounds of birds and howler monkeys as you meditate on by.
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| renting a tube for the 3 hour ride down the river |
There is not much to do in the night except to feast on
local snapper and other seafood.
Just one beach bar was open in the night, which was the watering hole
for most of the young people on vacation here.
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| beach bar at night |
The only thing sketchy here was the wifi, which was nice,
because you didn’t have everyone connecting with the world back home. Just being present in the moment like
it should be.
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| how it looks to have sketchy wifi |
With just a few days left into my weeklong holiday, I
decided to go to Colombia’s most popular park of Tayrona. Bad idea. In spite of arriving just as the park opened, there was a
line for days as if Shakira was in concert. After an hour or so in line, dreading the idea of being in a
national park during the busiest time of year, I decided to count my losses and
grab a bus out.
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| The main entrance of Tayrona during Semana Santa. Avoid |
I exhausted all the options in my guidebook for where to go next,
and decided to just wing it and go with something off the beaten path. Instead of going for more beaches, I
decided for the edge of the Sierra Mountains about an hour away. The best spontaneous decision I made on
this trip. Just outside of the town
of Bonda, I found the one and only hostel on Bookings.com (The Place to Be
Hostel). It had all the basics,
dorm or private room, kitchen, rooftop with amazing views of the mountains and
Caribbean sea, a pool and a good place to embark on some hiking trails to waterfalls
just below the cloud forests hanging overhead. A perfect day hike was to three cascades known as Pozo
Azul. Quite remote as it takes
about four hours to hike there and three hours back. Well worth the effort, as there was absolutely no one
there. These are the places that
you live for when traveling.
Somewhere no guidebook has mentioned, because “if they mention it, they
will come”.
After two nights, I was ready to move on and return to
Cartagena for one last night before heading back to Miami. One thing I’d like to add is download
the app Stepz. It counts how many
steps you take per day. I
downloaded it a few months ago and have been able to track my average miles per
day. On average, I walk about ten
miles a week, which is nothing compared the amount of walking when I’m
traveling. After one week, I
walked five times that while on “vacation”. Each year, I spend about three months traveling like I have
in Colombia, which equates to about 600 miles compared to the 400 miles I walk
the other nine months. Who says “vacationing” means being lazy? Get out and discover Colombia’s
Caribbean Coast for yourself!
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| caiman getting ate on by the grim reaper |
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| unspoiled rainforest river delta converging on the Caribbean Sea |
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| Indigenous people make up just 3% of Colombians. |
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| their footprint and mine. 50 miles in one week |
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