Day 469 – Santa Marta

Solo adventures in Tayrona National Park

Today I woke up to my wife poking me and telling me to wake up. Since I am a sensitive solo, I got annoyed and decided to double down and stay in bed. She got frustrated and left for Tayrona National Park alone.

I got up around 7.45am and packed our backpacks since we had to change rooms. After leaving all the large backpacks in Hostel El Espanlete’s storage, I left for the national park also. The first step was to get more money as my wife had cleared me out. Following this, I purchased a few pollo (chicken) empanadas for breakfast.

Getting to Tayrona National Park

The bus terminal was only a 10 – 15 minute walk away from the hostel. After I arrived at the terminal, I got into an empty bus that said Tayrona in the windscreen. During the 10 minute wait, the bus filled up with tourists and locals. The bus left at 8.50am.

There was a steady stream of buskers and sales people that kept getting on the bus throughout the journey. My favourite was a rapper who was free styling in Spanish. Unfortunately, I had no idea what he actually said.

An hour into the journey, the conductor went around the bus and collected the fare. The bus momentarily stopped at the first entrance to the park in the town of Calabazo. None of the tourists got off the bus and since my researcher was missing (my wife), I decided to follow the crowd to the next entrance at Zaino.

Most of the bus emptied at the Zaino entrance. Instantly a crowd of salespersons rushed at us, trying to sell accommodation inside the park. If my wife and I had left together, we could have spent a night in the park as we had originally wanted. 

Tayrona National Park: Zaino Entrance

I was ushered to the first payment point across the road. Apparently the first payment is for some sort of insurance. I showed my physical passport, but others just showed a photo on their phone, which was accepted. I received my passport, a wristband and a receipt back. 

When I asked if it’s possible to start from the Zaino entrance and exit from Calabazo within one day, the man said no. Challenge accepted!

Then I had to go wait in another more official looking ticket booth for the entrance ticket. I had to show the previous Insurance receipt here and then pay the entrance fee. The staff member provided another wristband. 

After taking a photo of the large map near the entrance for reference, I waited in line for the optional colectivo service. The ticket vendor said that the colectivo ride would 8 minutes, while walking would take one hour. I decided to take the colectivo, which stopped near the museum in Canaveral. The museum appeared to be under construction when I was there. 

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Canaveral

To the right of the museum was a path leading to “Sendero de las 9 piedras” and a mirador (viewpoint). I went this way and found that there are various paths. I followed the longest path, Ruta A (Route A). Along the path were several large concrete eggs. Unfortunately most of the accompanying words of wisdom were only in Spanish. I also saw several small monkeys and thousands of leafcutter ants. 

There is also a nice viewpoint that overlooks the Caribbean Sea. Just before the end of the detour, I ended up at a nice beach that is a mixing point for salt and freshwater.

This detour took around 30 minutes to complete. I was back at the museum at 11am.

Arrecifes 

Then I continued my solitary exploration of the park by following the signs to “Sendero Arrecifes.” This led me past a handful or vendors, another viewpoint and lots more ants. Most of the path is on a raised wooden platform. Along the way, I saw pristine beaches, but swimming was prohibited.

Arrecifes appeared to be a beach with a restaurant on it. After the restaurant, there were a few beaches that allowed swimming. Playa Arrecifes was the quietest beach that I saw.

La Piscina

The next nicest beach I came across was La Piscina. There was hardly anyone else here. But I was too paranoid to get into the water as I would have to leave my backpack unattended. Therefore, I left after sitting here for awhile. 

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Cabo San Juan

My next stop was Playa Cabo San Juan. This was a large hub, full of restaurants, accommodation and people. In the middle of the beach there is a nice viewpoint hut, but the beach itself was way too crowded.

I continued walking to the end of the beach and followed a short path to another beach. This beach was empty, as swimming wasn’t allowed here too. I wanted to see how cold the water was so I tried to touch a wave. This was an epic fail. I spent the next half an hour drying my shoes and socks.

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Leaving Tayrona National Park

Then I left the beach and entered the foliage on my way to the Calabazo exit. In some areas the path was difficult to walk on, due to the overgrown plants. The path kept changing directions with uphill sections of 300m followed by 200m down and so on.

I came across absolutely no one else, which made me wonder how all the people at Cabo San Juan got back, but it definitely wasn’t this way. I had no idea when the park would close, but the Maps.Me App said I had another 3 hours of walking before I reached the exit. Hopefully it won’t close before 5pm.

As I was approximately 2 kms away from the main road, there were 4 moto (motorbike) taxis waiting with T-shirts reading “bike relief.” I was puffed out, but the rest of the way was downhill so I refused the service to Calabazo or Santa Marta.

The rest of the way was along a winding dirt road. There was a small barking dog on the road. As I would get close, it would run away to the next bend and start barking again. It did this at least 10 times before it found a side road to escape on. Super adorable.

At 4pm I finally arrived at the Calabazo entrance/exit. There was hardly any infrastructure here. On the main road, there was a heavily armoured military checkpoint. I walked a little distance away from it and waited for a bus.

Back to Santa Marta

Within 10 minutes, I was able to hail down a bus going to Santa Marta. The bus was full so I had to stand, but within a short distance, some people got off the bus freeing up space. Half way into the journey, the bus was stopped at a police checkpoint. The ID cards of all the Colombian males were collected and screened. I was ignored.

One hour later, I was back at the terminal in Santa Marta. I walked back into town and towards Cathedral Basilica of Santa Marta. Our hostel owner mentioned that it’s the oldest surviving cathedral in South America (but I couldn’t verify this online). It was nice, but nothing special. Afterwards I found my way back to Gnam Gelateria for some delicious white chocolate gelato.

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I decided to eat this delicious cone at the Santa Marta Malecon (pier). It was surprisingly busy with people walking, swimming or just chilling near the water. The malecon had various sea themed statues along the path. I enjoyed the sunset here.

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Then I returned to the hostel to find that my wife wasn’t back yet. As I waited, I moved our backpacks into the dorm room. The dorm room’s layout was unique. There were bunk beds and double beds. It was different, but nice. I started chatting to the others in the dorm. One was Colombian and the other was Korean.

My wife arrived with a beef skewer as a peace gesture. After she had a shower we went to an Indian restaurant, Maharaja, which was recommended by the hostel. The owner was really friendly and the food was cheap. After months of travel I had a papadum, which was as big as a plate!

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Travelled December 2019

Expenses and Transport

• Bus – Santa Marta Terminal to Tayrona National Park – 7,000 COP (~$3 AUD) per person
• Mandatory Insurance – Tayrona National Park – 4,000 COP (~$2 AUD) per person
• Entrance – Tayrona National Park – 63,500 COP (~$25 AUD) per person
• Colectivo – Tayrona National Park (Zaino) to Park Museum – 3,000 COP (~$1 AUD) per person
• Bus – Tayrona National Park to Santa Marta Terminal – 6,000 COP (~$2 AUD) per person