Day 498 – Paso del Mango
Exploring Paso del Mango
Today I woke up to my wife checking the time on my watch at 5am. The sun had already started to rise, but we went back to sleep. We finally got out of bed a few hours later.
As I was chilling in a hammock, a staff member from Sierra San Juan guest house bought me a delicious coffee. I don’t normally drink or like coffee, but this Colombian stuff is growing on me.
We really liked the guest house, so we extended our stay for another night. The owner confirmed that we could move into an empty double room.
Since we had already booked accommodation in Santa Marta, we had to pay and get Wi-Fi to adjust our other booking. Then we had a delicious traditional breakfast at 8.30am. It consisted of fried plantain, salsa, cheese and bread with natural honey. As always the owner came out and explained the meal.
The amazing garden and dining room
After breakfast, we had a water refill before exploring the town. Paso del Mango is very small, so there aren’t many creature comforts, but Sierra San Juan guest house was able to accommodate us well.
We took the foot bridge this time to cross the river!
Caoba Biological Reserve
The Caoba Biological Reserve is 1.5km away from the guest house. At the reserve, we were given a map so that we could go on a self guided tour. It took over an hour to walk around the reserve.
The reserve is a mix of nature reserve and meditation retreat. There are signs in English and Spanish at all of the stops. The highlights were the mango tree house, the indigenous homes and the giant Amazon fish.
The Arapaima Gigas (aka Paiche or Pirarucu) fish can grow to 4.5 metres in length. These beasts were only half that size, but still looked menacing. I would freak out if I saw them while I was in the water.
There is also a nice swimming spot, without any super scary fish. There was only a handful of other tourists who occasionally came by, but for most of the time we were alone.
Unsure if these stone carvings are ancient or not…
The reserve has some rooms, a viewpoint (without a great view), a ritual pathway, pigs and parrots. The museum is a little disappointing as it’s a small room with photos mainly.
Cocoa Farm
Our next attraction was the Cocoa Farm. We were taken to the back and given some super strong chocolate to eat. We signed up for a tour of the farm. The guide was really professional and informative, despite only speaking a few words of English. The majority of the tour was in Spanish.
We learnt so much about the different types of cocoa plants and the various steps in the chocolate making process. These include harvesting, fermentation and production.
The farm is very hands on. We sat down with the guide and started peeling some roasted cocoa beans. Then we used a grinding machine to make a chocolate paste. Our paste (we think) was made into a bitter hot chocolate drink.
While the hot chocolate was being prepared, we were given a chocolate face mask. I’m not a fan of chocolate on my face, but my wife liked it. We felt that the tour was excellent value for money and we wanted to support the farm, so we decided to buy some chocolate.
The options were 80% or 70% cocoa. We went for the 70% cocoa option, which was super strong.
Sierra San Juan
Afterwards, we headed back to the guest house. We changed into a nice double bedroom, which was on the other side of the garden.
Pozo de Amor
Since we still had plenty of daylight remaining, we walked to Pozo de Amor. Along the way, came across a really flash hotel called Sierra Limon. It looked so out of place in Paseo del Mango and definitely out of our price range.
As we were approaching Pozo de Amor, we could hear Spanish music blasting out from a radio. There was a massive group of young adults chilling and drinking beers in the water. It’s quite a small area to swim in, so we decided to leave.
Pozo de Amor was a little crowded
Instead we relaxed in the river near Sierra San Juan. The water was nice and cold.
The river next to the guest house
After a shower at the guest house, we had another tasty dinner before hitting the hay.
Travelled January 2020
Expenses and Transport
- Wi-Fi at Sierra San Juan – 15,000 COP (~$6 AUD) per device
- Entrance fee including self guided tour – Caoba Biological Reserve – 15,000 COP (~$6 AUD) per person
- Tour – Paso del Mango Cocoa Farm – 20,000 COP (~$8 AUD) per person