Since reading about trips to the northern point of South America before I came away I had wanted to see the deserts of Colombia and the indigenous villages on the way. We had heard you could do this route solo but pretty good Spanish was needed to negotiate a driver/taxi with a four wheel drive to take you and.....well, we decided to take the easier and slightly more costlier option. We booked a two night, three day tour with Magic tours. Tours cost between $140-170 including all food, accommodation and transport.
Kirsty, our lovely German, hilarious friend Linda and myself arranged to get collected from Calle 11 hostel (our little base) at 4.30am! We packed small backpacks for the next few days and set off in our 4x4 with our Spanish speaking tour guide Jesus bang on 4.30am in the dark. We drove for about two hours (well Jesus drove...we slept)! He stopped just outside a beach town of Palomino and showed us the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains, he told us the snow capped mountains are the closest in proximity to the sea in the world. We carried on to Palomino and picked up a Dutch guy Jasper and drove for another hour or so to a beach city called Riohacha where we stopped for breakfast....eggs, arepas and juice. Two more joined the group...two older Italian ladies who were quick to tell us they didn't speak any English or Spanish.
From here we piled into our 4x4 again and drove another hour into the sticks to Uribia 'The capital of Indigenous Colombia' to stop for cheap Venezuelan gas. The petrol station was literally just some teenagers in the middle of the town with coke bottles and canisters full of diesel. We stocked up on some drinks and had a photo shoot with a cute little guy who was fascinated with the Italian ladies' camera demanding he got a photo of everyone before we left.
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| Uribia petrol station |
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| Photo shoot with the locals |
We set off for a small town called Cabo de la Vela where we would spend our first night. Here was where we discovered why a four wheel drive was needed, passing by some Colombian tourists who had attempted to cross in a Kia jeep (of all things)! Jesus was quick to stop and get out to help tow him out. Driving through the indigenous villages was both interesting but also quite sad, the local kids set up self made road blocks, making the various jeeps stop to give them biscuits, fruit, water. I couldn't figure out if this was due to hunger or more like a game for them. Jesus had brought fruit and milk biscuits as did Kirsty and I, it didn't take long before our stock had been handed out meaning we had to drive past lots of children begging for more.
When we got to Cabo de la Vela we had a fresh seafood lunch and spent the afternoon walking up 'Pilon de Azucar' in English translated into 'The sugar loaf' (however the Colombian sugar loaf has slightly better views than the Irish sugar loaf)! We also went swimming at the beach where we got swarmed by the local kids, dragging us into the water, jumping on our backs and body surfing waves with us...the kids were crazy! We stopped off the watch the sunset before heading back for some dinner, rum and cards before getting into our massive hammocks for a pretty crap nights sleep
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| Fresh fish for lunch |
Our second night was to be spent in more big hammocks, this time in a sheltered area on a cliff overlooking the sea...it was pretty special. We had grouped up with another tour, after breakfast we explored Punta Gallinas in the back of a pick up truck which was dubbed 'The Gringo bus'. This was when we visited the most northerly point of South America, more beautiful deserted beaches, the desert where the sand dunes literally roll into the sea and to end the day we stopped off at a viewpoint to watch yet another impressive sunset.
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| Reaching the most northerly point of SA |
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| Our hammock bedroom on the cliffs' edge |
We had dinner that night again of fresh fish, plantain, rice and beans. We had all coincidentally brought rum so we cracked this open. Jesus also brought round some questionable looking liquid in a big water bottle. He told us it is locally made rum from a man about 2km away in the desert...but of course! A few metres away at the cliffs edge we noticed a group of who we thought were locals with head torches having a few drinks, and playing traditional Colombian music from speakers. and lots of people with headtorches on...us being nosey, and Linda declaring that no one can have a party without her, we wandered over to see what was happening. Turned out it was a Colombian film crew that were filming a 'survivor' type show in the desert and it was one their camera mans birthdays. We all sang him happy birthday or feliz compleaños in Spanish and spent the next hour learning Colombian salsa and drinking the rest of the rum under the most spectacular sky full of stars I've ever seen...we also had to be careful not to fall off the cliff!
The next morning and our last day we got up at 5am and very reluctantly got back on the dreaded lancha. We were assured however that the way back wouldn't be as rough, thankfully it wasn't and after two hours, only mildly salt drenched we bailed back into our 4x4's and headed back towards Riochacha for our last lunch. We also stopped to visit impressive pink salt plains where we were told we might see some pink flamingoes. Unfortunately we were not so lucky this time much to the despair of flamingo living Linda.
Jesus dropped Linda, Kristy and myself at Dreamers hostel in Palomino, a beach that is becoming popular with backpackers. We spent that evening and the next day not doing very much apart from walking on the beach and swimming in the pool.
Looking back at photographs and writing about it has confirmed that the Punta Gallinas tour has been one of the highlights of my trip so far. The people I met, our tour guide, the food, the amount that we learnt and saw surpassed my expectations. I'd really recommend travelling up to visit the desert, the indigenous people and the most northerly point of South America either with or without a tour.
Next Stop: back to Calle 11 after Palomino to go to onto Tayrona National Park
Bars/restaurants: food from the tour..we were fed verrrryyy well! Fruit stall at Palomino.
Stayed: hammocks in Cabo de la Vela and Punta Gallinas. Dreamers Hostel in Palomino (about $11 for a dorm)
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