Colombia (Lonely Planet, 5th Edition) - Jens Porup [144]
Return to beginning of chapter
Getting There & Away
Ciudad Perdida lies about 40km southeast of Santa Marta as the crow flies. It’s hidden deep in the thick forest amid rugged mountains, far away from any human settlement, and without access roads. The only way to get there is by foot and the return trip takes six days, covering 40 km. The trail begins in El Mamey, which is reached by vehicle.
Return to beginning of chapter
RESERVA NATURAL EL MATUY
This small bird sanctuary ( 315 751 8456; reservas@agroecotur.org; cabañas per person full board COP$120,000) and lodging near Palomino is a nice spot to escape the crowds of PNN Tayrona and lose yourself for a few days on another fine piece of sand. The reserve is tucked away on a private finca (farm) boasting 5km of beach banked by the San Salvador and Palomino Rivers. There are six rustic but very well decorated cabañas here, with embroidered bedspreads, outdoor bathrooms and showers, and porches with hammocks. The beach is peppered with coconut trees providing lots of shade as well as plenty of picturesque photo ops. There is no electricity but rustic farm chandeliers are scattered about some of the common areas. The whole vibe instills instant relaxation on initial approach.
Lodging is by reservation only and includes three meals. Mosquito nets are provided as well. Service is friendly and totally unobtrusive. To get here, take a minibus to Palomino (COP$7000, two hours) and the reserve will pick you up when its vehicle is available, or ask a taxi (COP$10,000) or moto-taxi (COP$2000) to drop you at Playa de Tuchi, a five-minute drive from Palomino.
LA GUAJIRA PENINSULA
* * *
Everyone from English pirates to Spanish pearl hunters have tried to conquer the Guajira Peninsula – a vast swath of barren sea and sand that ranks as Colombia’s northernmost point – but none have succeeded, unable to tame the indomitable Wayuu people, who call this region home. The peninsula is split into three sections: Southern Guajira, home to its capital, Riohacha; Middle Guajira on the border with Venezuela; and Upper Guajira, where you’ll find end-of-the-world paradises like Cabo de la Vela and Punta Gallinas, the latter an immaculate collision of desert and sea that is the coast’s most remarkable setting.
Return to beginning of chapter
RIOHACHA
5 / pop 170,000
Riohacha, 175km northeast of Santa Marta, the gateway to the semi-arid desert that dominates the tip of Colombia, has traditionally been the end of the line. Beyond here something wicked this way comes: Colombia’s Wild, Wild Northwest, a diesel and dust landscape dominated by two traditionally feared populations: contraband smugglers, piling everything from refrigerators to cameras to humans onto buses and trucks from Maicao, near the border with Venezuela, to ship to the rest of Colombia and beyond; and the fiercely independent Guajira people, known as Wayuu, thought of around Colombia as a people not to be crossed, living by their own rule of law on the edge of the continent.
While both factions are still here, much has changed around Riohacha. Those ‘dreaded’ Wayuu have been tamed by ecotourism – it is now possible to sleep in traditional Wayuu homes all over the peninsula, an emerging tourism sector in Colombia that is ripe for upsurge over the next few years. The town isn’t teeming with things to do, so there’s no reason to linger, but the picturesque palm-strewn beach that stretches 5km is surprisingly nice and the 1.2km pier, constructed in 1937 and standing today as a symbol of the city, makes for a lovely evening stroll while overnighting here on your way to Cabo de la Vela and beyond.
Return to beginning of chapter
Orientation
From the highway from Santa Marta, Carrera 15 is the main commercial thoroughfare through town, turning into the beachfront Carrera 1 as it turns east and