Colombia (Lonely Planet, 5th Edition) - Jens Porup [145]
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Information
Bancolombia (Parque José Prudencio Padilla) ATM.
Command.com ( 727 0600; Calle 6 No 7-07; per hr COP$1500; 7am-8pm Mon-Sat) Internet services, two blocks east of Parque José Prudencio Padilla.
Deprisa ( 727 0462; Calle 7 No 7-04; 8am-noon & 2-6pm Mon-Fri, 8am-noon Sat) Postal services.
Hospital ( 727 3312; Av de los Estudiantes)
Kaí Ecotravel ( 311 436 2830; www.kaiecotravel.com) This excellent agency is pioneering ecotourism in the Guajira and has spent years fostering relationships with the Wayuu, allowing access to Punta Gallinas and Parque Nacional Natural (PNN) Macuira, both Wayuu-controlled. They are the go-to source for tours on the peninsula as well as homestays with indigenous families.
Policía de la Guajira ( 727 3879; cnr Calle 15 & Carrera 7)
Tourist office ( 727 1015; Carrera 1 No 4-42; 8am-noon & 2-6pm Mon-Fri) Located on the waterfront, this extraordinarily nice tourism office can help you with lodging, restaurants and information on trips deeper into the Guajira. Beautiful Wayuu handbags and hammocks are also for sale.
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Sights & Activities
Riohacha is not wrought with things to see and do. In town, the 1.2km-long walking pier, built in 1937, is an impressive piece of maritime architecture and makes for a lovely stroll out to sea. On weekend evenings, the malecón (boardwalk) and its parallel street, Carrera 1, fill with revelers taking in the waterfront restaurants and bars. Unless it’s raining, you’ll find Wayuu women dressed in traditional garb, hawking wonderful handbags and other weaved wares here.
The town’s main square, Parque José Prudencio Padilla, set two blocks back from the beach, is also a nice surprise, full of verdant trees; it makes for a welcome escape from the blistering sun. The Cathedral de Nuestra Señora de los Remedios, with a venerated image of the Virgin on its high alter since colonial times, is also here.
The main attraction around Riohacha itself is a trip out to the Santuario de Flora y Fauna Los Flamencos, a 700-hectare nature preserve 25km from town in Camarones. Pink flamingos inhabit this tranquil area in great numbers; up to 10,000 or so call the area home in the wet season (September through to December), and bunches of up to 2000 can usually be seen in one of the four lagoons within the park – quite a dramatic and colorful site.
Admission to the park is free, but if you want to see the flamingos, you’ll need to take a canoe (one to three people COP$30,000, per person extra COP$10,000) out on the water. The skippers usually know where the birds are hanging out, but will not take you if they are beyond a reasonable distance. There is also a new accommodation complex ( 310 369 7763; cabaña/hammock per person incl dinner COP$50,000/40,000) built by the park, where you can spend the night right on the lagoon. The whole area is quite picturesque and tranquil (except on weekends, when the nearby restaurant swarms with drunken locals and pounding reggaetón).
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Sleeping & Eating
Fundamentally not a tourist town, Riohacha is only beginning to embrace travelers. For this reason, cheap and plentiful accommodations are slim and none. There is virtually no budget range here, and the midrange is overpriced…dramatically. Still, as you are likely only to stop over here on your way north, don’t sweat it. Enjoy the excellent food and don’t focus on your lodging.
El Castillo del Mar ( 727 5043; hotelcastillodelmar@gmail.com; Calle 9A No 15-352; cabañas with fan per person COP$20,000, s/d with air-con COP$60,000/80,000; ) It doesn’t look like much from the outside but inside, this German-owned hotel is a colorful and homely spot. It’s on the beach just five minutes walk from centro (though it’s barricaded by a prisonlike barrier). Whitewashed castle-style cabañas are large and comfortable, and there’s bougainvillea