Colombia (Lonely Planet, 5th Edition) - Jens Porup [148]
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Sleeping & Eating
There are over 60 rustic Posadas Turísticas de Colombia (www.posadasturisticas.com.co) in Cabo de la Vela, part of a government-sponsored ecotourism project that has helped the Wayuu into the hospitality business. Lodging is generally in Wayuu huts fashioned from yotojoro, the inner core of the cardon cactus that grows rampantly in the desert here. You can choose between smaller hammocks, larger and warmer traditional Wayuu chinchorros (locally crafted hammocks) or beds with private bathrooms (though running water is scarce). You will also need to bring your own towel. Nearly all posadas here double as restaurants, more or less serving the same thing – fish or goat in the COP$10,000 to COP$15,000 range and market-price lobster.
Pujuru Hostal-Restaurant ( 310 659 4189; www.pujuru.com; hammocks COP$10,000, chinchorros COP$15,000, s/d with bathroom COP$25,000/50,000) Run by an attentive Wayuu woman named Nena, this posada ecoturística offers well-constructed huts for private rooms, and luggage lockers for those in hammocks. The generators run from 6pm to 10pm and the restaurant (mains COP$10,000 to COP$15,000) serves up a tasty pargo rojo (red snapper), though the shrimp and rice is best avoided. Showers are bucket style.
Hostería Jarrinapi ( 311 683 4281; hammocks COP$10,000, r per person COP$30,000) A little fancier on the infrastructure hierarchy, these huts, complete with a front desk and running water, feel almost like an actual hotel. The generators pump all night, from 5:30pm to 6am. The restaurant (mains COP$5000 to COP$35,000) does the usual suspects, but also cheaper fast food like burgers and hot dogs.
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THE WAYUU CANDY BANDITS
There are only two roads that lead to Cabo de la Vela, neither of which is paved. Depending on weather conditions in the wet season (April, October and November), drivers will take the more direct road northwest out of Uribia, or head east and take the coastal road through Carizal. When weather is not an issue, ask your driver to take the coastal route. Besides the obvious reasons, an amazing thing happens in a small Wayuu village between El Cardón and Carizal. Teams of Wayuu children have set up checkpoint barricades – not unlike the military and police ones throughout the country – and will not let you pass through without a handout. Your driver will buy cookies and candy for this purpose. It is the kind of travel experience money can’t buy – one after another you pass through some 10 or so child-manned roadblocks, full of screaming Wayuu offspring trading passage for sweets!
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Refugio Pantu ( 313 581 0858; chinchorro per person COP$20,000, r per person COP$30,000) If you want to trade solitude for beach, this posada sits north of town, the last one in a long line that extends toward El Faro. Its restaurant and cabanãs are yorotoro chic, a step-up in construction with liberal use of stone, and hotel-grade bathrooms. President Uribe even slept here in 2005. It’s a hike to town and the beach here isn’t pretty or sandy.
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Getting There & Away
Arriving in Cabo de la Vela is not the easiest trip you’ll make in Colombia, so most folks come on an organized tour. That said, it’s possible to come on your own, and all the more rewarding. From Riohacha, you must catch a colectivo at Cootrauri ( 728 0976; Calle 15 No 5-39) to Uribia; it will depart as it fills up every day from 5am to 6pm (COP$12,000, one hour). The driver will let you out in front of Panaderia Peter-Pan, from where trucks and 4WDs leave for Cabo (COP$10,000 to COP$15,000, 2½ hours). Non-4WD vehicles are a definite