Colombia (Lonely Planet, 5th Edition) - Jens Porup [230]
CASCADA DEL TIGRE
A two-hour walk north through the jungle past gigantic trees and along the shore takes you to this waterfall. There’s a swimming hole where you can bathe. Local guides charge COP$20,000 per person (negotiable) including lunch. It’s a full-day excursion.
PARQUE NACIONAL NATURAL (PNN) ENSENADA DE UTRÍA
This narrow inlet of water is one of the best places to see whales close-up from land. During the calving season they enter the ensenada (inlet) and play just a few hundred meters from shore. Long closed due to security concerns, the Centro de Visitantes Jaibaná (Colombians/foreigners COP$9000/COP$25,000), on the eastern shore of the ensenada, was reopening at the time of research, including newly refurbished cabins for up to 30 people. There’s good snorkeling and diving nearby, but you’ll have to bring your own equipment. The visitors center has rudimentary grade school exhibits on flora and fauna, and several whale and dolphin skeletons are on display outside. There are a number of short walks you can do in the nearby mangroves, and at night you may see glow-in-the dark mushrooms.
Mano Cambiada in Nuquí (Click here) has the concession to run the park. It runs the cabins (r per person all-inclusive COP$96,000) and offers boat transport to/from El Valle and Nuquí (COP$50,000 per person, 1½ hours), or Bahía Solano (COP$500,000 per boat). It can also organize a guide (COP$30,000, four hours) from El Valle to take you on foot to Lachunga at the mouth of the Río Tundo at the northwestern corner of the ensenada. From here you can be picked up in a launch (free) and taken to the visitors center.
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Sleeping
Hotel Valle ( 682 7907, 314 617 8970; hotelvalle@gmail.com; r without bathroom COP$20,000, r COP$30,000, apt COP$40,000) This budget home-style posada is your best cheap option in El Valle. The smaller rooms share an interior shower block, and there’s a breezy terrace with hammocks and ocean glimpses upstairs. There’s a TV in the homey downstairs living room, and food is served. A cabin near the beach (Cabaña Arrecifes) can also be rented for COP$35,000 per person.
Hotel Playa Alegre ( 451 1229, 315 571 5142; www.playaalegre.com; cabañas per person COP$140,00) Next to El Almejal is this cheaper but still excellent choice. Cabins surround a small pond full of blue freshwater shrimp. A palm-thatched restaurant faces the ocean. One cabin uphill has spectacular views. Look for the two-story watchtower and the peeling white picket fence.
El Almejal ( in Medellín 230 6060; www.almejal.com.co; cabañas per person COP$170,000) The most luxurious and expensive resort in the Bahía Solano area, El Almejal also has the most ingenious cabin design – opposite walls of the sitting room area open completely, allowing a breeze to pass through. A small creek spills into a man-made swimming hole near the back of the cabins; select a nearby cabin for the soothing sound. A turtle-breeding facility collects and hatches turtle eggs before returning them to the sea (September to December). Concrete stairs behind the hotel lead uphill to a lookout point – in whale-watching season you can sometimes spot them playing just off the coast. Nonguests may use the spot; just swing by reception first to ask permission.
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Eating
Residencia La Coti ( 682 7948; mains COP$6000-7000; lunch & dinner) A grandmotherly local cooks ‘interior food’ for Colombian visitors wanting more than fish and rice, but if you give her notice she can prepare you local specialties, such as jaíba con coco (mollusc in coconut milk). Sit at her kitchen table and eat surrounded by her collection of knick-knacks.
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Drinking
El Valle has one of the most picturesque bars in the world. About 200m past El Alemejal on the main beach, built on top of a rocky outcropping, is El Mirador ( Fri & Sat). You can sit at the makeshift tables and suck down rum while the stereo blasts reggaetón at the crashing waves.
Less spectacular, at the