Tuesday, March 14, 2023: Tayrona National Natural Park (Author: J)
(photo: beach in Tayrona National Natural Park)
Day 5 of our trip started early. We had a 5:45 am meeting time so that we could get to Tayrona early for wildlife watching. P has reached an age where early wakeups are hard for him – and waking up any time before 6 a.m. is really pushing it even for the morning person in our family (me). We decided to prioritize sleep over prep time. I set an alarm for 5:30. Because I tend to sleep poorly when I know I have to be up early, I was awake before the alarm. That turned out to be a good thing because I saw the text from our guide stating that he was running a little late and I was able to push the wakeup time for the rest of the family back 15 minutes.
When our alarm went off at 5:45, D and I got ready quickly and then shook P awake. Once P was ready, we grabbed our prepacked day bag and headed to the lobby to wait for our guide. Although the hotel restaurant’s breakfast does not start until 6:30, the hotel staff was nice enough to offer us coffee while we waited. We declined. Just after 6 a.m., a man dressed in the typical wildlife guide uniform of hiking pants and a button-down safari shirt entered the lobby. We correctly identified him as Cristián Sierra, our guide for the rest of the trip. Cristián spoke briefly with the hotel staff, who scrounged up some bananas and oranges to add to our snack stash for the day.
Then, we headed for the car. I was surprised to see Goyo again. On previous wildlife watching tours, one person has been both our guide and driver. The benefit of a separate driver and guide became apparent to me later in the day when Goyo appeared with the car at the precise location where we emerged from a hiking trail.
I had watched quite a few YouTube videos about Tayrona before out trip, so I knew that the usual process for entering the park is to stand in line until the park opens. Cristián was able to arrange early access to the park that allowed us to skip that line. When we arrived at the park, he spoke to the security guard who moved a barrier for us and let us in. Because the park was not open yet, we were the only tourists on the main road into the park. This made for excellent wildlife spotting. Just a few feet into the park, we saw a tamandua cross the road and climb a tree. He was out of sight before we could get out of the car and take his photo, but we were still excited to see a new variety of animal in the wild.
We drove a little further up the road and stopped when Cristián spotted our first monkey of the day: a cotton-top tamarin. The monkeys were high in the trees, making them hard to photograph. We did get some excellent views of them using binoculars. At this point, I felt like we could call our day a success even if we didn’t see any more monkeys. But another short drive produced howler monkeys. They were also high in the trees, but they are generally less prone to move around than tamarins and so easier to watch for long stretches. While we were watching the howlers, Cristián offered us an impressive selection of snacks including cocoa, coffee, various granola bars and cookies, and a bunch of interesting fruit. (He did tell us what the fruits were, but my memory fails me at this point). After our breakfast, we walked along the road until we came to a camping area.
In the camping area, we found a few interesting birds and a dog who seemed to be in search of new friends. We left the camping area with the dog trotting at our heels. She kept pace with us as we walked up the road, occasionally running into the underbrush to scare off any wildlife that might be inclined to make an appearance. As we neared the parking area before the trails to the beach, we still had not shaken our new friend. Cristián suggested that we get back in the car and drive the last stretch in an effort to lose the dog so that we would have some chance to see other animals. P was relieved. He is a dog lover. But if the choice is seeing dogs or seeing monkeys, then he will choose monkeys 100% of the time.
(Photo: cotton-top tamarin)
We pulled into the parking lot feeling quite proud of ourselves. Then, the dog trotted into the lot behind us. Additional evasive maneuvers ensued. The parking area was large enough and full of enough people – mainly vendors and overnight park guests – that we were able to make a wide circle around the dog and start up the walking trail to the beach. When last we saw our canine friend, she had joined a new family of tourists.
(Photo: making new friends in Tayrona)
If you have seen YouTube videos or Instagram photos of Tayrona, then you have seen the jungle that one must hike through to get to the beach. What social media does not show you is the horse poop. Horses are available to rent in the park. And horses are not particular about where they do number 2. The main path to the beaches is rich in the sight, scent, and unfortunate squishing sensation of horse patties. We clambered over rocks and jumped across streams, all while avoiding the poop. It adds an extra challenge to what is already a somewhat challenging hike. (It’s also a fun hike; I think that anyone who is moderately fit with good knees would enjoy it).
Our destination was La Piscina, one of the swimming beaches in the park. It was about a 90-minute hike from the trail entrance. Another 30 minutes or so would have taken us to the famous Cabo San Juan. Cristián wisely intuited that the longer hike might not be appealing to P (or D, for that matter). By the time we arrived at La Piscina, we were ready for a swim break. That meant we had to find a place to change into our swimsuits. Our only option was the bathroom facilities such as they were. And they were not much – just wooden stalls with curtains containing a seatless toilet and a bucket. P came out of one of the wooden stalls visibly upset; he had apparently slipped and fallen into the mystery liquid on the floor. (If you are going to change in Tayrona, the facilities at Arrecifes are a better choice; they are modern and fairly clean).
(photo: La Piscina beach)
We spent some time swimming at the beach and then enjoyed lunch at one of the food stands near the beach. The vegetarian plate was the standard rice, beans, plantains, and veggies. This is one of my favorite meals even when done mediocrely, and the version served at La Piscina was much better than mediocre. P and D also ordered some type of chocolate pastry, but P rejected his when it attracted the local insect life.
After lunch, we decided to get changed and start our hike back to the park entrance. This meant another chance to experience the horrors of the La Piscina bathrooms. By this time, someone was set up outside the bathroom charging $2,000 pesos per person for the privilege of using the toilet shacks. I briefly considered changing in the bushes, but decided I wasn’t willing to risk arrest just to make a point. I paid the fee, changed, and we hit the trail.
The trail to the beaches from the El Zaino entrance to the park has a looped portion, which means that you have a choice of trails to take to and from the beach. We went back via the trail closest to the beach. Among its many benefits were that it was new to us, free of horses, and full of monkeys. It did not take us long to come across a troop of capuchin monkeys, which were easy to spot thanks to the entourage of humans they had attracted. D, P, and I spent some time observing the monkeys while Cristián took the opportunity to talk to some of the other humans about why feeding cookies to monkeys is a bad idea.
(photo: capuchin mad about cookies)
Our hike took us past several beaches that were beautiful to look at, but too dangerous for swimming, as well as the Ecohab accommodations inside the park. Finally, we popped out into a parking area where Goyo was waiting for us. It was a short drive back to Casa Tayrona.
(photo: the trail along the beach)
Nothing refreshes you after a day spent relaxing on the beach like more relaxing on the beach. This time, we decided to enjoy the deck behind our cabin, which overlooks the beach. We grabbed our books and headed outside where we were greeted with the sounds of a flute-like instrument. A man was standing on the cat-shaped rock on the beach playing. Even more puzzling, he was surrounded by women with green skin and mermaid tails.
“What is going on here?” I asked. Wanting to be helpful, I’m sure, D pulled out his binoculars to get a better look. I not-so-politely opined on the optics of a middle-aged man using binoculars to look at women on a beach and he reluctantly put the binoculars away. His research did confirm that we were looking at green women with mermaid tails.
“This place has a great vibe,” said P.
We passed the rest of the afternoon reading and enjoying the company of our mer-friends. We were even able to take more hot showers, which seemed a treat after our issues in Cartagena. (Casa Tayrona has a clever system for saving energy that shuts the hot water off after a certain amount of non-use, but it can easily be turned back on the next time someone wants to shower).
For dinner, we headed back to the hotel restaurant. Our server that evening had a particular fondness for P, which made her very popular with P’s parents. P was less delighted by the fuss. Since we had a more humane wakeup time the next morning, we enjoyed some more reading and TV time after dinner. Then it was off to sleep with the thunderous sounds of the ocean as the backdrop to our slumber.
Travel Monkeys 