Barichara

A bit of an extended (for me, at least--four nights!) in the completely lovely colonial town of Barichara.

From Barichara, there's a 5km walk down an old stone path...

...to the equally adorable, neighboring town of Guane.

Local fermented corn drink: chicha. Not something I'd ever be able to down a whole glass of, but fun to try.

And I was apparently really into taking pictures of doorways.

Playa de Belen

When we were in the Guajira most of the other tourists were foreigners (unlike in Mompox, where SR and I were the only non-Colombians on our river boat outing), but one of the few Colombian tourists we met there was really interested in where we were all traveling during our visits, and ended up (to his own obvious amusement) deciding that on our advice he was going to check out Minca on his way home to Bogota. This guy looked pretty confused at my listing of places we had and were planning to hit, though. It's kind of a strange and eclectic list, I admit. The other day I saw a travel column article about the top 10 things to do in Colombia, and only two of the ten were things on my itinerary. And this next stop kind of fits into that theme...

Playa de Belen is a mountain town in the Norte de Santander district that apparently comes alive during Colombian holidays. But on our Tuesday-Thursday visit, the place was rather...quiet. (Read: we were nervous about finding a place to eat the first night.) It's a tiny town--we walked every street within the first couple hours out and about--and the guidebook says it's a "planned" community...Not sure what that means exactly, but in practice it appears to involve every building in town being the exact same height, style, and color (white). We were the only foreigners around for sure. And SR couldn't shake the feeling that we were trapped in the Twilight Zone. But it was worth the stop for two reasons:

1) For the first time since starting the trip, SR and I were not sweating buckets morning, noon, and night. Cool mountain air: what a relief!!!

2) Colombia's smallest national park abuts the town, and I was suckered in by the descriptions of the cool rock formations in the guidebook.

So here's the photos from the adventure, starting with a shot from one of the buses we took to get to Playa; I've been really excited about seeing mangoes ripen on trees everywhere, and finally had the opportunity to buy some from a roadside stand. I handed over the smallest bill I had, which was the equivalent of about US$0.75, and hoped I'd get 3 or 4 mangoes in exchange. I was a little shocked when I got back this bag full..

Mompox

After two weeks plying the Caribbean coast from Panama nearly to Venezuela, it was definitely time to head inland. There's so much more of Colombia still to explore and so little time!

First inland stop was Mompox, a colonial city built up as a river transport hub on a route on the Magdalena River that has since been forsaken. What's left is a sweet and charming town that sits in the middle of what essentially feels like a swamp the size of Louisiana. The roads surrounding it are wretched to the point that we almost skipped coming but I'm so glad we didn't. I'd read that it feels like a wormhole through time to days past and it kind of does. I'd read that it has a magical vibe that has sparked comparisons with the fictional city of Macombe, setting of (Colombian!) Gabriel Garcia Marquez's novel "One Hundred Years of Solitude." And again, it kind of does. In any case, I loved walking the riverfront and the town market, as well as taking a motorboat cruise through the swampy 'hood: iguanas in the trees, a ridiculous concentration of birds, and spectacular sunset. Sweet stop.

Guajira Desert

Back in civilization after an amazing (and disconnected from telecommunications) three-day adventure into the Guajira Desert in the far northeastern corner of Colombia. I definitely don't think of desert when I think of Colombia, but this was maybe my favorite part of the trip so far. Even after deleting half of what I took, I have nearly 150 pictures from the adventure, and it is a challenge to choose just a few to recount the trip. But here goes.

From Santa Marta we had a four-hour ride NE to a place called Cuatros Vias, which is literally just a four-way intersection in what is getting close to the middle of nowhere, up near Maicao and the Venezuelan border. From there, it's all 4WD vehicles that take you farther and farther up into the desert...

...and the town of Cabo de la Vela, which is the hub of this corner of the world but can hardly be considered a hub in relation to anything else, really.

Still, it's getting to be a more popular destination for kite surfers, and it's the closest thing the local, indigenous Wayuu people have as a metropolis in which they can get their slice of the tourism pie.

I would have liked to spend two nights in Cabo de la Vela, but a month is really not enough time to see all the variety Colombia has to offer, so in this abbreviated version of a visit, we at least had one overnight, plus the chance to take a tour of the shoreline north of town, with the highlight (other than the petrifying fun of riding shotgun on a motor scooter through the desert scrub) being a visit to the glorious beach at Pilon de Azucar.

Then, at five the next morning, it was time to catch a ride a few more hours north, deeper into the desert...


...until we reached the extremely isolated Wayuu community of Bahia Honditas, where there is a well-oiled tourism machine for getting a dozen or two people/day out here to stay/sleep in hammocks...

...and see the local sights. Which are amazing. First of all, there is Punta Gallinas, the northernmost point of the South American continent. An appropriately wind-swept and remote-feeling place, though we were very clearly NOT the first intrepid travelers to pass this way.

Then there was the beach at Taroa dunes. I have never seen anything like it: this massive dune sweeping straight down into a green sea. Could have stayed way longer than we did.

These local (?) kids pushing--with great effort--a bike through the sand gave me a "Where are they coming from and going to?" followed by a "Who thought this was a good idea?" one-two punch. Then I saw them riding the bike down the dune and it all made more sense, though still didn't seem quite worth the effort.

There's also a colony of wild pink flamingoes in the Bahia Honditas area, and we took a boat trip out to several parts of the coastline and lagoon, hiking over the top of one small island but finding no flamingoes on the other side.

Eventually we did find them, though they weren't close enough for any pictures worth posting. Seeing them take flight was an amazing, beautiful sight, though.

And stopping on another beach for sunset afforded it's own beauties.

The next morning I found myself awake at 5am so decided to take a walk outside the tourist compound to watch the sunrise...

...and see some of the local dwellings and people started stirring for another day.

These vultures were at sharp attention for whatever the harsh life up here would offer them today.

And I was just basically overwhelmed by the beauty of this stark landscape and its colors and so grateful that we made it all the way up here. And now, nowhere to go but south!

Minca

A bit farther east along the Colombian coast, and then a half-hour inland from Santa Marta--which means steeply uphill into the Sierra Nevada mountains--there's a lovely little town called Minca. It's become a backpacker haven thanks to lots of local waterfalls, coffee and cocoa plantations, and MOST IMPORTANTLY, temperatures a good ten degrees cooler than down on the coast. So we stayed for a couple nights. This involved lots of food, daily mocha frappuchinos that left me crazy wired on sugar and caffeine...

...enjoying the quiet loveliness of the town...

...and a hike to a waterfall that was really lovely to swim in and wash off the sweat from the walking.

Beautiful!