So picture this. You arrive at a National Park along the Caribbean coast that reportedly has the most beautiful beaches in Colombia. After you pay the hefty entrance fee and find a place to camp, you then find out that the closest swimming beach is a two hour hike in 100 degree heat. One way.
Wait what? I must have missed that in my research. Oh well…..
Most people who visit Tayrona are backpackers who arrive by bus and then hike in (or hire men to carry their stuff on horses) and then stay and rent a hammock or pitch a tent next to the good swimming beaches. If you bring a vehicle into Tayrona and want to sleep in it and explore the park, get ready for some sweltering hiking because the camping area for vehicles is four hours round trip of hiking to the best beaches. Don’t get me wrong, I love to hike. But I am not sure how much I love hiking in an oven which is what it felt like.
The hike is to the stunning palm tree fringed beaches protected in bays where there is clear turquoise water to swim in. Tayrona makes you earn your swims here, the the good news is it is worth it! The landscape of the beaches here is unique because of the huge rounded boulders that seem to be everywhere. It looked like how I pictured the Seychelle Islands. It was truly stunning and different than any other beach we had visited so far (and we have been to a lot of beaches….).
This is how I will remember Tayrona. Big round rocks, beautiful cool Caribbean waters.
Canaveral beach
Our first night we did the fast hike to the beach near the campsite to watch the sunset.
The beach here is stunning but the waves make it way to dangerous to swim. We were alone both nights we visited.
Sam likes to take pictures of waves crashing on rocks. So I felt I needed to include on of the 40 or so we have =).
Our first night we waited until after the sunset to hike back in the dark. We noticed a sign warning against the danger of Caimans on the trail. It was a fast hike back to camp!
The hike….
The hardest part was as you are hiking by all these gorgeous beaches dripping sweat, you can’t jump in and swim because the currents are so strong they swipe people out to sea.
The hike was beautiful and even though we hiked it many times, it was hard to not enjoy it.
By the time we arrived at the beaches I literally wrung the sweat out of my shirt so it could dry out for the hike back. We were both drinking 3 liters of water each and I am not sure that was enough.
Getting closer to the first big beach!
I kept pretending I was holding up the rock to make Sam laugh. He did not get what I was doing but took a picture. As we were going through the pics he said “That’s funny…” A little slow Sam…..=)
Arrecifes
The first big beach you get to with camping (still can’t swim here…) But a nice place to stop for a cold drink. You have to hike for a while on the beach to get to the next swimming beach.
Arrecifes is the first beach with accommodations you reach. They have a restaurant selling ice cold fresh fruit juices, we got a limonada everyday as a reward for our hiking.
La Piscina
This is a great beach for snorkeling and a good swimming beach, just be careful of the rocks getting into the water.
We spent a day in the shade of a palm tree at La Piscina, the first beach where it is very safe to swim.
The water here was very clear and cool. I actually got goose bumps when I swam.
The good news is the water on the coast here is much cooler than Central America (where it is literally warmer than the air outside) so when you dive in you actually cool off.
I think this is the last boulder picture, I just love them all so much!
Cabo San Juan de la Guia
Of course the best beach is the farthest away. I will say it was worth all the sweat to get there!
View down the coast.
The beach here was so stunning and easy to swim in.
The only bad thing it the sun was scorching hot and there was not much shade. We went through half a bottle of sunscreen.
Hiking back the final day.
On one of our evening hikes back I started getting heat stroke. I had stopped sweating, my heart beat was so rapid that I started hyper ventilating and I was dizzy and suddenly very weak. It was really scary for me, but Sam took my pack, and with his calm approach to problems poured water over my head to cool me off and made me rest in the shade while my body temperature went down. We waited for dusk to finish our hike and all was well. When I finally made it back to the XP I stood in a cold shower for a long time and then put cold rags on the back of my neck to cool me down and was fine, if not a bit frazzled and weak. Just a reminder that heat exhaustion is serious and that we always need to be careful to prevent it and know what to do when it happens.
Our final night in Tayrona we had one last sunset and we were glad we visited (heat stroke aside).
This was our campsite at Tayrona. It was actually really great and there were bathrooms and showers near by. I called it the car graveyard campground. Better than the parking lot!
Palamino
On a quick note, we spent two nights after Tayrona at Palamino beach about 40 minutes east. It was ok, but we struggled with finding anywhere to camp near the water. It is much more backpacker focused, but maybe we missed something. The beach was very long and pretty, but again, you could not swim and the water was a little murky. Not sure I would put it on my must see list, but travel is all personal preference at the end of the day.
We stayed at a hostel which made me feel old and boring…..it was full of 20 somethings ready for FUN!
The hostel had us park way, way behind everything. Like outside the hostel. After visiting every hostel in the area, this was the best option we found.