Punta Gallinas

Imagine racing down a three story sand dune to dive right into the ocean on a remote beach with no one else around for miles. Actually, I was making giant astronaut moon jumps, and Alex rolled down sideways, but you get the picture. An afternoon at Taroa beach made everything getting there worth it. It's exhilarating!
We traveled quite a bit that morning to get there. First, Jorge picked us up at about 5 to take us to Puerto Bolivar, near El Cerrejon coal mine. Then, we took a boat Punta Gallinas, through the Bahia Hondita, which took a couple of hours. Once we docked, we climbed a ridge to a small group of houses. There we met Fransisco, the owner of Kai tours, which is a pioneer in ecotourism in the Upper Guajira. Kai offers excursions to Cabo de La vela/Punta Gallinas by building good relations with the Wayuu. Over breakfast he gave us a rough idea of things we could do in the morning before we went to the dunes later in the evening. There were four other travelers there, a couple from Cali, and two ladies from Holland, Marieke and Adriadne. They were going to another beach and would join us later.
Alex and I decided to take a walk around the bay and dunes around the tiny village. It was a burnt orange rocky landscape with rich green vegetation here and there. There were piles of bleached conch shells everywhere. It was very quiet, aside from the wind and the occasional chiva (goat). We made it out to the sand dunes across the bay from the village. Our walk was was incredibly beautiful, but the heat was brutal. We were only out for a couple of hours before we headed back and passed put on our hammocks. Throughout the day, fishermen came to the village to sell fish and lobster.
After lunch, Francisco and four of us got on the back of a truck for a drive out to the dunes of Taroa beach. On the way, we stopped at the Punta Gallinas lighthouse. We spent a spectacular two hours just taking everything in at Taroa. Then we walked the dunes as Francisco told us a bit about the Wayuu and the environment. A while later, we sat down on a dune and watched the sun set.
That night, over a fresh lobster dinner, Francisco mentioned that there was a conservation project in Punta Gallinas to save turtles that migrate to the area to lay eggs. Fishermen roam the beaches at night looking for the giant turtles to come ashore. If one was spotted, they would call Fransisco and we could go see the turtle, and watch them record the number, weight, and diameter of any eggs that were laid (and 45 days from now, visitors can go see the hatchlings). The girls had gone the night before. Unfortunately, none came ashore that night.
The next day, we were up early to begin the day long trip back to Santa Marta.

When you have no idea what time it is, you get up when the sun does. I think this was about 4 am.

Our ride to Punta Gallinas

Through the Bahia Hondita

Taking a break from the sun, before we go out for our walk

Dinner

On our way to the beach with Marieke and Adriadne

A Wayuu village

Punta Gallinas Lighthouse

Finally, the dunes

The pristine Playa Taroa

The sunsets are beautiful.

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Cabo De La Vela

The reception at Dreamer Hostel in Santa Marta was able to put us in contact with an agency that offered a three day, two night stay in Cabo Ge La Vela and Punta Gallinas. These two remote Wayuu villages are located in peninsula of Colombia know as la Guajira. The northernmost section of la Guajira is mostly a barren desert, and something of a no-man's land. Up until just a few years ago, the only people who lived here were the native Wayuu and guerillas. It's much more stabilized now although still difficult to get to. It's also not for everybody, there was no running water and electricity goes out at nine at Cabo de La Vela, and you are basically sleeping out doors in a hammock. Insect repellant is a must, and yes, they get very big, even in the desert. But if you are willing to do it, it's the trip of a lifetime.
We started out at 5 am from Santa Marta in a van, to the coastal town of Rioacha, middle Guajira's capital, and typically the end of the line as far as civilization goes. That took about three hours. Once at the agency's office in Rioacha, we were were picked up by one of their guides, Franklin. In order to cover the rough terrain we traveled in a 4 x 4 jeep, with a friendly Colombian couple from Bogota. Franklin was very friendly, very informative. First, we visited the salt mines of Manuare, then he took us to Uribe, truly a border town where all sorts of contra band from different countries come in and out on a daily basis. Once there, we switched vehicles and met our new driver, Jorge. We then had to drive 17 kms to Cabo de la Vela on back roads (and I use "roads" very loosely here, mostly there were just tracks crisscross crossing the muddy ground) the ride was rough, due to recent rains. There were small goats everywhere and we would occasionally see a truck loaded with Wayuu. After bouncing around for about a half hour, we arrived at the restaurant/lodge where we would be staying for the night, just out of village of Cabo de la Vela.
We had a delicious fried fish lunch and then drove out to see the village. Afterwards, Jorge took us out to a beach called Ojo del Agua (named for a rare fresh pool of water found there) and then up to the light house, El Faro, for a spectacular view.
We went back to the lodge for dinner and went to bed early, as we were getting up again at 4:30 to head out to Punta Gallinas. Sleeping out on the beach in a hammock was wonderful. There were small, silent flashes of light for most of the night from distant thunderstorms, and as there is no light pollution, (the nearest city is 180 km away), the stars and moon completely lit up the sky.

Not much out here! The squares are salt pits.

Wayuu huts

The ride was rough going

As we kept going, there were fewer and fewer trees

Finally, we reached the Cabo de la Vela

 The tiny Cabo de la Vela lighthouse

This guy was huge! They are named longostas for their resemblance to lobsters... and they fly

Getting settled in for the night

Or maybe not  :)

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