Tayrona National Park really is paradise to me. I took a long slow walk into the park through the jungle for and hour or so and finally reached the beach which was perfect. It reminded me of the beaches in Northern California, big and wide and long with a very strong ocean. But of course the weather was a lot better and the water a lot warmer. From the first beach in Aricifes and most the camp grounds it was another 30 or 40 minute walk and the view just got better and better. On the way, I ran into some Spanish guys who I met a couple of months before in Guatemala on the way to Tikal. They have been traveling for 2 years and were definately saving some money camping out in a cave on a private beach. After spending some time with them, I moved on to Cabo beach which was just perfect. I hung my hammock and quickly got into a conversation with a guy name Guido from Buenos Aires who instead of taking the bus and walking into the park, took the boat staright to Cabo. He started telling me his story how he left for Tayrona from Taganga a few days earlier and just got there! He was on the boat with 14 other guys who requested to be dropped off at the closest and deserted beach because the waves were about 10 meters high and they were catching about 10 ft of air off of each one of them. He thought that he was going to die. On my walk into the park, I was looking for some friends from England and my "sobrinos" from Oregon. They had left the day before and were going to meet me in the park but were no where to be found. I ran into to some argie girls who we knew and they were very worried about them. By the time that I got to cabo, I started to think that something happened to them. So as Guido told me his story, I asked him if he was with 5 Americans and his face quickly lit up. "Yeah! Chris, Will, Blake, Pat and the tall guy!" So as the boat dropped all 15 of these guys on a random beach in the middle of the rain forest they actually tried to find their way out and just didn't make it. They ended up staying on the beach for a night and the next day they finally found someone to walk them out of the jungle and to a road. Out of the 15 guys, Guido was the only one who had the balls or energy or need to make it to the park. The rest, including mi sobrinos went back to Taganga and civilization. This was probably a good time considering that they had a big bottle of Rum, paddle and some other fun stuff but it was just a few days after we got back from 5 days of rain, mud and hiking in Ciudad Perdida. Well anyway, me and Guido had a good old time in Tayrona that night. Celebrating the fact that we ran into each there and the beauty of this amazing place. We hung out in on the rocks with our Lithuanian friend Iggie and his girlfriend and the french guy who didn't talk that much but was pretty cool. The next day was spent on the beach with the Argies, English John and Trystan and at some point during the day Guido convinced me to trek back to Taganga with him where he was supposed to meet up with the kids and have one last party before heading back to Buenos Aires. It also happened to be Blake and Pat's last night in Colombia and a big night in Taganga, the small fishing village turned gringo hideout on the beach.
After two good days in Taganga including a night out that ended at 4 pm the next day, I headed back to Tayrona with lots of food and great people and spent 4 days just relajando.
Fucking Paradise.
