M..m..m..My Tayrona
Written by Kyle on Tuesday, October 21, 2008 in Colombia
Feelin' happy
Leaving behind most of our stuff and only carrying a days worth of clothes, some food, and a 5 liter bag of water (yes, you can buy those), we headed to Tayrona National Park on Colombia's Caribbean coast. Judging by some of the nearby beaches that we have seen in the past couple of days we expected it to be nice, but what we found exceeded all of our expectations.Feelin' happy
Our bag of water, held up by an available hammock cord
Like most things in Colombia, Tayrona used to be more or less off limits for tourists as it was quite dangerous. Tayrona was associated more with civil war and the narcotics trade than with tourism. For years the park and its environs were a battleground between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), one of the Western Hemisphere’s oldest Marxist guerrilla groups, and right-wing paramilitary groups, both of whom coveted the region as a base for cocaine processing and smuggling. In 2003, armed gunmen kidnapped eight foreigners, during a raid inside the park. Three of Tayrona’s directors have been killed in recent years, most recently Marta Lucia Hernández, who was gunned down three and a half years ago, apparently because she resisted the demands of paramilitary groups to use the park as a cocaine-shipment point.
Don't let recent history sway you, though. A lot of things can happen in 5 years. Under President Uribe, things have been cleaned up considerably and Tayrona is now being touted as a paradise-like location for travelers and for good reason, too.
After arriving by boat, we first needed to find a place to stay. There are basically 3 options: luxuriously appointed Ecohabs, hammocks, or camping. After seeing that we could stay in hammocks in a hut overlooking the ocean, the choice became clear. At a mere $7.50 a night we had our own hammocks complete with the best views in the park. Granted, it does suck to try to sleep when it is pouring rain and the rain is being blown directly on you, but hey, it's still worth it.
Our Humble Abode
Inside the Humble Abode
The views every where we turned were spectacular. There was clear, blue ocean water pounding against rocks that looked as if they were carved by hand, which is surrounded by white sand beaches and all of it is backed by jungle and soaring mountains.
The view from our hammocks
Bessie and the Ocean
But of course, the best things about the park are those which are not advertised in the tourist brochures. On our first night we were treated by quite an unexpected light show as we watched the lightning dance around the sky and temporarily light up the sea in front of us for at least an hour.
Night time lightning
If that wasn't enough, on the way back our boat crossed through a pod of dolphins. Dolphins, being pretty much the best creatures on the face of the earth, like to play around boats by jumping out of the water and acting like the pet dolphin that you never had.
Finally, in tribute, I wrote a song to Tayrona, set to the tune of "My Sharona" by The Knack:
When can I have some more time, Tayrona?
Ooh you make my have some fun, have some fun.
Better than taquila and lime Tayrona
Never gonna leave, give it up.
Such a lovely find. Always get it up for the touch
of a sand so fine. My my my i yi woo. M M M My Tayrona...
Come a little closer huh, ah will ya huh.
Close enough to see with my eyes, Tayrona.
Keeping it a mystery just for me
Running through the depths of my mind, Tayrona
Never gonna leave, give it up.
Such a lovely find. Always get it up for the touch
of a sand so fine. My my my i yi woo. M M M My Tayrona...
When do I return to see, return to see.
It is just a matter of time Tayrona
Is it just destiny, destiny?
Or is it just a game in my mind, Tayrona?
Never gonna leave, give it up.
Such a lovely find. Always get it up for the touch
of a sand so fine. My my my i yi woo. M M M My Tayrona...
Comments on "M..m..m..My Tayrona"
Ya, president Uribe has cleaned things up significantly in the past 3-4 years.
This is definitely the kind of entry you let your parents read AFTER you've been there, right? ;) That looks just absolutely gorgeous. And I can't believe you got to see dolphins like that! I'm frightened to look up how much people pay for a boat ride in other parts of the world specifically to see dolphins -- and you guys were just getting ferried from one place to another. !Que suerte!
Things have changed quite rapidly here. 5 years ago things were much different... In any case, Tayrona has become quite the tourist destination now, especially with Colombians who are visiting it for the first time.
How VERY Beautiful!! Lovely photos. Those dolphins are amazing! And I like the lyrics you wrote, Kyle. Unfortunately, I can Not sing your song, cause I don't know the original. :( LOL -I am, LIKE, Sooooo hep. I had to chuckle when reading Rachel's blog. I DID read all the horrid details BEFORE breathing a sigh of relief when you told about The Great Clean-Up. Say, is the Prez the father of that overpaid Chicago baseball player? (^@^)
Thank you for the beautiful photo collection and high speed boat video. I vividly remember the melody and loved your new lyrics. The park is a masterpiece wrestled away from the drug monsters through the sacrifice of the lives of the park directors and others. Your brave visit and impressions of the beauty are a memorial to those who died to make your camping possible. I'm very proud of both of you! Peace and Love from Obama Land... :>}
Great photos and also grateful that no dolphin landed in your boat as some have been know to do in Hawaii......nothing like a 200+ pound mammal landing on your lap! They are such beautiful and remarkable spirits. I think I'd pass on the hammock accomodations.....always looking for banditos to pop out from around a rock! No mosquitoes?? As beautiful as it is, we still see unpleasant things almost nightly on BBC about Colombia.....stay cautious!
The photos are spectacularly beautiful! I worked with Justice Dept officials who were in Colombia and things must have really changed because it was a dangerous sewer a few years back!
by Den C at October 22, 2008 11:50 AM