This week is "Taganga Week" at Xave's Xlog. Check it out:
Upon arriving at my hostel last Friday, the owner informed us (the two American guys, John and Brian, I had met on the bus, and me) that he organized trips into nearby Tayrona National Park every couple days. He explained that his trips went in by boat, and because we were sneaking around the back, we didn't have to pay the park entrance fee of $32,000 pesos (16 bucks), or the cost of transportation into the park. In addition, the day included fishing, snorkeling, wakeboarding, breakfast and a BBQ lunch. The total cost was $90,000, so after mulling it over for a few seconds, we figured it was worth the extra 29 bucks for all those activities and meals and fun times! We found a couple more hostelers interested on Saturday, so on Sunday morning the 8 of us (the 5 guests, the owner Santiago, his 9ish year old son Santiago (Santi), and a teenager Santiago is training to run these trips whose name I forget), headed out for a day of awesome.
I'm on a boat, mother f***er!
After a 15 minute boat ride and a bit of unsuccessful fishing (which was to be expected, though I was kind of disappointed, because on Saturday the Santiago trip had returned with a fish that was seriously like THIS BIG (I'm holding my arms up really wide right now)), we arrived at our almost-private cove. First we had to pay off the other dudes who (work? live?) in the cove with several huge jugs of water (a precious resource when you're surrounded by salt water, I guess) (just to be clear, we paid off the guys with water, the guys don't live with water. Confusing grammar, sorry). I didn't get a great photo of the exchange, but it's something:
And here are a couple photos of the cove:
After the bribe, we headed across to the other side of the bay and set up camp. John, Brian and the Filipino woman whose name I forget headed out for snorkeling. The Irish guy whose name I also forget and I stayed back because there was only enough gear for 3 people. So we took that opportunity to eat our breakfast of sandwiches, fruit, chips and many other little things:
After breakfast, Santiago suggested we go check out the natural salt mine nearby (nearby turned out to mean like less than a 100 meters away). Here's what it looks like:
When we got there, Santi (i.e. little Santiago) dared us to step in the pink stuff (objects in picture are pinker then they appear). Turns out, under the white and pink surface is extremely thick mud:
Also, it was incredibly hot! For the second day in a row I pulled a jumping around going ow-ow-ow-ow-ow-ow. Note: the first time we went we weren't wearing shoes. The above pictures are from the second trip.
The second time, Santi decided it would be a good idea to actually cross the salt mine, because there was a path to the beach on the other side. I had worn shoes, so I didn't object. Irishguy did, after watching me run across the first part in quite a bit of pain despite the sandals. So he headed back, but Santi was all for it. Since he wasn't wearing shoes, he instructed me to catch him at the end of his run:
For the rest of the trip we skirted around the outside, avoiding all the intense foot heat. We came out several hundred meters down the beach, and on the way back Santi caught a crab by digging it out of its hole. Coolest kid ever.
Crab Series #4: Santi-y
Sandwiched between our salt mine trips, it had been our turn to snorkel. Oh, and I forgot to mention: our time snorkeling included the use of a spear-fishing gun. This is me practicing my technique:
Because that's the stance you normally use when in water with a snorkel shooting at fish.
Anyway, I was unsuccessful at the spear-fishing, as was Irishguy, but Santi, once again, re-affirmed his status as coolest kid ever.
The last activity before lunch was wake-boarding. I had never wake-boarded before, but it couldn't be that hard, right? Well, this is probably the closest I ever got to succeeding:
Also: it is really hard work. I only tried 5 times, and my arms are still sore. It is now Friday, and this was on Sunday. It could just be that wake-boarding uses muscles I never use (bottom of your forearm - I don't even know what to call that). Anyway, nobody else (including Santi) got up either, so I didn't feel too pathetic.
After a BBQ lunch of steak, chorizo sausage, chips and other stuff, we headed out, tried a bit more fishing, and then went over to one of the main camp sites of Tayrona to drop off John, Brian and Filipinochick. On the way, we saw flying fish! I'm not sure I've ever seen flying fish before, but they are so weird.
Anyway, I don't have much to tell about the Tayrona site - yesterday I showed you a couple picture of animals I saw there, and that was about all I did. But here's a nice picture:
Before we go, just a couple more quick words on Santi. That kid could do everything. He drove the boat, he set up the fishing lines, he caught crabs, he shot a fish, he even spoke pretty decent English (I'm assuming he doesn't go to an English school given the size of Taganga). Obviously it helps when your dad does all that stuff for a living, but still, he was a very impressive grade 5.
Anyway, it was a great day. I guess it goes to show that when you travel, don't over-plan. I didn't know the hostel offered these day trips - hell, I didn't even know what hostel I was staying at. We just asked the cab driver to take us to a hostel. If I had set a detailed itinerary, I wouldn't have done all this fun stuff. Alright, later!
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