The beach in this part of the country, particularly at this time of the year, is essentially unswimmable due to extremely dangerous currents and rips whipped up by the trade winds that blow constantly for 3-4 months of the year. I took one look at the water and said to myself I wasn’t going anywhere near it. Colombian tourists with poor (at best) swimming abilities would plunge in, ignoring the ‘Swimming is Dangerous’ signs plastered all over the beach and the red flags in the extra dangerous zones. Needless to say there were apparently 12 rescues in the fortnight before we arrived and one when I was in town having lunch (that person by all accounts was exceptionally lucky to still be alive). To the rivers which meet the sea at each end of the beach it was (30-40 min run along the entire length of the beach).
It’s exceptionally easy to occupy yourself with doing nothing here. The beach front has a nice feel about it. Finca del Escondida where we stayed was reasonably good and had a nice area on the beach to hang out, right in front of the worst rip I’ve seen in some time. The food is expensive but ok and the specials of the day where literally a reorganisation of the previous days’ specials. There aint no fooling me!
Other than spending afternoons are the river heads, I was coerced into going down the river in a tyre tube no less than three times. It was great. Extremely relaxing and the further you hike into the jungle with your tube, the better the scenery is. It is a very tranquil river and quite easy to navigate on the tube (for most anyway – had to rescue a poor Colombian girl many times who was struggling). Walk into town, pay 7,000-10,000COP for your tube and walk for 70 minutes up the road/path into the forest (wear flip flops). It is a bit hot and steamy towards the end of the walk but it is all forgotten when you get to the river bank. Wear heaps of sunscreen and take some water with you as you’ll be on the water for almost 2 hours. Get off at the bridge into town as continuing all the way to the beach is slow, shallow and not nearly as scenic. Highly recommend doing. And cheap as chips. Negotiate a group discount for the tubes.
On my last night there I was having dinner with a small group of people including the new girl in my dorm. During dinner she asked me whether I had been at a dinner in Bogota….Xmas Day….three weeks earlier. Yes I had. We were sharing a dorm… again. Random.
You can also do some hiking into the jungle to nearby villages which is supposed to be well worth the effort. I never made it to Tayrona park either as it was just too busy this time of year and the lack of controls over numbers lead to heavily over-populated camps that were by all reports a complete disaster/nightmare. Go out of season or during the week.
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