It's almost time to bring this blog to a close as my time in Colombia nears an end. Despite all the wedding planning, visa application processes, navigating through multiple permissions from the Catholic Church, and much much more besides, we hoped to be able to have some kind of little holiday in this part of Colombia. So a weekend away in the "Cabo De La Vella'
Four months in the north of the Colombia, close to the Venezualan border has been an adventure that has been exhilarating as much as it has been challenging. Dealing with +40 degree heat.
The Cabo De La Vella is a vast area of land at the top of Colombia,
South America. A 4x4 car is needed to cross the approaching land, as you
approach the area it looks very similar to the large salt flats on Bolivia /
Peru border. You can literally see the heat in the air as it ripples in front
of you, though it’s one distinguishing feature is the strong wind that blows
almost constantly through the area.
As we approached what looked like a series of deserted settlements,
small children appeared, when they heard the passing car, with their arms
outstretched begging for money. As the settlements became more frequent, we
entered a small village, which has a few buildings with the word ‘Café’ and
‘restaurant’, painted on the walls. The ocean was now just 50 meters away on the
left, and the top of the land seemed close. The 4x4 drove around a corner and
turned left into what looked like an empty yard full of sand, with some small
buildings attached to it’s side. It looked pretty deserted to me, so I was surprised to hear the words: “ok, we’re here!”
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| The Hotel... |
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| Our 'room' |
As the photo’s show it’s pretty sparse and you can see just how exposed we were to the ocean, which stands just 30 meters away from our totally open ‘room’ After we had ‘checked in’ I was shown how the shower and toilet systems work: - the
toilet is a self flush – with a bucket of sea water, whilst the shower works on
the same principle, only with fresh water. (I have to say that taking a shower
that evening under the stars was a pretty awesome experience).
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| Our beach.. |
Day 1 – After a delicious lunch, we soon headed to the first
beach and walk. We could see the few other tourists headed for the walk first,
so we went straight to the beach to cool off with a swim in the ocean.
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| Vibi & Santi enjoying a swim |
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| Afternoon swimming |
After the swim we dried off with a little walk to the cliff edge for
the typical holiday photo…
The next stop was literally just one mile away, up another little
cliff face, with about 50 other people to watch the sunset. Any of you who know
me well, know I love a good sunset photo, so you shouldn’t be surprised to see
the next 3-4 photos…
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| Going... |
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| Going... |
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| Going.... |
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| Gone |
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| After sunset... |
We returned to our ‘hotel’, (hammock shack) for a starlight shower
and dinner. With no electric supple other than a small light we amused
ourselves with a game of sherades, before being asked to turn our light off at
10 o’clock. Sleeping in a hammock just
meters from the ocean sounds amazing, and it was. However, being woken by a
snarling dog wandering through the hut, being unable to lie face down in the
hammock, and having nothing to filter the morning light did not leave me
feeling entirely rested in the morning.
Despite the disturbances, I have to say that waking to a very real
close-up view of the ocean was fantastic.
A nice breakfast had us ready for the next and last, stop of the
tour: another beach and headland. My Camera unfortunately died before we
reached the top of the headland, but I still got some nice views.
The place looks a little apocalyptic to me – reminding me of scenes
from the old ‘Mad Max’ films.
Following another swim in the ocean and a walk up to the headland
for some lovely views, it was time to head back home. The trip had been short
and sweet, but it was a welcome change from living at the mine and a good
opportunity to see a little bit more of this fascinating country in it’s rawest
form.
Hope you enjoyed the reading...
Regards from Colombia:
Dan
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