Bahia Taganga

Restless already. I wanted to visit the Guajira Peninsula North to the end of the line, the most Northerly tip of the South American Continent. Where the desert meets the sea, a feral places of silence and scrub. The only inhabitants the semi-nomadic Wayuu and smugglers between the Venezuelan border, everything from electronics to human beings. I wanted to come here because it is wild and unknown and enigmatic. I wanted to see Punta Gallinas and colonies of pink flamingos like a mirage on the desert.

But it is a long tenuous journey up the Guajira where I want to go, expensive, maybe even a little dangerous. Instead my mind shifted like the breeze and I stowed away that adventure for another day and made plans to head up into the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta to the ruins of what is here called the lost city, la ciudad perdida. If I hadn't met Darren and Babuette I probably wouldn't have gone but such is the travel life that your plans change with the people you meet and they are great people. An Irish-French couple traveling up the continent before moving to Melbourne Australia. We arranged a guide and are heading out tomorrow with a few other travelers into the mountains.

It is a six day hike to the ruins through the mountains by foot. Having just arrived at the coast I find myself heading deep into the mountains again! But I leave tomorrow, today the sea and Taganga bay. Foot trails to the beach along the cliffs, mango batidos, and lazy fishing boats in the harbor as the afternoon heat cools with the sea breeze.