Age appropriate activities - Part 2
Saturday, May 16, 2015 at 08:56AM Only doing half the 4-day hike to Ciudad Perdida (see last post) had an upside. It gave me two days to do other activities including a costal hike of Park Tayrona. A perhaps more age-appropriate activity.
On the map above, find Canaveral on the northern coast and Cabo San Juan just to the west. An out and back hike of about 2 hours each way, hugging the coast, with a long break for a swim and lunch was the day.
A popular day hike, the route was well marked and much of it was boardwalk and wooden steps. Yes, the hike started with a series of pretty good climbs and descents, but none that took longer than 10 minutes or so - not the hour-long ascents of Ciudad Perdida.
Just one of many stunning views of the beaches. These are not swimmable. Colombia supposedly has the highest costal mountains in the world. Who am I to doubt?
Don't flick your nasty cigarette butts in the ocean because the turtles will eat them (roughly translated).
Caribbean shoreline near the start of the hike. I don't think I've ever taken a photo where the horizon is actually horizontal. Yeah, I know I can fix that with an editing tool...
How much farther? Thought these markers were a great idea for a hiking trail. Hiking, unlike walking a sidewalk or road, takes variable amounts of time to cover a kilometer of distance.
First glimpse of Cabo (Cape) San Juan beach through the leaves of the coconut palms. Workers were gathering coconuts along the hike's route.
View from the lookout above the beach (seen in the previous picture). The beach has very nice facilities including campgrounds, a snack-bar/restaurant, bathrooms, and hammocks to rent for the night. Nice place to spend a couple hours resting up for the hike back.
One last glimpse of the beach heading back to Canaveral (Cane Plantation). Great walk with just enough elevation change and sandy stretches to be challenging without being overwhelming. Even for an old guy like me.
Love those 99 degree days. Needed to record this so my comments about the heat don't just sound like whining. I did avoid rain the entire trip.
Bar at the La Brisa Loca (Crazy Wind) Hostel in Santa Marta. Spent two nights here - probably another age-inappropriate activity - but the place was great. The website photos would have you believe it is party central, but my top floor private "cabana" was quiet. Lots of young backpackers, mostly reading or visiting in small groups.
My favorite early morning coffee vendor. Fifty cents for a small, sweet very strong coffee to savor sitting on a park bench. The vendor himself made a fashion statement. One of the little pleasures of travel.
Oh, and there was that conference thing in Cartagena too. Great event with wonderful hosts and participants. I got just enough of a taste of Cartagena to make me want to go back.
Reader Comments (2)
Looks like you had a cold snap on the weekend! Not sure you felt the 2 degree cooler temps!
Glad you had a nice time!
Hi Deb,
Yeah, it was a good thing I brought my thermal underwear.
Actually Bogota was only in the 50s so I did get some cool weather in Colombia.
Take care,
Doug