Polaroid of the week: Tayrona National Park, Colombia

Last Updated on October 21, 2021

While this post  is going live, I am deep in the Colombian jungle, halfway through my 5-day trek to the Ciudad Perdida, Colombia’s Lost City, trying not to get eaten alive by snakes and spiders.

The past week has been fairly quiet – I returned to Santa Marta after spending ten days in Cartagena. I’d planned to leave earlier, but I just couldn’t get myself to leave.. Cartagena is such a charming town and I knew I wouldn’t return there.. at least not on this trip. Now I am back in Santa Marta, where I had based myself for a few nights last month to use it as a jumping-off point to visit Tayrona National Park and Bahia Concha. While I didn’t see much of the city itself last time I was here, I’ve got a few days after the trek next week to see more of Santa Marta, which has been more pleasant than I expected it to be (this might have to do with the fact that my hostel has two pools – the heat here feels suffocating at times). But this week, it was all about finishing some work projects (and sending out some invoices!) before setting off on the trek. Somehow I still managed to fit in a few strolls around town, dinners and lunches with new friends, and a night of dancing in an open-air reggaeton bar.

In light of being back in Santa Marta I am sharing a picture of Tayrona National Park this week – a trip which I somehow never really mentioned (that’s what happens when you travel too fast!) but will talk more about on the blog soon. Tayrona is one of Colombia’s most popular national parks, stretching along the Caribbean coast, covering jungles and boasting pristine beaches, all with the backdrop of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. While most people spend two to three nights in the park, I only spent a day there, most of my time on a 5-hour hike through the jungle, checking out various beaches inside the park. Views like the one featured in the Polaroid made the strenuous hike up and down hills, scrambling over rocks and through thick jungle forests well worth it (and made up for the lack of wildlife). And then there were the beaches, of course, where we could go for a dip in the ocean to cool off after the sweaty hike.

I didn’t know it at the time, but looking back I think that this hike was a good way to get me in the mindset for my Lost City trek, which I’ll tell you all about next week.