santa marta – pmoroni.it

From the entrance, a short trip by bicycle leads us to the beach of Cañaveral, along a road dipped in the jungle. Finally we are in the Parque nacional Tayrona, a natural reservoir unique for beauty, pure example of uncontaminated Caribbean coast. The first contact with the Atlantic ocean is impressive indeed: a lonely sand strip, delimited by smooth rocks and coconut palms. The tropical paradise, therefore… a long walk leads us to Arrecifes, every step a surprise, until we newly hear the waves breaking up on the coast: before our eyes another wonderful inlet, designed by a turquoise and crystalline sea. We abandon ourselves to the beauty of the landscape, impressed by such a wild ecosystem. We think about the legitimate inhabitants of this region, the indigenous people of the Tayrona, the first civilization met by the Europeans in the South American continent. From them just remain the wonderful looks of some girls who work in the park and the characteristic huts made in stone and wood, with palm leaves roofs. People perfectly adapted to an impressive nature: the open and uncontrollable sea, the peaks steep and covered by the jungle, and the covered by snow summits of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. Between these mountains flowered their culture of skillful gold craftsmen, whose most meaningful expression was the Ciudad Perdida, a Tayrona pueblo forgotten and rediscovered in the 70’s.

Adiós vereda, hasta luego amigos… finally the travel resumes, after a long pause full of unforgettable moments. From Villa de Leyva, the bus goes up quickly until about the 3000 meters of the town of Tunja, from where we continue towards the North. After hours of mountain roads, exceeding foggy slopes covered by jungle, we reach San Gil and then Bucaramanga, intermediate stop of our travel, a city unexpectedly modern but with a pleasant climate. Travelling by night we finally reach Santa Marta, on the coast of the Colombian Caribbean: the popularity of the people and their unflappable peacefulness clearly indicate that we got to a new world, all to discover. At first sight, we find the same semi-desertic climate to which we survived for beyond a month, but hidden by the hills covered by cacti, the Tayrona National Park, Caribbean pearl of white beaches, wild jungle and turquoise sea.