Swinging solo

One more sleep and Pete will be back from his crazy trek in the jungle. And while I do miss him like mad and find myself doing strange things in his absence (like, sleeping with the bathroom light on!), I have been doing much better then I thought I would.

Wouldn't you know it - but on night one of being alone, I was faced with one of my biggest fears in the form of a large, hairy legged spider. While I was laying on the bed watching TV after dinner, it's movement on the wall behind me caught my attention. I (of course), screamed like a little girl, and perhaps I scared him as much as he scared me because he promptly continued up the wall and right out the window. It is normally Pete's responsibility to handle all things creepy and crawly, so I was very thankful that I didn't actually have to do anything to move it. Thank goodness also that the nights have been much cooler then the extremely hot days, as I've been able to manage through the heat without having to open that window since!

The heat index has reached the low 40s all week, making it almost unbearable to do anything. Most of the time I can be found enjoying the coolest spot in the hostel complex - laying in one of the seven hammocks strung up on a shaded concrete patio. When the air is still, heavy and hot, the only relief is to create my own breeze by freely swinging in the hammock. Many hours have been spent there reading, listening to music, and watching the people of this little beach town go about their business (situated up a hill over the beach, this hostel has the best views in town!)

The beach in this town is unfortunately nothing to write home about. Garbage is strewn about, and it consistently carries the smell of a large pack of wet dogs. There is another beach nearby that Pete and I visited last weekend but I haven't gone back since - it is marginally better, but comes with the annoyance of people trying to sell you something every couple of minutes.

I finally needed to get out and do something different, and so yesterday I booked a tour to Parque Nacional Tayrona - an unforgettable stretch of jungle and beach just north of Taganga.

El Cabo

One hour of driving and two hours of hiking through the humid jungle got our group (all Colombians and me - weird to be on a tour without any other gringos!) to one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen. Untouched by big commerce and development, El Cabo is a tropical cove with pristine course sand against a backdrop of palm trees and the Sierra Nevada mountains. While the water was not the Caribbean blue I was expecting, it was all I needed! I was stripped down to my swimsuit and cooling off in the water in record breaking time.

After a couple of hours enjoying the beach and lunch, we started our return. This time, instead of solely being in the jungle, we walked nearer the coast and stopped at more breathtaking and untouched beaches along the way.



While this stretch of walking did seem a little cooler then the entire humid jungle trek on the way in, I was still a sweaty mess, and by the time we got back to the van, every inch of my clothing was soaked. Have you ever had sweat dripping off your eyelashes? Because I have. And this four hours of walking in one day made me SUPER glad that I didn't join Pete and have to endure it for four more days!

And so with one more sleep and two more days to go until Pete gets back, I will return to the cool serenity of my hammock by day, and hopefully without the threat of monster spiders at night!