It's 4:17AM and I get a knock on my door here at Solymar Hostel in Santa Marta..my pick up for Cabo de la Vela is here except he isn't supposed to be here until 4:30! At this hour, every minute counts! I make my way to the lobby at 4:30 and meet the driver/guide for the next 48 hours, Leonardo. He tells me we have to pick up 4 more people in the neighboring town of Taganga. It's still pitch dark at this point and I can tell he isn't familiar with this place at this hour as we're strolling through the rough roads. I am not sure if Peter Cetera and Richard Marx was the right music backdrop but so be it..bringing back the 80's. we eventually gathered all the folks, which included, a gal named Sandrine from Sweden or maybe it was Switzerland, a vegabond in his very late 40's from Santa Monica named Jim and a couple from Argentina named Irene (who just found out she is pregnant) and Nicolas. At this point, Slim Shady has made his way into the musical rotation. We spend the next 5-6 hours driving through the coast up north to Cabo de la Vela. We drove through all types of terrain and how Leo navigated some of these roads (sand dunes, sand, beach, etc) continued to amaze me. I now know the true purpose of an all wheel drive vehicle! At this point, Leo was all Spanish and the three of us looked to Irene and Nicolas for translation! The journey in the car was probably a highlight for me as I got to see many ways of life, various settings, the beauty of this land and might I add that I've never seen goats move that fast!
At last, we arrived at Cabo de la Vela... simple dirt roads with restaurants here and there made up of shacks, beach hammocks, the Wayuu ladies stitching and selling mochilas and a lovely stretch of beach. Jim and I thought maybe this place will be fully developed in about 5-10 years if they can figure out how to get a water system here (we each got a bucket of water for a shower) but I hope it stays this way; part of the charm. After a few hours, Leo stacked us all back in the Land Cruiser and made or way to El Faro to watch the sunset. At this hilltop, you really get to see how the desert meets the ocean. Jim says,"This is just like the Mojave Desert but minus the ocean."
After dinner, Sandrine and I decided to skip the festivities and find our hammocks to settle into for the night when we see Jim walkin towards us with a huge smile and a bag, "I found beer!" The five of us claimed our beach front hammocks for the night and stayed awake for awhile trading travel stories.
Jim..boy was he a crack up! For example, his stories often started something like this,"A few years ago, I thought I wanted to go be Indian Jones so I hired 2 guys to take me to the Amazon for 3 days..that was the dumbest thing I had ever done..bitten like a pulp by mosquitoes, poisonous snakes, etc." As exhausted as I felt, I stayed awake listening to the ocean swinging back as forth in my hammock..once in awhile I'd doze off but only to be waken up by a passing 4WD blasting their music. By about the 3rd time I was woken up, I set my eyes on one of the most amazing sights I had ever seen...maybe because I've never seen it..the moon setting into the ocean. The place is pitch dark as the electricity goes out after a certain hour and in front of me was a huge gold circle, mirrored in the reflections in the water, settling into the ocean to make way for the sun to rise on the other side.
The next morning, we set for the journey back to Santa Marta. Nicolas and Irene continued north to Punta Gallinas and Leo decided to fill their spots in the car with his relatives and wife ..dropping them off at various points along the way. Sandrine requested we listen to different music so no mas classics from the 80's and Slim Shady. Our journey home was made more interesting by having to stop at a bunch of check points; police patting down Leo and searching the trunk of the vehicle before being cleared to continue. This happened about 6-7 times.
This land is so stunning yet seeing all the plastic trash breaks my heart. It's too expensive to get it out so the people here just let it be. I can't tell if the folks here are living in poverty or if this is just their way of life. With every "village community" we drove pass, children would be running towards us with their palms out expecting us to give them something. This will probably get a lot worse in the near future as more and more people make their way here. I am sure about one thing: I will return home using a lot less plastic from here on out!
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