PARQUE TAYRONA AND THE POLICE

Tayrona National Park is on the Caribbean Coast and is know for beautiful beaches and it's  landscape.

 After a short bus ride from Santa Marta we got to the Entrance Station of the Tayrona National Park. There were two police men who checked my bag (don't know what they were looking for) and asked where we were going. Our plan was to go to Castilletes Camping a short walk down the road. Somehow we got a ride from the police in their truck to the campground. Great service by the Colombian police. 

The campground was very quiet and besides us there was only one couple staying there. We got a tent a few meters from the beach and had a 1.5 km long Caribbean beach all for ourselves. In the afternoon we went for a walk along the beach and relaxed.

The campground was on an former narco estate with ruins of a nice old pool, barbecue place and many palm trees. After we had dinner the couple introduced themselves. Walter and Milena are a very nice Colombian couple from Medellin that we became friendly with. We talked for quite a while and were sitting at the beach before going to sleep. Waking up with the sound of the sea and seeing palm trees and the beach when you open your eyes is great. Life is good.

On our second day in the park we took a little hike to the next place. The hike wasn't very long but still took quite some time and was exhausting in the heat. The trail went along the beach and through the muddy forest. We stopped for a nice swim in the very warm water. Very relaxing. The second night we slept in hammocks at the Miradora at Cabo San Juan, a small place with a few hammocks on a rock between two small nice bays. The view was amazing. When a heavy thunderstorm started early at night we had the best place to watch the lightning. We spent the last day swimming and relaxing at the beach with Milena and Walter before going back to Taganga in the afternoon. Because none of us felt like going on another long hike to get out of the park again we opted for the boat going directly to Taganga. The boat wasn't that big but there were a lot of people on board. Shortly before getting to Taganga our boat was stopped by the police. There were too many people on board (35 instead of the allowed 30) and the company had to pay a 7 million peso (4000$) fine. The police boat escorted our boat all the way back to the beach. So, in the end we entered and left the park with the police.