Cabo de la Vela, Colombia 🇨🇴

We have a super breakfast in our little B&B before we are picked up by Franco who is our guide and driver for the next 3 days. A brief stop at the tour office and we collect the other 2 people for the tour. They are a Dutch couple, Lisette and Shorrs, and both seem friendly. We start driving and I am surprised how good the roads are as we drive straight for Uribia and then down to Manaure. Manaure is where we find Colombia’s largest salt complex and we briefly explore the sections being extracted by the indigenous community before taking pictures of salt piles and pink pools. We head back to Uribia, indigenous capital of Colombia, stopping to buy water and sweets for local children we might meet along our trip. I also learnt that there is the biggest coal mine nearby and we spot the railway carriages taking the coal to the airport for transport. At this point we turn towards Cabo de la Vela and the road finishes, replaced by a gravel track and a more desert landscape. Here we have lunch and discover our sleeping arrangements for tonight are hammocks in a hut just off the beach.

We set out to visit Arco iris Beach, and then scramble up to the Pilón de Azúcar for a breathtaking view. Swimming here is impossible to we visit another beach which is a bit calmer for a swim before finally grabbing a Venezuelan beer on the way up to the lighthouse where we enjoy a beautiful sunset. We return to the Ranchería for dinner and as it’s dark we look up at the Milky Way shinning brightly, and observe some lightening storms off in the distance. We change into comfy clothes ready to spend the night in our hammocks. The hammocks are really comfy, and the sound of the sea lapping at the shore soon puts us to sleep.