26/09/2022 From Santa Marta to Buritaca
What to expect
Rio Hostel, Buritaca
The mini bus ride from Santa Marta to Buritaca took about two hours. It was so interesting to see how many groceries and other things people take with them on the small bus.
Colombia’s best hostel
Once we got off in Buritaca, we walked along the river into the jungle for another 20 minutes until we reached our final destination: Rio Hostel. So many backpackers had suggested this hostel to us. It even got voted as Colombia’s best hostel in 2018.
Such a great vision
We received a passionfruit drink on arrival (which we strongly needed after the hot “hike” along the river with our backpacks on). The hostel is built like a little village that includes everything a backpacker heart could ask for: a beach volleyball field, a table tennis table, a chill-out area with lots of hammock, a big bar, a restaurant, a co-working space (only wifi area in the hostel) and a bakery – and everything is outside, located right by the river. Moreover, every day the hostel offers different activities that we often took part in.
restaurant 
chill-out area
Take part in trivia night
This evening after a very delicious first dinner at the hostel’s restaurant, we joined “trivia night” (that we did not succeed in at all). It was great to run into other packpackers again that we had met in different towns previously. The small backpacker world.
27/09/2022 Tayrona National Park
Today we wanted to explore Colombia’s most well-known national park: Tayrona National Park.
Visit Tayrona National Park
Rio Hostel is a perfect location to explore the park since it is only a 20-minute-mini-bus-ride away (for 1€ each).
Tayrona Nationalpark is massive! This is why many people stay in the park overnight. Not us though, but we were on a mission to explore as much as possible in one day. The main road is paved and on the hike we saw lots of monkeys and birds all around us.
Playa Arrecifes
We hiked for about 1.5 hours until we came to the first beach: Playa Arrecifes. We had a snack break here for a while until it was time to head to our final destination: Cabo San Juan del Guia.
Poor time-management as always
Unfortunately, after asking a local security guy, it became clear pretty fast that we weren’t going to make it there before it was getting too dark. We blamed our time-managment of starting the hike too late (as usual).
Playa Mirador
Nevertheless, we had a great time in the park and walked through thick forests until we reached another beach called Mirador. Besides one other couple, we were the only ones at this beautiful beach! Hearing the thunder in the distance was our cue to leave before we’d get totally soaked.
But great bus-timing
Luckily, we made it just in time to the main path again where a small shuttle bus was waiting to drive backpackers to the main entrance again. Even though, we hadn’t planned on taking a shuttle bus (or had we 😉?!), this was perfect as it had just started to rain. Furthermore, after over 20 000 steps, we were ready for a break. At least our bus-timing is always impeccable since this mini bus left just when we arrived (with us in it). In addition, the bus back to Buritaca also just appeared when we left the national park.
Back at the hostel, we enjoyed another delicious dinner as well as some well-deserved cocktails at the hostel bar with some other backpackers.
28/09/2022 El Rio Hostel, Buritaca
Join a yoga class
The perfect morning routine
I started the next morning with a meditation and a Spanish class (both via Spotify). Then Blake and I joined the morning yoga class by the river. I must admit here that Blake and I are far away from being “yogis”. Therefore, an hour of yoga for newbies like us can seem quite long and painful. It did feel good afterwards though! And after a very delicious smoothie bowl and some journaling, I was secretely hoping that every day would also start this relaxing back in the “real world”.
Go tubing
After some hammock time in the chill-out area, we joined another activity at 1.30 p.m.: tubing down Rio Buritaca. Together with about 15 other backpackers, we had our tubes under one arm and a cooler filled with beers under the other arm. We hiked for about half an hour to the starting point while crossing the river several times. (It was actually quite the challenge to cross with the river current while holding onto our belongs aka our drinks.)
Next level travelling
Once we got to the starting point, Blake and I began talking to a Canadian couple that did a makeover of their van. Now they are travelling from Vancouver all the way down the Pan-American Highway to Patagonia. And we thought we were cool with our one-year-world trip 😉.
Fun float
The float down the river in our tubes was a lot of fun (and with the rapids so much faster than expected). We did a few stops on the way to jump into the water from rocks (the others did, we only drank beer), until we finished the float right by our hostel again.
Big plan ahead
After another delicious dinner at our hostel restaurant, we grabbed some cocktails at the hostel bar and socialized with other backpackers.
The big party at the hostel was happening tonight, which unfortunately had to take place without us, since we had to be fit for what would await us the following four days… I was already terrified!
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