Time Out for Tayrona

Tayrona Park is massive. It's spread out over miles of jungle and beachfront. We stayed at the Ecohabs which was closest to the park entrance. By close I mean still a 20-30 minutes walk up to check-in. Luckily our driver from Koralia knows the park well so he was able to drive us up to the Habs. Ecohabs are these amazing little huts spread over the hills that over look the ocean. Tayrona Park is straight up jungle, be prepared to walk, hike anywhere and everywhere. It's no place for a girl from New York City... but I'm a Canadian-outdoorsie-girl at heart, so I loved it! The ecohabs are beautiful and it truly is luxury meets nature... but let's just say that nature wins out every time! No matter how beautiful the view or construction of these Habs are, it can't keep the 8 inch millepede out of your room!

The food we experienced at Tayrona was a mix of hotel food at the Habs or on the private beach to local foods which we bought from women and couples on the local beaches.

Our first day at Tayrona was great. As we arrived to check in, we were created with wonderful sweet cold fresh juice... look how happy Shirin is!!! It was so amazing! We came in too late to do a hike so we just sat by this beach close to our Ecohabs.
Many of the beaches are very dangerous to swim so you have to be careful. This private beach was called Piscinetta (mini version of La Piscina, which is the big swimming beach) We ordered ceviche and snacks at the beach, there's a server on call at the beach taking orders and he has ice cold Cerveza's on hand! We spends the rest of the afternoon out there, sunbathing and swimming!

Getting Habby In Our Hut

I wish I had bought a bottle of Ron Viejo De Caldas back to NY. It was tasty Colombian rum, that had a caramel taste to it. Alejandro went to do a alcohol run, which meant having to borrow a small motorcycle and go venture outside the park to find a store to buy beer and rum! It was super fun, we had a mini party inside our Ecohab. Our Hab was the highest in the hills out of everyone's which meant way more bugs, and bigger bugs, so it in order to even deal, you have to put the Hab on lock down, and close up ever window and door. Even still those buggers get in, it was wild! At least after enough beer and rum, we were able to sleep despite the wild nature which was knocking at our door!

Breakfast at the Habs

The Ecohabs is catered to tourists, that is Spanish-speaking Colombian tourists with money. That said by our American standards it wasn't so expensive and luckily our breakfast each morning was included! It's a lovely spread of fresh local fruits, fresh fruit juice, eggs with corn arepas and coffee. It was good and fueled us for our massive day of hiking ahead.

Local Juice Break!

There were these amazing locals making fresh juice or cooking food along the way. As we hiked from one beach to the next, it was so perfect to cool us down with a fresh juice!

Fresh Baked Bread on the Beach!

A lady selling fresh baked breads came onto the beach as we were swimming. Perfect timing for yet, another snack! All we did that day is swim, sunbathe and snack! Her outfit was pretty amazing and she was more than willing to pose for the picture! Her baked good were delicious, coconut banana bread and another chocolate croissant.... imagine a wonderful "pain au chocolat" in the middle of the Colombia jungle! We grabbed a few to share and took them will us along our travels to the next two beaches... just in case there weren't any more snack stops along the way!

Lulo Love

Along our hike from one amazing beach to the next we stopped at this fresh juice place. Our Colombian friends, Alejandro and Carolina suggested we try Lulo, which is a local fruit there, and it blew our minds! We watched the guy squeeze a bunch of lulos and drained them into our cup. As fresh as fresh gets! They even said that it was the best Lulo juice they had had before too! I was so happy there in the sun with my Lulo juice!

Catch of the Day!

This beach was in between two larger more well-known beaches, it was our hidden gem. The local people were making fried plantains for us and we popped in and out of the water.... we spent about an hour swimming around, it was wonderful! There were two local fisherman who caught a big fish right were we were swimming. He gutted it alive right in front of us with his bare hands and then threw the guts back into the ocean where we were swimming.... it was so awesome! Too bad we couldn't eat it there and then! Here's Alejandro pretending it's his catch!

Our Late Last Lunch

I love Colombia because every lunch plate includes grilled fish, fried plantains and coconut rice! Oh and of course amazing fresh juice. (this one is passionfruit I believe) So good! This one in particular was amazing. Luckily our Colombian friends knew the park well enough to know which restaurants were the best and this one was at Arrecifes, which is another spot further into the park where you can stay. It's about an hour walk (or horse ride) in from the park entrance, but once your in your in and much closer to all the optimal beaches deeper inside Tayrona. They have lovely larger Habs that sleep up to 8 people maybe, so I would consider this option for a future visit. Since it's about an hour hike back, we had a nice long late lunch (and ate way too much) since it was our last lunch at Tayrona... then we had a leisurely hike back through the humid jungle back to our Ecohabs.