Since meeting Tom I had known that he had planned to make it to the most northern point of South America, and that I was along for the ride. We were headed to the northern tip of the La Guajira Peninsula.
(N for ‘North’)
After leaving Cartagena we headed to Palomino, a tiny town on the coast about 6 hours by bus. We were deposited on the side of the road in what looked to be a collection of restaurants…and that was about it. We had no booking and only a name of a hostel, so we set off in the dark on the back of motorbike taxis to the hostel. We woke in the morning to find it was stunning.
We spent a day lazing around. I got to do a yoga class and catch up on my book but after a day it was time to move on. We didn’t really know how to make it to the end of the peninsula so we stopped in Riohacha for a night to find out how.
(Taxi service in Palomino)
(Downtown)
(Waiting to flag down yet another bus)
We opted out of doing a tour, confident we could do it on our own…even though everyone said it would be difficult. Doing it on our own meant getting up at 5am to make it to Cabo de la Vela, our first stop, via a 2hr off road 4wd journey.
(Salt mining)
We knew Cabo de la Vela was going to be remote, but it turned out to be a little more remote than expected! A tiny town indigenous town on the edge of the ocean that was the perfect location for kite surfers when the wind picked up in the afternoons.
(Driving into Cabo de la Vela)
(Downtown)
There was to be no kite surfing for me. Instead we dined on lobster and visited the local beach, complete with orange sand and big waves. We climbed the headland and the view was spectacular, even though we almost got blown away. We could see the coal tankers offshore waiting to come into port and the wind farm on the other side of the peninsula. Coal is big business here.
(Getting blown away)
(The beach bar…buying alcohol from minors…?)
(Digging to China)
Then finally it was the big day, Punta de Gallinas, the most northern point. We were slightly dubious about our 4wd when we saw that the airbags and clearly been deployed and and had been glued back into place, with the steering wheel bearing the scars of the injury. The journey was bumpy but fairly uneventful. We stopped at a few places to photograph they scenery. It felt a bit like what I imagined an African safari to be like – low lying scrub, desert, minimal trees with a random herds of goats thrown in for good measure.
(Melting the airbag back in…it can be used twice, right?)
Approaching the most northern point we were shocked to see a rope blocking off our road. Our driver however wasn’t and we were shocked then delighted to be approached by an enterprising 6 year old who demanded chocolate for us to pass! Brilliant! Our driver handed over the ransom and we were on our way.
The final stage was a 15 minute boat journey were I got ridiculously wet.
There are only 60 people who live in this area and only 3 families who run ‘hostels’. Los Milas was to be our home for the night and we were staying in chinchorors, luxury hammocks. Fun!
(Our hostel)
(Beds for the night)
(Greeted by a goat)
(Fences Punta Gallinas style…cacti)
After settling in we embarked on our ‘tour’. Our vehicle was a 4wd ute with a converted tray that had large sides so that we couldn’t fall out as we stood in the back. We took off through the dusty scrub till we reached the lighthouse, the most northern point of South America. Slightly underwhelming but we were excited to finally have made it. There is definitely something exhilarating about visiting such a remote location. Apparently there are only 3000 visitors per year. We didn’t see anyone but locals.
(The most northern point!)
(The lighthouse marks the northern point!)
The remainder of our tour was spent at a giant sand dune that you could slide down to the beach. The coastline was stunning especially at sunset as the huge orange sun dropped below sand dunes.
(Driving home)
(Lobster dinner anyone?)
