A walk in El Parque

´Look, there´s our bus..´Mark yelled and it took the last of our energy to leg it up the road and onto it. Sitting across the aisle from us was a woman with a falcon on her hand. It was wearing a hood and everything, I guess to stop it seeing the chicken on the seat in front of it. Mark and I just leaned back in the seats. ´Good day?´he asked. ¨Perfect,´I replied and smiled. And that was the last of my energy.

Sunburnt, exhausted but happy, we had just emerged from El Parque Tayrona, a National Park about an hour from Santa Marta. Perfect was a vast improvement oa few hours before

´Have I told you recently that I hate everything?´ I asked.

Ýes´was the reply.

And why? Well because I had been duped into doing something that I dont normally do. We arrived at Tayrona on Friday. We got a bus there from Santa Marta and a jeep from the entrance to the car park and then there was an hours walk to the beach. Flat walk. Ok. Beach at the end. Bueno.

We arrived shortly before it got dark so just had time to choose the best place for our hammocks and then drink beer until the generator turned off.

The next day we walked along the beach for an hour or so, collapsed into the water and later found ourselves sunburnt (and I had been so careful the previous two weeks) it wasn´t bad but red enough. We made it to the next campsite by walking along the beach and through the edges of the jungle.

The next site was much more crowded and we took hammocks again- this time in la casa de sardines- they were so close together that if we breathed they would knock together like those little ball bearings on an executive´s desk toy. More beer and comparing of sunburn commenced. And the less said about my bad negotiating of hammocks in the dark, the better.

Then it happened. Mark suggested that we take the other route back to the road to complete the circuit- all 11km of it. What made me say yes? Well, he had been so kind before and I think that I should push myself.

The first part of the hike was only 2.4km through the jungle to an old Indian village hidden away from prying eyes. It was mostly uphill and took me nearly two hours. About half an hour in Mark took both of my bags. He gave me advice (walk slowly, control your breathing, small goals then rest), encouragement (you can do it and then imagine how good you will feel) and basically all the help I could need. It didn´t, however, stop me alternately hating him for making me do the walk and loving him for the same reason.

We arrived at El Pueblito, the old town, took photos and I smiled a lot in relief. But that was just the first 2.4km, we still had another 7km or so back to the road.

I am not going to lie to you, it was exhausting and took me marginally longer than a grandmother with no legs could have done it in. The lack of signs didn´t add to my confidence of the whole venture, we just looked for fresh donkey droppings as a sign that life existed there. Much of it was uphill too but every time we reached a peak, even through my exhaustion and the sweat pouring from my brow, I could see that the scenery was amazing! A world away from the cactus in Taganga, this was lush green vegetation that spread up the mountains and into the mist.

Eventually though the heat and the little water that we had left, plus the fact that we hadn´t eaten since three the day before, made me stop appreciating everything and starting to see the jungle as a cage that I needed to get out of. Until the next bit of awesome scenery arrived that is.

Six hours after we originally set off from the beach, and we had been walking down hill for over an hour, we saw a guy that told us where we were heading was 'Aqui (here)´.

We got to the corner, there was a shop, there was a main road and mostly importantly the shop sold beer and the ice cold Coke that I had been dreaming of for the past five km or so.... we bought it, the bus arrived and we started back to Santa Marta.

And here I am, back in the Hotel Miramir, for what I promise will be my last night here, exhausted, really in need of a shower with soap and shampoo and looking forward to falling into my bed later.

Mark is going to Venezuela tomorrow and then onto Canada to meet his girlfriend. he has my camera. I will put some photos up soon- maybe tomorrow.

Yours a very tired, happy and satisfied Helen who can´t wait to show the photo gorgeousness with you