[This is part 2 of my Tayrona adventure. Part 1 can be found here.]

After taking leave of our horses at the end of the trail, we walked through a small campsite until we got our first view of beach, Arrecifes. It was absolutely beautiful, the most breathtaking scenery I had seen so far in Colombia. The beach was surprisingly still and quiet, probably owing to the fact that the currents there are too dangerous to swim in so people don’t tend to stay there. There are big signs proclaiming this fact:

I especially like how it says 200 people on the Spanish sign and only 100 on the English version. Wonder what that’s all about?

In any case, it seemed very peaceful to us so we sat down on the beach and rested for a while, just enjoying the scenery (and I was enjoying being off that horse). Pictures don’t do it justice, but I’ll try:

Arrecifes is a pretty long beach, so we walked along it and then through the woods for a little bit until we reached the next beach, La Piscina. This beach is unique in that it’s like a natural swimming pool (hence the name), protected by a big semicircle of rocks in the ocean. It’s also quite shady on the shore here, so it’s a popular beach to hang out on during the day.

We continued along the path through the forest, walking a bit and then stopping for a while at each beach to rest in between, until we reached Cabo San Juan del Guia, the last big touristy beach (though I’ve heard there are many others), where we planned to spend the night. There’s a big campsite here that offers both tents and hammocks for rent, making it popular with backpackers. In addition to the hammocks strung up in the campground, the really desirable ones are in the Mirador, a big gazebo-type lookout point high up on a big rock formation jutting out over the sea.

When we arrived, it turned out that there was only one hammock left in el Mirador for the night, so of course I grabbed that one and Jay and Susan got two less desirable (and less expensive!) hammocks in the campsite. The advantage of traveling alone! Or so I thought…