Tayrona National Park

 I started my walk in the Tayrona National park in Colombia rather early in the fist rays of the morning sun. I entered from the Calabazo entrance into the park and headed into a 4h hike in the jungle to Playa Brava, my first stop for the night. The hike was rather awesome on this narrow path between huge trees and their sun shading coronas.

 The hike goes on for about 4h total, but the scenery doesn't stop to amaze you.

 Finally you start hearing the sea in the distance. It's a rather aggressive sea, with powerful waves and strong wind, a sea that inspires awe and fear at the same time...and rightfully so.

 After descending from the mountains Playa Brava opens up to you in its full beauty, with palm trees rising from the white sand and massive mountains surrounding the natural laguna.

 Myself being happy I got here :) this is mind you around 9am and there is not a single other person on the beach. Unlike the other beaches in Tayrona park, this one is more remote and distant from the other beaches heavily populated by traveling Argentinians :)

 A shot from the beach onto the jungle where I came from...

 That night I slept in a hammock on the beach to the sound of beating waves and woke up to the sunrise.

 The sunrise here is amazing, needless to say. The red tint of the sun is reflected in the angry waves making one amazing sight.

 Having enjoyed breakfast that the local traveling Argentinians lovely offered me, i set away for my hike to the other side of the park, the more populated one and with the nicest beach, Cabul San Lucas. The hike of course was amazing but I won't bore you with pictures of trees and green peisajes. One thing to be said though is that the colombian jungle is as dangerous as it is gorgeous. These small pretty frogs that kept springing up on the pathway are some of the most poisonous in the world, secreting a liquid covering their skin that attacks the nervous system when touched.

 Of course I had to sneak in a picture of the path :)

 Probably the best moment of the trail is when you come out of the thick vegetation and extremely large stones that form the path onto a sandy trail with palm trees bathed in sunlight and the sound of ocean waves in the distance.

 you come out of the trees on this gorgeous white sand beach, probably the most beautiful I've ever seen, although in a very conventional sense. This is Cabul San Juan beach, the most famous one in Tayrona. The water is so clear that you can see the sandy seafloor even when you're up to your neck in the water. The beach is surrounded by huge rocks awesome for climbing upon and diving into the azul water.

 As the evening colors descend upon the beach, everything begins to reflect even more light.

 The palm trees that border the beach and the jungle. The only real problem with Cabul San Juan is its extreme price, for a night in a hamaca will set you back 20,000COP, which is something I wasn't willing to tolerate so i moved on to a nearby beach boasting more reasonable prices.

 Final shot of the San Juan  beach with long shadows of the palm trees in the setting sun.

 I continued walking along the beach immersed in tall palm trees in the evening light. THis is my favorite period of the day, the colors of the sun intensify and cast a reddish tint on everything. The moon is just an amazing bonus.

 The path led me deep into the jungle foliage...

 ...before emerging on the beach naturally being bordered by huge boulders. This was my habitat for the night.

 Sunset behind the powerfully green mountains of Tayrona.

 As usual the next morning I woke up to the sound of waves washing ashore and the sunset...i think that's a good life, eh? :)

 I then made my way back to Cabul San Juan for some more fun in the sun...and then i decided to conquer that rock in the distance close to the wave break point.

...and of course we made it :) I am accompanied by a very young Swede guy that decided to not let me have this moment of infamy by myself.