barlovento and parque tayrona

after a couple days in cartageña we went to parque tayrona and stayed at la hacienda barlovento. it was dreamy. i was lazy. it was PERFECT!

we stayed at the hacienda barlovento

which was both an architectural feat and super awesome

it sits on the rocky cliffs from where a river (i can't remember the name)

meets the sea

view from barlovento to the river and sierra nevada mountains

i ate every meal at this table while i was there

so ridiculously relaxing

at about 4 each day, surfers would show up

the river

this is an amazing piece of furniture

at first i thought it was just a random tree with glass studded gourds,

but then i realized you could turn it on

the glass lit up and made for a really nice reading lamp at night

the path down to the sea

sunset at barlovento

this is denise and sophia

they made us all of our meals

(tho mary whose second half of her name i can't remember)

we had a halted conversation about the gift of tongues

my spanish was vastly improved by speaking only spanish,

but i found it really difficult to explain that i believed

that the most important thing one can do

is to love your neighbor as yourself

that is some serious reflexive verbiage.

trying to get photos taken . . .

this captures one of those everyday experiences you have on vacation

trying to help someone know how to use your camera

i spent an entire day in this hammock

it stormed every night

they were amazing storms

i wondered if they were the edge of a hurricane there was so much thunder and lightening

night view

this didn't really work as planned

but there was a huge full moon

one day we hiked through a portion of parque tayrona

i was struck that USAID is funding a portion of this park

does anyone know why?

inside the park they rent "ecohabs" for $300/night . . . seems like they should be able to manage the park with out US aid?

these ants were everywhere

i was impressed by their work ethic!

this is the sloughed exoskeleton of a grasshopper

this is our guide Manfry with bets . . .

this is the cafe we ate lunch in

we swam here

even tho there were big wares