Lost in Paradise

by Juliana Gonzalez (Colombia)

I didn't expect to find Colombia

Lost in the Colombian jungle we found a hidden paradise. Nicolas and I decided to embark on a trip into the Colombian jungle. To a place a friend described as “the most beautiful place on earth”. Enough for us to fire up our curiosity and in no time at all dive into Colombia’s biggest natural reserve: the Tayrona National Park. The Tayrona National Park is, after the Amazon, one of the most important and largest protected areas in Colombia. It is located in the northern part of Colombia, covering the foothill of the Sierra Nevada of Santa Marta, where the jungle meets the Colombian Caribbean Sea. It is extremely rich in biodiversity and it’s also home of the Kogis, a native indigenous group descendant of the Tayrona ancient civilization. The day of the trip, we took a 6:00am bus that dropped us at the side of the park’s closest road, in one of the entrances. No cars are allowed inside the park so it was only possible to enter by foot or renting a horse from a local. However, we heard that the ground was rather tricky, with big rocks, slippery leaves and downhills, thus we decided to trust our own feet and do the trail by walking. Our plan was to get where our friend told us, “the most beautiful place on earth”, a beach where the jungle meets the sea, a place called Cabo San Juan, but not without making a stop before at Pueblito, an ancient indigenous archeological site built inside the jungle by the Tayrona civilization. The whole route would be approximately an 8 hour walk. Eventough we were told that it was better to go with a guide, we decided to go by ourselves as a guide did not seem necessary; the path appeared to be clear enough. We were wrong. As we dove into the jungle the path became more and more narrow. Sometimes it was visible, sometimes not so much, with interconnected paths. The first thing I noticed was that the more we walked the jungle became thicker. The leaves of the huge green trees covered the sky yet it was very light and the shadows became comforting after the heat and the long walk. The vegetation was diverse. Seemed like the jungle had plants from every kind. It was astonishingly beautiful. We saw a few snakes, little ones, which rapidly sledded through the leaves as we walked. We heard as well what at first we thought was a jaguar. We were scared. However, we soon realized it wasn’t a jaguar but the Colombian howling monkey, which sounds similar. We felt relieved. It was amazing seeing and hearing them. We walked for hours and before we even knew it, we were lost. Lost in the jungle. Lost in one of the most amazing and terrifying places. We never got to Pueblito. After around 6 hours of walking we felt really worried. We had not seen any other tourists in the whole route. Maybe because it was low-season, maybe because we were lost. Then suddenly, something incredible happened, a little girl emerged from the middle of the jungle. An indigenous girl. She seemed like an illusion. As she came closer we realized she was real. The girl was around 8 years old. Barefoot. She was wearing a loose white typical robe with some tiny-rock yellow necklaces adorning her neck. Looked like an angel. We rapidly approach to ask her where the path to the sea was. She only spoke Kogi, her native language. We tried to explain her what we wanted. She was cautious but listened carefully. After a while, she looked at me with those deep black eyes, putted her little hand over her ear and pointed out on a direction. Right after, she left. At first we did not understand what she was trying to tell us. Soon, we realized. She was telling us to listen… listen to the sea. We followed the path and listened. All this time we just had to listen. After a one hour we found the beach. We found Cabo San Juan. And yes, my friend was right, it seemed like the most beautiful place on earth.