Colombia Part 22 - Our first day discovering the Guajira Desert! (Photos + Videos)

After coming back to Santa Marta from the Tayrona National Park, we decided to go on to the Guajira department, and visit the big desert there.

Kathi had to leave Colombia, but I went on traveling with Peter and a few other guys from Portugal, England and France, that would join us at that big trip.

So from Santa Marta we went to the Capital of Guajira: Riohacha, spent a night there and got prepared for the trip.

La Guajira (in Wayuunaiki: Wajiira) is one of the thirty-two departments of Colombia. Its capital is Riohacha. It is located in the extreme northeast of the country, in the Caribbean region, bordering the north and east with the Caribbean Sea (Atlantic Ocean), southeast with Venezuela, south with the state Cesar and west with Magdalena.

In this department of Colombia the indigenous people Wayúu are very present. Entering the Guajira desert you have to get to Uribia first, which counts as the capital of the indigenous people in Colombia.

Whoever wants to enter the desert has to go to Uribia first and take a truck from there. Uribia is the capital of the Wayúu. The city is pretty crowded and dirty.. so you better take some food with you before you leave to the desert.

The trucks to our next stop "Cabo de la Vela" left from the main square once it was full. So the more people you are the better, because if its just you it could last hours until your trip continues.

We had a lot of fun on our way. The truck was fully packed with us and all kinds of food and stuff on the roof, that we delivered to different stores and houses on our way.

Every meter we got deeper into the desert, which meant, that the road changed and it got hotter and hotter. Some parts were really hard to cross for our truck.

And sometimes we had to hop off and help it cross the street - Colombians are so relaxed though.. nobody was afraid to not be able to go on at some point haha.

After about 3 hours we finally made it to Cabo de la Vela. On my way I already got friends with Maria, who also travelled there. As it turned out she had a little Hostel (Hammocks at the beach and a kiosk), where we could sleep, so we went directly to her place.

The village is still really poor and there are no such things as hotels, tour providers, shops or comfortable beds and showers.

Tourism is really new here as the place was used over many years to smuggle cocaine to the caribbean islands, central america and venezuela.

Most of the people in the village are Indigenous and live isulated from the rest of the world. Maria and her husband gave us a hammock directly at the beach.

I could put mine right next to them.

They also had a little kitchen, so we could chose between a fish, chicken and lobster, that they just had cought. We shared them between all of us.

Maria and her husband called some guy to talk with us about the tour options. We wanted to see everything! So we decided to still see the sights of Cabo de la Vela: Rainbow Bay, Dunes and Lighthouse. & Go by cheep to Puntas Gallinas the next morning. Maria made sure they wouldn´t charge us too much.

To still be able to see all of Cabo de la Vela, we had to go by motorcicle with some of the guys of the town.

We started a little race between us, driving in a convoy to our first stop: The Rainbow Bay

There were already people waiting to sell Polar beer and bracelets to us. This was pretty convenient, because like that at every spot we could have another beer.

Rainbow bay is called like that, because the waves crush pretty hard against the rocks and the water splash mixed with the sun at this desert causes images of little rainbows along the coast.

From here we went on with the bikes to see the dunes.

After that it was already late and the sunset was about to start, so we had to hurry to get to the lighthouse in time!

Here we got another beer and enjoyed the view from the top of a rock! Gil, the portuguese guy even climbed the little lighthouse.

This was just a perfect day!! - Even more perfect with out little fire at the beach afterwards, listening to Peers playing the guitar, before we went to sleep that day!

As always I hope you enjoyed reading my post and I am grateful for every Upvote, Resteem and Comment, as you are supporting my travels with it!!
Cheers,
Liz

Colombia Part 1: Bogota D.C. - A city full of history and culture!

Colombia Part 2: Guatavita Lagoon, The Muisca Civilisation and The Legend of "El Dorado"

Colombia Part 3 - The Salt Cathedral of Zipaquirá (Fotos + Video)

Colombia Part 4 - Adventure time at the Natural Pools of Guejar River in the Jungle (Photos + Videos)

Colombia Part 5 - Flying to Macarena National Park being a Copilot

Colombia Part 6 - The Rainbow River at Macarena National Park

Colombia Part 7 - Riding Motor Bike and Chilling in the Pools of the Tatacoa Desert

Colombia Part 8 - Enjoying civilization in Cali!

Colombia Part 9 - Living with the president of the orchids club,helping her out at the green house

Colombia Part 10 - Hiking and Feeding Hummingbirds in the middle of the impressive Flora of Montanitas

Colombia Part 11 - Visiting the typical colonial city of Salento

Colombia Part 12 - Learning how to make coffee at a real coffee farm in Salento

Colombia Part 13 - Horseback riding to a waterfall and hiking at Cocora Valley

Colombia Part 14 - Swimming at the hot springs of Santa Rosa de Cabal

Colombia Part 15 - Doing an adventurous Graffiti Tour through the Favelas of Medellin at Commune 13

Colombia Part 16 - Ziplining, hiking, blow jumping and jet skiing at the lagunas of Guatapé

Colombia Part 17 - Paragliding over the city of Medellin

Colombia Part 18 - Arriving in the capital of the caribbean side: Cartagena de Indias

Colombia Part 19 - Trekking in the Tayrona National Park, Day One: The Jungle

Colombia Part 20 - Day Two at Tayrona National Park: A wonderful Day and horrible Night at the Beach of Cabo San Juan

Colombia Part 21 - Our Way back by boat visiting 3 beaches of Tayrona National Park in just one day!