Our Pacific Coast Bubble

Why hello there! We're back! And we've had the most astounding adventure...


For a start, actually deciding to go to the Pacific coast in Colombia was us making a decision to walk firmly into situations of discovery that had not been advised or recounted by anyone we had met so far on our travels. The most recent writing we could find was in our Lonely Planet and the most recent personal experiences came from the owner of the hostel in Medellin, both of which were three years old. As you no doubt know, Colombia is a country that has changed immeasurably in the last few years. Three years ago there was still talk of guerillas and rebel fighters being a daily threat on the Pacific Coast, a region of Colombia called El Choco. The previous president of Colombia invested a lot in the army and succeeded in easing much of the problems (although by no means all!) that the people of Colombia faced due to the guerllias, and after La Violencia came to El Choco in the early 2000's a huge military base was built there. So we knew that whatever the current situation was, we would be safe. We also asked a few Colombians if it was safe to go there and they said it was. So our decision was made. We knew that the only way to get there was to fly over the thick jungle and mountainous region as there was no road at all. In fact the only road in the entire region was from Bahia Solano (where the plane landed) to El Valle (which was where we wanted to get to), a stretch of 14 kms. We had no idea how we could get to El Valle, what we would find when we did, how we could get by with our rudimentary Spanish, how we would see whales and turtles and even if we had enough money!

For about an hour when we got to the airport, and after dealing with a pen knife freak out at the tiny security machine (all in Spanish), we were the only non Colombian people there. Then we spotted a small group of gringo looking people all crowded round a computer, laughing and looking at amazing wildlife photos. It turned out that these were a bunch of journalists from Vienna and Germany with their Colombian guide and photographer. They had been sent out to explore the Pacific Coast and write about what there was to attract tourists to it. Our plane was delayed for about four hours due to it being broken (!) and that it was waiting on parts to fix it coming from Bogota! We also got chatting to another interesting chap whom we named 'The Count' on account of his bushy eyebrows and slow and deliberate speech. He was a Colombian gent that had lived in the US for many years and was now being employed by the Colombian Tourist Board to investigate and bolster eco tourism on the Pacific Coast as he had had huge success doing the same in Chile. The Count was a character, he had many stories to tell and information to give us. Ultimately he told us the entire social and political history of South America (in brief)! Four hours later we took off! As you can imagine going through cloud in a small aircraft was a bit juddery. I was OK and the amazing views of Medellin as we took off helped but during the short flight the plane did fall quite a bit and Samly's hand got squeezed almost to a pulp!

Our first glimpses of Bahia Solano were of the brocolli shaped immensity that swelled and dipped before breaking onto thin slips of beaches as the land met the sea. We flew out to sea and turned round as the plane lowered and eventually landed. Lots of military men met us with their machine guns and thanks to The Count, we were kept informed of what was happening. Turns out it was really easy to get transport straight to El Valle, with no need to stay in Bahio Solano, travelling by jungle bus! Off we trundelled down the bumpy mud and puddle filled road for about fifteen minutes until we hit the immaculately paved road (the only one in the entire region!) through the jungle into the pueblo of El Valle and which dead ended at the beach.

The pueblo of El Valle is mostly populated by the descendants of African slaves along with a small contingent of indigenous Indians. Due to the region being virtually cut off from the rest of Colombia a lot of their cultures have been preserved but the infrastucture is poor and poverty is widespread. We found El Valle to be a very friendly place. When someone passed you on the beach they would always stop and speak, and everyone smiled. Despite the small information we were given about the military outnumbering tourists three to one, the only military we saw were at the airport and as we passed the base on the road from Bahio Solano to El Valle. During our entire stay, we felt safe and relaxed.

We travelled along El Almejal beach until we got to Playa Allegre and El Almejal resorts which both stood on the beach. I managed to bargain and barter with two lovely gents in both places all in Spanish and although El Almejal was expensive we thought we had a good deal and were both blown away with how beautiful and well looked after the place was. We had also read how tasty the food was there. So El Almejal it was and we settled into our cabin, hanging up the mossie net over the bed and most importantly the hammock! Now for a venture around...

We walked out on to the beach and looked around us. It was hard to take in what we were seeing. In the fading light from the sun we could see dense and lucid jungle falling onto brown sand that was punctured by crab holes, driftwood and undulating volcanic rock tickled by pools of water, the surfaces of which were turned grey blue as they reflected the sky at sunset. The beach gave way to endless blue green sea and rolling waves that turned the colours of brown grey, blue green, grey blue and orange grey at various times throughout the days in which we stayed there. Many times we stared mesmerised out at the horizon, feeling as if time was at once stretched and infinite. Over the six days we stayed on El Almejal beach we did in fact loose our way with time. We lost track of what day it was and when sheepishly we had to retrace our steps to come to determine the day, we felt foolish, only to find that The Count had packed his bags, being similarly muddled, thinking it was a day later than it was! El Almejal is indeed a special place. It was difficult to reach but when we did and passed days as the only two or so on its vast stretch, watching the days begin and end, we found it even more difficult to leave.

We spent days ambling along the beach trying to take in the jungle as it spilled onto the sand and the sun as it reflected in the water and shone through the myriad different clouds and sky colours. Nature was everywhere, and we were deep in it. The ground and sky were both alive and moving, our eyes and ears were continuously drawn to flickers, warbles, pips and trills. The beach was littered with crab holes and little balls of crab poo (or the sand that the crabs had passed through their bodies). They were everywhere! I liked the hermit crabs the best. They seemed to sense our eyes on them and pop! they would spring into their shells which would then fall to the sand and lie there motionless until we had passed. Then they would burst into life again and trundle on their way. They came in all sorts of shapes and sizes. The smaller ones were the more braver of the hermits, they would keep walking longer, I liked them. The other crabs were the sideways sort. They ranged in colour from bright red to brown. They would teeter on the edge of their small but deep black holes as we approached and when they decided that we had come too close, they would nip as fast as lightning down the holes and vanish completely. Seeing great hordes of bright red crabs scuttling across the sand was a sight!

The crabs would scuttle in between the mass of driftwood on the beach. Large pieces of driftwood were scattered all along the stretch of the beach, left by the retreating sea, and they looked like the bleached and dried bones of colossal sea creatures. Both the beach and the sky were homes to the most extraordinary birds of shapes and sizes, and they were so exceptionally colourful. Their peeks and twardles filled the air from the sun's first peak over the horizon until it slipped beneath again and darkness fell. There were so many different tweeps and trills but my favourite was the bird that sounded like a human whistling four notes and whom always had a replying bird friend in the distance, the same four note whistle, relaying over and over, lulling me as I swung in the hammock. As we watched the birds dip and peak in the sky we also saw the most unbelievable and ever changing billows and wisps of clouds, types of which I have barely seen before. They lent character to the sky and often aided it to talk through the giant claps of belly rumbling thunder we heard everyday. They say that El Choco is one of the wettest places on earth. I would concur. We witnessed the most amazing storms there, thunder, lightning, sheet rain, the works! The drama of this place was probably the main thing that held our attention in the moment as each passed and made us forget our overall sense of time.

El Almejal was a lovely eco resort which looked after and conserved the turtles that would return to the same beach to nest and lay their eggs that they were born on almost twenty five years ago. They had a tortugario in which they buried the turtles eggs to protect them and ensure that they would hatch, and when they did they would place them onto the beach and watch as they waddled into the ocean as if they were born with the knowledge that that was what they needed to do. They looked after orchids, a stream that fed into the sea, which they harnessed into a natural swimming hole and as a result many dazzling butterflies and insects of all sizes came here and amazed us with their strangeness (and at the beginning completely freaked Samly out!).

A paragraph alone needs to be given over to the sheer taste sensation that we experienced at El Almejal. The cook there fed us like kings and every meal was an exciting event, anticipated from the moment we awoke. I ate vegetables in a way that I had never encountered before such as caramelised aubergine and the jugos (juices) were delectable! Made from a variety of local fruits and tasty beyond reason! Samly had many different types of fish, fried, steamed, made into soups and the plantain she cooked was unbelievable. I don't think I've eaten such tasty food for such a long time.


One of the main things we wanted to do on our adventure was to see whales. Cesar (the main guy) and the three biologisto/a s came with us on boat trips from the coast in search of the soplass (blow hole breaths) of whales. Three days it took us to find one in our boat as it was coming to the end of the season and the whales were migrating back to the Antarctic mostly with their calves and were timid if we even saw one. We were very third time lucky and we saw one early in the morning on our third attempt. This whale liked holding his breath so we followed him for about half an hour and saw him about four times. He was curious of us and came very close to our little speed boat, so curious that he actually performed a cola y selta (a tail jump) right next to us. We were stunned into a wordless stupor at the enormity of this creature and our proximity to him. Samly was Mister Whale Man as on our first day he spotted a few whales playing in the sea really near our beach. His canny and rushed purchase of binoculars just before we left Blighty was a gold rush! You could actually see them with your eyes also. We saw them jump completely out of the water and slap their flippers onto the top of the sea. One of the biologists also had a really powerful telescope so we got to see a lot.

During our unsuccessful whale missions we got to explore different areas along the coast. On our first day we walked barefooted through the jungle and up a lovely several level waterfall called Tio Tigre. High up we came to a large swimming hole and spent an hour exploring the little cavernous waterfalls and sliding down into the large pool to swim and laze around in the cool jungle.

The second day we visited Ensanda de Utria, a National Park in a bay in which the whales come to calve their young. Samly went snorkelling and saw bursts of colourful fish darting here and there.

On our way to the boat early on the third day we spotted a nesting turtle! We had gone walking in the night to try and find them lumbering up the beach to put down their eggs but had no success. This turtle was a large one, silver grey in colour and we had to kick our brains into realising that this was a real turtle and not an animatronic model! The biologists removed the eggs to re-nest them in the tortugario and we watched as she started to waddle and carve her way down the beach back into the sea, just as she had done about twenty five years ago as a little tortugarillio. The biologists explained (and from what we could understand in Spanish) was that there is something magnetic in their brains which makes them return to the same beach along with other studies into the moon's alignment and the season etc.

Swimming in the warm waters of the Pacific, alone together on an enormous stretch of beach with the jungle before us left our senses fizzing and our minds overwhelmed. Now we are back in the city, it almost feels like a dream that we were even there. But we know that we were, and just how lucky we were to be so.

So I come to the end of another entry and we have the taste of sea salt in our mouths so tomorrow we are taking the night bus to Cartagena on the caribbean coast and we will explore west and east from there. It's October now! We have been away for two weeks, I know I say this every time so far but two weeks?? It feels more like two months. I hope my words find you all well and happy and feeling a sunshiny autumnal breeze in the air. We're off to sticky days and cool Caribbean breezes in the evenings.

Sending you all my love as ever,

See you here again soon, it'd be lovely to read your comments and messages,

Clarence y Samly xxx