twofunkyhearts

If you’ve wondered where I dropped off the edge of the world to, it was the base of the Sierra Nevada mountains, close to the coastal city of Santa Marta. I posted about running in this area on my first trip a few months ago, but have since found it to be an even more incredible place than on first pass.

My return to this area was beyond serendipitous: meeting Julie in Ecuador and finding out that we have common familia from Finca Palmita was the first coincidence. Secondly, she mentioned that her cousin Ryan has a little finca outside of Minca, and third, our common familia were meeting there together after yoga training wrapped up in Ecuador. I returned and spent a few days with the crew, new and old, enjoying the view perched on the ridge of the mountain, looking in one direction at the city lights of Santa Marta, and in the other direction into the depths of the jungle.

The trip up to Ryan’s place is a lovely adventure. For 20,000 pesos you hop on the back of an old motorcycle and do your best to keep your feet under your shoulders. I stayed for about a week, exploring the base of the mountains and helping with a few jobs around the finca. When my friend Binendra came to town we returned and wasted away a few nice days exploring the hills, painting walls, repairing water pipes and enjoying  some pretty amazing meals by a self-proclaimed raw vegan chef (the papaya-coconut-banana icecream was amazing. Definitely not to be missed if you venture into the jungle).

Inconveniently the water cut out for 4 of the 5 days we stayed at Ryan’s. After 3 days of sleeping in a hammock, baking under the sun, splattering myself in paint (which I’m pretty sure was lead based), and jungle dust made for a euphoric shower when we returned to Minca. In reality, it was a hose sticking out of the wall spewing cold water in an icy trickle, but to me it was pure heaven.

I’m now heading back to Satander, home of Chicamocha Canyon and the Finca Palmita folks. More on that soon!

PS, Thanks to Binendra for the photos! My camera was stolen (again) in Palomino a few weeks ago.