La libertad de la tortuga

In Colombia people celebrate Semana Santa (Holy Week). So we decided that we would spend the week traveling the Northern Caribbean coast. In the beginning, our group consisted of Manon, Lani and myself. Our goal was to reach Guajira. The northeastern region of the country facing both the Caribbean Sea and Venezuela. It is also a region of Colombia that is populated by many indigenous tribes -- the most well known being the Wayuu.

The first day we made it to the city of Riohacha, Colombia. It was a fairly smooth trip we rode in four different buses and only took two taxis. For a grand total of about 12 hours. Manon was thrilled to have a seat on the floor of the second bus after traveling on a broken bus that trucked along at a solid 20 km/hr. It was really a beautiful drive and the scenery kept us all entertained. We were able to arrive early enough to be able secure a ride to the northern parts of the Guajira peninsula the next day!

We were picked up by our trusty Colombian driver Andres in his pimped out four wheel, cafe colored trooper. It took me back to my good old days when my Uncle Ralph drove a red troop through the north woods of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. But to my disappointed Ralph was not behind the wheel ready to make his nephews and niece screech as powered through the muddy roads near the shores of Gitche Gumee!

Nope this adventure would be with Andres. For the first hour of the drive we learned quickly that the easiest way to refuel your vehicle was to pay someone to pour it into the gas tank. Not only were we traveling with Andres, but to make his efforts worth the money we had the company of two of the sweetest Colombian women that I have meet on my travels. The daughter had just been married a month before and was headed to the same place Cabo de la Vela as us with her jolly mother to escape married life for the weekend. As we flew along, Andres explained that we would be touring the salt fields of Colombia before arriving at our final destination.

Seeing how much salt was collected from the Caribbean Sea was quite amazing. The mounds of clean salt formed a small mountain range on the coast of the Colombian shore. The guard allowed us to tour the field as long as we promised not to climb the heaps of crystallized salt. I was constantly entertained by the gorgeous scenery of desert, sea and salt.

I will never do the trip justice by trying to describe where we drove. People were not joking when they said that it was nearly impossible to reach many areas of the Guajira Peninsula without a hired driver. Had I been behind the wheel I don't think the three of us would have ever returned. There were no paved roads after the first hour just hot, arid desert. Sometimes it was hard to differentiate between the sea and the shadows of the sun, but thankfully we had Andres. He seemed to love his job. He knew every road like the back of his palm and loved jamming to his Salsa tunes.

You really have no way of knowing where you are going because every path is unmarked. But Andres never ceased to amaze us with his sense of direction. Before long we were pulled over to a house located in the middle of nowhere. The view was spectacular. This was by far the best food that I have had since arriving in Colombia. The coconut rice was to die for and the fish was cooked to perfection.

Andres kept us moving along because he wanted us to reach the final destination. My two new Colombian friends that were traveling with us were in love with their camera and kept stopping the vehicle so that they could take photos of the beautiful scenery. I guess for the benefit of all of you I now have more photos thanks to them.

As we were zooming along the beach Andres said, "tortuga." Now turtles have always been one of my favorite creatures and I just about flew through the rough when he announced that there was a turtle swimming close to the shore. To my surprise he was not stopping like he had been every other time the two ladies saw a mosquito.

And now here we were about to rip past a huge sea turtle. I kept glancing out the window looking for an enormous turtle either at the edge of the sea or on the beach. All I saw was a young man dragging something through the water. I was about to turn to Lani, when I realized that someone had convinced Andres to stop the car. I was located in the very back seat stuck behind everyone else.

Without even realizing what I was doing I had strategically allowed myself to fall into the middle seat right between the two Colombian women. Lani and Manon were cracking up because they had never seen someone so excited about a turtle. I think the two women just thought I was a bit insane, but I was not going to miss this opportunity.

I still had not realized that my poor turtle had been captured. I was scanning the beach for my little turtle, when I suddenly saw the suffering turtle flailing through the water. I wanted to reach out to snip the rope with a huge gardening shears. If I had one I probably would have, but to my dismay I had to watch as the proud young man show off his prized turtle.

My heart dropped this turtle was going to be someone's dinner in less than 24 hours. Nothing I could do -- would save this ancient sea creature. I guess it is the circle of life, but I have never seen something with such grace and beauty completely helpless. Nothing I said was going to save the turtle!

As I sulked at the thought of how many relatives this guy was leaving behind I was able to snap some pictures. I was so tempted to tackle the young to the ground, but quickly realized that Tom Wilder would prefer not to have to rescue his daughter from a Colombian prison. So instead I obediently returned to Andres's vehicle. As I strapped myself in I listened to the Spanish conversation about how much money the lad would receive for his catch. This turtle was about to provide for his family. I tried not to feel too guilty about my lack of efforts to save the turtle.

The Guajira Peninsula is absoluletly gorgeous and thanks to my two new Colombian ladies below are many pictures for your enjoyment! Deep down inside I have convinced myself that the turtle managed to reach his freedom. Maybe the rope broke!

Peace and love,

Megan

La Tortuga

Arid Beach -- Northern Colombia

Top of the Mountain

Pelicans on one of the beaches!

Puedeets! I decided to do a little bouldering.

Lani wanted to kill me, but if you look closely

you will see that it is me on top of the cliff!