Once in Ríohacha we look at a few tours to take us north into the peninsula….ending up with Kaí Ecotravel (recommended driver: Andrés Ochoa, (“Pollo”), carolina 020921@gmail.com.
Map of La Guajira peninsula showing our key stops on 3 day/2 night tour.
The travel team:
Barry, Kerry, Emre and Adriana.
Once we get to the dusty town of Uribia, commercial and cultural centre of the Wayuu, we load up on water and small bags of rice. The driver – bags of chips and candies.
Many, many stops like the one above with young and old Wayuu ‘manning’ the posts.
We had quite a few conversations amongst ourselves and with other travellers about the appropriateness of handing out such goodies to the local indigenous population. The practice encourages a dependence on handouts; children are sent out to oversee some of the crossing points rather than attending school. On the other hand people are indeed very needy. While the government formally disallows this practice the drivers are caught in between. It all boils down to an economic problem that remains unresolved and, as the area gains in tourism, will not go away on its own.
Desert lands and salt mines (at impro) as we head north to Cabo de la Vela.
After the mostly off-road trip in our 4 wheel drive up to Cabo, we head à bit further along the coast to Pilón de Azúcar (Sugar Beach) for afternoon beach time.
Lovely spot to cool our heels.
Impromptu yoga on the beach at sunset.
Night falls in Cabo as kite surfers enjoy their last sails of the day.
Cabo de Véla, main street; and patio of our rooms, with ‘en suite’ of course.
Contrasts in Cabo de la Vela. Women make lovely basket purses, very labour-intensive.
To be continued.
Kerry Travels 