A morning spent chasing flamingos

When you’ve been travelling through Latin America for long, you come to expect very little, actually, no, you come to expect nothing from the public transport. We’ve been on the road for over 4 months now, so no wonder we were utterly surprised when our journey to Boca de Camarones from Tayrona was a breeze.

We got on the 8am local bus pretty much as soon as we arrived at the bus stop — which was a first! We sat our bottoms down at the back of the (empty) bus, like true travellers, occupying the entire row of seats along with our backpacks. The drive from Tayrona to Palomino was beautiful, a road (Troncal del Caribe) carved through the forest providing lush green vistas on both sides of the road, and as you get closer to Palomino (a little beachside town — popular amongst backpackers) the greenery gives way to the beautiful coastline. Listening (on my headphones) to Shaggy busting out some sweet reggae tunes (yes, I am a fan of Shaggy!) — I thought to myself, life is good.

We got dropped off at a bus stop in Palomino and looked for a “collectivo” (it’s a small van that accommodates several passengers), but were pleasantly surprised to find a regular car taxi, considered as a collectivo in this part of Colombia. After the regular price negotiating exercise which Jason has come to enjoy, we got into the taxi with two other passengers. The drive was straightforward and smooth.

Read the full Blog at confusionofcultures.com.