We woke up without our alarm, around 06:30.  Despite going to sleep early and not having (that early of) an alarm, Crystal still couldn’t get a good night’s sleep.  We got ready, had a quick breakfast, and met David at 07:30.  While waiting for El Tigre, we chatted about coffee, and he was surprised we knew so much about its production.  [We certainly didn’t think we knew more than the average bear.]  El Tigre showed up at 07:50, and we headed out towards Minca.  The town is in the foothills of the mountains, almost 600 meters above sea level.

We had to stop in Minca because the engine overheated.  There was a 4x4 rental place right there, so David got us a ride to the coffee plantation, and El Tigre stayed with the vehicle.  It wasn’t that long a drive to La Victoria, maybe 15 more minutes uphill in the middle of a green forest.  Elkie (sp?) gave us a tour of La Victoria.  The plantation was started by some Brits in 1892, and is now owned by some German-Colombians.  Elkie explained the process from picking to sorting to washing to drying to roasting.  It was pretty easy for us to follow, and everything was very well explained.  We found it interesting how gravity accounted for such a big part of the process.  The fuel used for the roasting process was used oil and discarded bean husks.

At the end of the explanation he asked us if we wanted to see a nesting toucan, and of course we said yes.  It was up a good amount in a tree, but not that difficult to see.  It was definitely different from the kind we saw in Caño Cristales, as the beak was noticeably different (colorful instead of black), and the throat was yellow instead of white.  We were told this was a keel-billed toucan.  After we finished the tour, we walked back to the main road with David, and also a small dog that was trying to bite car tires.  We saw the toucan again, for a second in a hole in the tree (its nest) and then on a nearby branch.

At the main road we got in our third vehicle for the morning, with what we thought was a new driver and car from David’s company.  This was fine except our bottled water was in the second vehicle.  [We at least had our own metal water bottle, which was full.]  We drove back through the forest to Minca and parked.  Then we walked uphill (pretty much due south) with a small bag containing the water bottle and Crystal’s purse.  David pointed out a lot of birds along the way, including a bicolored wren, a social flycatcher, and a black-chested jay.

About 2/3 of the way up a vehicle coming down the hill stopped and rolled down the window; it was the second driver from this morning, and he gave us our water bottles.  This was very fortuitous as we were thirsty and had been rationing the water in the metal water bottle.  We saw a tree with several very long nests hanging from branches - David explained that they belong to yellow-crested oropendolas.  Eventually we arrived at the Cascadas de Marinka, two waterfalls in the middle of the jungle, a lower fall and an upper fall.  There were quite a few tourists around, as this hike is fairly popular.  The waterfalls were nice, but we didn’t go in the water, and as nice as they were, we’re not positive they were worth the hour-long hike in the heat and humidity.  Maybe if we’d gone in, we would’ve felt differently.  

We didn’t stay too long (we would’ve just been eaten by the mosquitoes, so what’s the point), and started walking back downhill.  We saw one of the local cats sleeping on a bench, and then noticed that the bench was constructed out of plastic water bottle caps.  People need to really stop using those, and just use metal water bottles that can be used over and over.  On the walk back we chatted most of the way with David about a range of topics, including plans for the future, how to train for climbing Mt Kilimanjaro, his dream of being a psychologist, and more.  On the hike back there were a bunch of really loud, and really large, cicadas.  It was the loudest we could remember.   

We got back to the car around 13:45 (it never did rain on us), and we headed by car back downhill to Santa Marta and then east to Tayrona.  We stopped for a bit at the Zaino entrance to the National Park, and David went into the office to submit some paperwork.  We got two more wristbands, bringing our total for the day to 4.  Crystal’s pink band was a bit tight, and she wasn’t thrilled about wearing it for the next 48 hours.  We hadn’t been able to find our hotel on Google Maps, so it was a bit of a surprise to see where we were going to end up.  We kept driving past hotels, and eventually ended up right near the water where the road ended, at the Tayrona Ecohabs.  [After the fact, we determined that Google Maps seems to use the name Ecohabs Tequendama Parque Tayrona.]

Check-in left a lot to be desired; the staff made Germans and Austrians seem personable.  We were told (not asked) to sit down, but given no explanation of why or for how long.  We were waiting for 25 minutes after we gave them our passports before we were taken to our room, and/or told anything.  Meanwhile some woman got bit by something (maybe a fire ant?) and was in quite a bit of pain, so we weren’t thrilled just sitting there waiting.  Fortunately there were some monkeys doing monkey stuff just outside the waiting area, so Justin watched a bit of that.  One of the monkeys (probably red howler monkeys) had a baby with it.  Also, multiple other couples were waiting by the check-in desk, so we weren’t alone.  It didn’t help that multiple employees seemed to just be standing around - they seemingly could’ve pitched in, told us something, or pretty much done anything other than just pretend we were invisible.

We finally got called to go to our room, which was up maybe 100 steps and a couple hundred meters away from the front desk, so we were pouring with sweat by the time we got inside.  Crystal was grumpy because she was hot, so she stayed in the room to cool down.  Justin went out for a walk - as it was almost sunset and we had only 2 nights here - but he was soon grumpy himself.  He wanted to visit the beach next to ours, which we could easily see from our room, but there wasn’t an obvious way to get there because of rocks separating the two beaches.  He asked the front desk about it, and they showed him a map.  He asked for a map, and they said there wasn’t a physical map, to download from a QR code.  He was a bit peeved, because during the 25 minutes we were waiting at check-in - and while the employees at the front desk were just sitting around - nobody told us about this map, or even the wi-fi that would be necessary to download it.  The explanation for how to get to the “next” beach seemed pretty odd, as it involved a long circuitous route.

He started on it, going back up the vehicle road until the horse area, then along some boardwalks through the rainforest, which seemed to be parallel to the shoreline but inland quite a bit.  There were some critters, much bigger than a rat but much smaller than a capybara, not far from the boardwalk, but not stationary enough for any photos in the low light.  [They almost certainly were agoutis.]  Justin walked and walked and walked, much further than seemed appropriate.  Eventually he came to a lookout, the Cañaveral lookout, where he saw the beach he wanted to go to - from the other side.

This was a wild goose chase, and seemingly purposefully so.  There was no way this was the path to the beach next to ours - either that beach was inaccessible (fine, but just say so) or there was an easier path.  To Justin, no one would seemingly be that incompetent, so it seemed purposeful to him.  He was pouring sweat, and it was past sunset when he got back.  Now he was grumpy/angry, but thankfully Crystal was doing better, so he could vent.  [We’re generally pretty good about making sure both of us aren’t in an awful mood at the same time.]  We went to dinner at 19:00.  On the walk Justin saw what he thought was a dog, but when it turned around the tail was extra fluffy, and he thought it must’ve been a fox.  At dinner he checked the web, and sure enough, foxes (zorros) can be found in Tayrona, albeit not frequently.  So now he’s seen two foxes that Crystal hasn’t seen (one in Canada and the one tonight), but she’s seen a puma that he hasn’t seen (in Torres del Paine).

Dinner wasn’t great for improving our mood either, as a table of 6 from either Britain or Ireland (sorry, we aren’t great with accents, especially from Britain and Ireland) was talking so loud that the entire restaurant could hear only them.  Did they realize any of this - of course not.  Crystal ordered a chicken caesar salad, and Justin got a filet mignon with rice and potatoes.  Everything was fine, but just fine.  Eventually the loud table left, and we almost cheered.  We were quite tired, so we left as soon as we were done with our food and drink.  It was still really hot in the room, so we laid down on top of the sheets.  Our room faced out towards the west, with great views, but it was just over a ridge, which while great for privacy, meant the winds from the east were mostly blocked.  Thankfully there was an insect net, so laying on top of the sheets wasn’t a death sentence, like in Villavieja.  There was a gecko (or something like a gecko) in our room, which was also welcome for any critters that might be flying around.  Eventually we got comfortable enough to get to sleep.