Justin got up just before 06:00 and got dressed in the dark, so as to not wake up Crystal, but sadly she woke up anyway.  She wasn’t feeling close to 100%, so it was good she was planning a “beach day” anyway.  Her beach day didn’t end up including the beach itself, as she spent the morning reading and playing games on her phone.  She also showered and did a bit of laundry.  There was an iguana just outside the room for a bit that she checked out.  Basically, she just rested.

Justin did the opposite.  He went on a round trip up and back the coastline.  He went out on the same path as the afternoon before.  He saw more of the agoutis, but again the light was low and they wouldn’t stay still for any photos.  There were also monkeys in the trees, and howler monkeys in the distance.  [He didn’t realize the monkeys he was seeing were howler monkeys themselves, until he looked up the wildlife of Tayrona later tonight.]  Additionally there was some type of crab everywhere (probably a blue land crab), blue lizards like in the Rosario islands (likely a  Gaige’s Rainbow Lizard), and red-tailed squirrels.

For the first hour of his walk, Justin didn’t see anyone else.  At the area where Arrecife Beach should have been, the path to the beach wasn’t obvious, so he decided to try again on the way back from Cabo San Juan, where he planned to turn around.  Playa Arenilla (which may be the same as La Piscina, he isn't sure) looked pretty nice, and Justin took note of places that had Visa signs so that he could get some food and/or water on the way back.  The next beach was Playa La Piscina (it and Playa Arenilla might be the same beach, or two beaches separated by some rocks), and eventually the two beaches at Cabo San Juan.

By this time it was almost 09:00, and a decent amount of people were out and about.  There were dozens and dozens of tents set up by Cabo San Juan, so presumably the people he saw had stayed overnight in the area, as only 1 or 2 people had walked past him on the way from Ecohabs, which is the only path coming in from the east.  He went into the hut on the hill that is famous there, looked around for a bit, and then headed out.  On the walk back, Justin got some water around Playa La Piscina.  He tried his luck again for Playa Arrecife, and made it, then walked back northwest, seemingly backtracking the path he’d taken on the inland route.  At the end there was a nice cape with some feeding seagulls, where Playa Arrecife came up right next to…Playa Arenilla.  He had backtracked and made a big circle.

This was frustrating, but the views had been good, and he needed the exercise anyway, as a good chunk of the last week had been in vehicles or very small urban areas.  Rather than go back down Playa Arrecife, he just used the inland pathway yet again.  By this time (around 10:00) there was a steady stream of people going the other direction, towards Cabo San Juan.  There were also a decent number of horses, which are used to bring in supplies towards Cabo San Juan and the other places with lodging and/or food.

Cabo San Juan has two beaches with swimming, which is not common on most of the other beaches because of dangerous surf.  But unless you are swimming, it doesn’t make much sense (at least to Justin) to go there, as Playa Arrecife had literally no one on it, whereas Cabo San Juan was going to be packed.  About 3/4 of the way back, Justin saw a break in some of the fencing (one that wouldn’t have really been obvious going the other direction), and wondered if this was the route to the beach next to the Ecohabs.  We’d seen people on that beach, quite a few actually, so there had to be something.

Sure enough, there was a path, and a pretty well worn one at that.  In just over 5 minutes Justin was at that beach, and in another 3-5 he was back at La Piscinita, the beach in front of our hotel.  That 8-10 minutes along the coast was in contrast to 30-40 minutes through mosquito-infested crowded boardwalks through the forest.  To be fair, the path, while well-used, probably wasn’t for everyone, but it was perfectly fine for Justin.  He got back around 11:30, and texted Crystal once in a common area with wi-fi.  She was in the room, so he went back there.

It was his turn to take a shower, and then we went to lunch right at noon.  Lunch was fine, but both of our drinks came with grenadine, including Crystal’s margarita.  We wondered if the bartender was new, or just assumed Americans wanted a side of diabetes in everything they ordered.  [Justin’s Mai Tai in Cartagena that was awful was full of grenadine as well.]  After lunch Crystal went back to the room and took a nap.  Justin hung out at La Piscinita for a bit, then went back to the room and took a nap of his own.  When he got up, Crystal was on the phone with Luca (her Hungarian immigration attorney), who wanted to get some concrete dates/places for Crystal to do her Hungarian interview.  With Crystal’s travel schedule, this wasn’t as easy as one would expect.

Justin headed out again, a little before 16:00.  Crystal stayed in the room and did more reading and games on the phone.  Justin stayed much closer to the hotel this time, going only to Playa Cañaveral, just east of the hotel.  He walked up and down the beach, seeing maybe a handful of people total.  There were interesting rock formations at both ends of the beach, and lots of driftwood in between.  There were also lots of birds, including large groups of pelicans going up and down the beach.  They did get spooked by some sort of raptor (maybe a black hawk?), but it already had a crab in its clutches that it was snacking on.

At the rock formation separating Cañaveral from La Piscinita, Justin climbed up a bit until he had great views out towards Cabo San Juan to the west and to the other end of Cañaveral to the east.  The granite rocks were interesting in and of themselves, somewhat like the rock formations in Seychelles.  There was one enormous rock that was split into 4 nearly identical quadrants, like a giant had cut through it with a pizza cutter.  On a clearer day, a sunset from this spot would’ve been epic.

He got back a little before 18:00, and went through photos whilst we both sat by the window looking out towards the sunset.  Both days it was quite cloudy in the afternoon, and we wondered whether the presence of the huge mountain nearby (5700 meters high) created a weather system similar to what we have in Tenerife, where the mornings are generally clear, but by afternoon there’s been enough evaporation from the plants on the mountainside to create their own clouds.

We went to dinner around 18:30, and each got Cuba Libres and spaghetti bolognesa.  Again, they were fine, but only fine.  We realized that we probably take our food and drink in Tenerife for granted, more in terms of quality than price (which we know is excellent).  The Brits/Irish were there again, and it got noticeably quiet when they got their food and were eating instead of talking.  We were back at the room before 21:00, and Crystal laid down to read (and then go to sleep) and Justin wrote up what he’d done that day before it all became a blur.  He laid down around 22:00 to get some sleep before yet another early morning.