Story Index:

Ao final
07/13/2014

Son in the sky
07/12/2014

Recife
06/27/2014

Impressions of Brazil
06/25/2014

Vida Dura
06/23/2014

Hawaii Fishing News - May 2013
05/01/2013

Un lugar para mi
09/09/2011

Crossed the border
08/18/2011

Quiero mas tiempo!
07/31/2011

Perched above Medellin
07/23/2011

Yay for a shower!
07/19/2011

New coast for me!
07/15/2011

The ocean calls
07/09/2011

Thick rain, freight train
06/26/2011

Tierra Dura
06/26/2011

Time to dry
06/24/2011

The next quarter century - on we go!
06/18/2011

Rolling with it
06/09/2011

Viviendo la vida
04/27/2011

You live and you learn: Adventures in Bureaucracy
04/12/2011

Snippets of Life - Part 4: La vida hermosa
04/08/2011

Snippets of Life: Part 3 - Las flores y los pájaros de Mindo
04/07/2011

Snippets of Life: Part 2 - An afternoon in Colonial Quito
03/30/2011

Snippets of Life: Part 1 - Fútbol en Argentina
03/27/2011

La diferencia principal entre Ecuador y Thailand
02/12/2011

Mi misíon por cada día
02/05/2011

Me gusta mi linea de trabajo!
01/28/2011

Mi primer fin de semana en Ecuador
01/18/2011

First off, let's catch up: Where's Whitney?
01/13/2011

Day BA
02/24/2009

What a year! 2008 in Review...
12/29/2008

Southeast Asia Superlatives (and not-so-Superlatives)
12/12/2008

One week in Cambodia
12/03/2008

Waterfalls, cliffs, and caves of beautiful Laos
11/09/2008

Beautiful, happy northern Thailand
10/31/2008

One amazing month on Koh Tao
10/24/2008

Daily mission on the islands: Enjoy life!
09/14/2008

Bangkok, Thailand
09/13/2008

Last week in France
09/05/2008

August 08 in Europe
08/24/2008

Failed Cape Melville
07/13/2008

Day trip to Bowen
06/25/2008

Part 3: Volleyball playoffs
06/15/2008

Part 2: Ultimate camping
06/15/2008

Part 1 of... many: FOLK FESTIVAL!
06/15/2008

My weekend of great vistas
06/02/2008

A glorious weekend on Magnetic Island
05/27/2008

Ugh. I'm exhausted.
05/02/2008

New Zealand... ROCKS!!!
04/30/2008

It's been awhile...
04/23/2008

Sushi night at the house
04/07/2008

Thanks for all the letters and mail!
04/01/2008

I finally got to dive the Great Barrier Reef!
03/31/2008

Blues Fest - Byron Bay
03/26/2008

The little things I realize I miss
03/18/2008

Bouldering trip
03/17/2008

Beach volleyball!
03/14/2008

I'M GOING TO THE BLUES FEST!!
03/11/2008

So many new animals!
03/08/2008

time for school
03/06/2008

Whitney saw a wallaby!!
03/02/2008

Pictures for my stories
03/02/2008

Just some observations
02/28/2008

Mailing address
02/27/2008

Rain in the tropics
02/25/2008

Townsville!
02/25/2008

We're finally in Australia!
02/23/2008

The Last Supper
02/16/2008
New coast for me!

Just spent a few days chilling in a hammock on the Carribean sea in a national park (Tayrona, if you wanna look it up, Dad) that has green green green forest jutting right up to the blue waters. Pretty sweet, although there were a lot of people, so it wasn't quite as tranquil and kickbutt as it could be. But i ain't complainin.


Tayrona National Park - this is the view from where I slept

My body has spent the past 5 days or so fighting some kind of head cold that I think is just a lashing at me for how I've been putting this body of mine to the test - irregular sleep schedules, about 1/3 of my nights spent on buses instead of in beds, bla bla bla. But I keep telling it, "We're still young! Deal with it!"

I think I would've kicked it by now, except that my days in the national park (which should've been the key recovery days) were characterized by yet more "deal with it" actions against my body: accommodation was much more expensive than I expected, and I only had a certain amount of money with me, so food expenses got cut. The restaurant was also super-expensive, so I have been averaging about 1 meal per day for the past 4 or 5 days. It's been fine, since I haven't had much appetite due to my cold anyway, but I definitely felt like the last day or so was kind of a hazy delusional fog of no fuel in the system.

When I tried to leave the park this morning, I tried for a different path than how I came in - a 4 hour hike through lush green forest, past some old ruins from a civilization that lived there from the years 450-1600 or so. It was a VERY sweaty 4 hours - 2 hours up up up up, with no breeze, and then 2 hours down down down... I hadn't gotten breakfast, as I figured I could just hold out for a meal back in town. You can imagine my disappointment when at 1:30pm, soaked and deliriously under-powered, I emerged out onto the same exact beach I'd left 4 hours earlier. What??? I have no idea what happened. Who puts a loop into an exit trail?? Anyway, I threw down for a delightfully refreshing fresh-squeezed orange juice, and then powered my way out the original way (only 1.5 hours at my determined pace).

Tomorrow, I think I'll head northeast along the coast toward Punta Gallinas, which is the tip of the continent. I hear there are great beaches, and it's quite a trek out there, so it doesn't get the volume of tourists that this area does. Also cool about this place... on one side is gorgeous ocean, on the other side: DESERT! Ha. And giant sand dunes. Anyway, we'll see if I can get out there. I'll give it my best.


Posted by Whitney 07/15/2011, revised 08/15/2011 by Whitney
FreeStyle Journal 19.03.21
©2003-2011 by Dan Goodell

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