EN LA SELVA (in the Jungle)

Watercolor pencil, watercolor and Blue ink on 300lb paper

This is a view from our kitchen at our AirBnB….which is an open understory, with the screened bedroom above. The compound we are in is a beautifully currated junglescape, and I couldn’t concieve of greater lushness. The plant and insect energy is over the top. The birds, the sounds, the heavy fruits crashing down.

To go from urban Mexico City and tourist-centered Cartragena to the middle of the jungle is quite a shock. Suddenly nature is the main show and we are in it. You find yourself in the middle of a constant thrumming drone of lfe; day and night. Cradled by the biome.

Guachaca y Parque Tayrona

It takes awhile to adjust to a new place: The temperature, the bedding, finding ones way about, Figuring out the food, the new town. . Guachaca. is the name of the nearby town. It was weird to walk through and have no one try to sell us anything. Fruiterias, Panerias and every other shop seemed to be a Motorcycle Repair shop. No restaurants were noticeably open. So we went to a tiny supermercado and bought stuff to cook for dinner. Arepas are the Colombian version of Tortillas. They are thicker and quite a hearty meal when paired with melted cheese and cooked vegetables or chicken, or whatever.

We got a guide named Daniel to take us to the hidden waterfall further up in the mountains of Tayrona Park. It was a steep 3 kilometer hike in the hot sun (when not under jungle cover) and Daniel told us in broken english about the history of Colombia, Tayrona Park and the Indigenous people that still live here. They divide into three language groups and are distributed according to elevation (high, mid and low) Although the low is still up in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range. You pay entry to get into the park and supposedly the money goes to support the indigenous populations that live there.

We heard howler monkeys, which he said was a rarity (maybe he says that to all the tourists).

The Waterfall area was movie shot amazing. And felt sooooo good to swim in after the hot walk. If we didn’t have the guide with us, I probably would have hung out another couple hours…..although, the sun does disappear pretty quickly after 6:30pm.

That one photo of the river bed is actually just one of 20 glroious jungle shots! Click on the link to see.

And here is a video link of our kitchen mascot! (one of several)