Lisa Marion Smith for Business InsiderIn January, my mother and I took a week-long journey through the area.
But this is not for those in need of creature comforts, our cousin warned us. Water is scarce. Poverty is endemic. Cell phone reception, spotty. Electricity and showers are not a given.We flew Avianca Airlines from Colombia's cosmopolitan capital into Riohacha, the largest city in La Guajira. A small coastal town, Riohacha has major bank branches, hotels and grocery stores, but none of Bogota's hipster sheen. First stop: Purchase drinking water.
Next stop: Palomino. A tiny beach town, Palomino is in the grips of a travel gold rush. Foreigners have been buying lots, starting restaurants and bars.Driving on the rutted dirt road through the woods along the San Diego river, we passed construction sites and heard the distant buzz of a chain saw. We followed a muddy trail to the river, where our guide helped us into our inner tubes. A hundred feet downstream, we bought beers from a man set up with a cooler under a thatched roof.
On our way out of town, Benancio stopped to purchase a bag of candy that he said was to pay the tolls throughout the desert. The tollbooths were local children holding string with colored fabric across the road. To lower the string, they demanded payment in full.... we headed to Cabo de la Vela, a favorite beach to watch the sunset.The next morning, it was on to another beach, Pilón de Azúcar, and a brief stop at the salt mines.
Nice