One of those times the journey was SO MUCH better than the destination.

We heard about a nice spot up in the mountains above Santa Marta and decided to head up there to check it out (and enjoy a respite from the heat). There was a hostel high in the mountains set above the touristy town of Minca which rumor had it could only be reached by motorcycle or 4x4. We passed Minca, and continued up a road that got worse and worse the higher we climbed. I suppose it didn’t help that this was the first day of sun after 5 days of torrential rain.


There were a few places where evidence of the recent rains made navigating the road a little more interesting. Fortunately, nearly everything had dried out for us.



There were no signs for the hostel or anything, for that matter, and there was no one around to ask. We contemplated turning around but decided to see where this interesting road led and eventually we arrived at the gringo-run Casa Elemento.

There are a few positive attributes of the place:

1. The view, especially from their huge hammock, was spectacular.




Music stylings by Elvis himself.


There was another hammock in the jungle which was a much more relaxing place to hang out.

2. The chef was excellent and meals were affordable.
3. When terribly loud music didn’t drown out everything else, the sounds of the jungle below, including the wide array of bird songs, were majestic.

Furthermore, it was poorly run, loud and the grounds were riddled with debris. For someone as passionate about hospitality as Roel is, it took every ounce of self-control he had not to make a scene. Especially when 1 of the 4 young Brits in the tent next to ours woke us up by vomiting a few feet away from our heads. Lovely. 


Photo framed to cut out the pile of vomit courtesy of our fellow camper. 

We really are too old for this shi+.

Early the next morning we said goodbye to the Dutch friend we’d made who would be bringing a part back to Holland for Roel and took off down the mountain. Tommy had also decided to leave and rented a mountain bike so he could enjoy the ride down with us. I can only imagine how excited he must have been for his bike to arrive in Chile.


Racing Tommy




So much traffic!!!