A memorable weekend away to Minca.
We planned a weekend away to Minca, about an hour from Santa Marta where the marina is, on the coast, a few weekends after we arrived in Colombia. Minca has an interesting history, one that I suspect is replicated across a lot of the Colombian countryside. At the beginning of the 19th century the Oligós Díaz Granados family began to develop the coffee plantations of Minca, recognized as one of the first coffee plantations in Colombia . Minca is around 650 meters above sea level and as we drove up there the landscape changed quite dramatically from the dry roads around Santa Marta, to lush tropical plants where rain clearly falls in the wet season. Of course, the history of the region in the 20th century is more eventful. In the 70’s and 80’s, the area was known for growing marijuana and later coca. For a long time, this region was dominated by FARC guerillas, with whom the government was only able to reach a ceasefire in 2016. Only after this ceasefire, tourism could develop and is now one of the strongest sources of income for the inhabitants of this region. 8 years into this journey of this region being opened up beyond local natives and guerillas, we feel we were privileged to experience Minca before it becomes super touristy (and maybe spoilt). The vast majority of people there were Colombians, not international tourists, happy that they were able to explore the beauty of their own country. We stayed in a pretty unique place for 4 nights, at Trekker Glamping. Our accommodation was a huge biome tent with an open air bathroom below the sleeping area. The bugs were also large and multiple at times! The windows were mesh, but the views were spectacular. The road up to the hotel from Minca itself was definitely 4WD only, but we were given a warm welcome as we checked in with a local juice and patacones.
On our first morning, waking up early, Bethan and I were thrilled to see a Keel Billed Toucan from our own balcony! There was a wide range of birds, impossible to photograph ( I discovered) as the dawn chorus broke.
The Keel Billed Toucan we saw every morning from our balcony.
We relaxed on our first day enjoying the jacuzzi with quite a view, and listening to the sounds of nature. We walked the steep 2 miles down into town for a late lunch, and explored Minca a little. The town itself was a mix of some really good local restaurants, cafes and some tourist shops selling local crafts. There was a wide range of hostels in the area, from a 10 bed dorm-style hostel to a treehouse, or private villas. Minca is a jumping point to Tayrona National Park which has extensive hiking throughout to the Lost city, so there were people headed through town in various states of exhaustion on their way back as well!
We found some amazing BBQ at Barril y Cerveza (literally the BBQ cooked in a huge metal bucket), with ribs, chicharron (crispy pork belly) chorizo and chicken. Again the murals on walls around town and in some of the restaurants were beautiful. We bought some local handbags in the Colombian style we have seen in Santa Marta, but from the lady who was actually making them this time! Oscar had a much needed haircut from a guy in town. It’s amazing how gesturing to the side of his head saying ‘uno’ and the top of his head saying ‘dos’ worked pretty well, for $6!
The following morning we had a 6am start and were picked up by a local 4WD driver and our birdwatching guide, Otto. He runs the NuWa Bird Life agency in town and was recommended by a fellow cruiser. He is native to the Sierra mountains, and his family was from the Kogui de la Sierra community. He was only in his early 20’s but his knowledge of the birds in the area was just astonishing. We walked about 4 miles around Minca, through the backstreets, lanes and out into the forest by the river, and his ability to spot birds and give us details about what they were and mimic their birdsong was pretty amazing. He had a high powered camera that he took pictures of the birds with, we also had binoculars and a guide book, and saw well over 20 species of birds within a few hours. On one beautiful pink-flowered bush we saw 6 different species of hummingbird alone! We were lucky enough to see another large Keel-Billed Toucan, and then a different Toucan as well, called a Collared Acacari Toucan (full transparency = not my photo above!). Who even knew there were over 20 species of toucan around Colombia! It was a great way to spend a few early hours, especially with someone so passionate and knowledgable about birds and the area around Minca.
We relaxed and play for the rest of our visit to Minca, exploring more of the town and surroundings, doing some work and enjoying the generous happy hour (3 mojitos for $3! ) before we headed back to Santa Marta and the boat after our 4 nights away, feeling pretty privileged to have found Minca before it got overwhelmed by tourists, and more importantly before rainy season hits in a few weeks as that might change the view up here a lot!
Our very cool drone footage of our accommodation in Minca.
Hummingbird View from Lunch in Minca
Bouncy journey from the hotel!
