A special encounter in Cabo de la Vela

During our trip along Colombia’s northern coast, we traveled -through the “desert”- to the village of Cabo de la Vela.

Through the desert to the “middle of nowhere”

As we slowly wake up, a little boy around 8 years old with an intellectual disability comes scurrying toward us. He sits down a few chairs away from us but slowly seeks rapprochement by occasionally moving up a chair.

That Colombia has much to offer is not unknown to many. However, what we did not expect was that Colombia also has a desert area, namely La Guajira. Before our trip we never thought we would make this trip, but as always everything turns out differently than planned in advance 😉 Bumping jeep So we left Santa Marta for a few days to the northernmost part of Colombia. From Santa Marta we took a bus to Cuatro Vías (about COP25,000), and then changed to a bus to Uribia (COP8000). The last leg to Cabo de la Vela we bumped along dirt roads in a jeep (with very hard seats) to our final destination (COP15,000). Cabo de la Vela Cabo de la Vela is on the coast and is such a small village with so few huts and restaurants that you can walk through it in half an hour. Many people come to Cabo de la Vela as a stopover to Punta Gallinas in the desert area. We, however, don’t. Back in Time You go back in time for a while in Cabo de la Vela. There is not much to do and experience in this small village with three streets, yet it made a big impression on us.  

Minimalist bars
After the long trek, we decided to treat ourselves to a drink at one of the minimalist bars in the village. Soon we got talking to the owner of the bar. If we wanted to teach him some English, he would brush up on our Spanish this evening. As everywhere in Colombia, everyone is incredibly friendly and helpful, but in a village where there is fairly little to do and you rely more on each other, it creates more of a bond.

Dance?
After the necessary drinks, he asked if we wanted to join him at a pub to do another dance. We, not averse to a dance, were very curious where we would end up, because “where could there be a pub here?” A hundred meters away was then THE pub: a container with some disco lights and a CD player with no one on the dance floor. So, who wants to dance?

Special meeting
That we had drunk a little too deeply and had not danced all the alcohol out of our glasses became apparent the following day when we woke up with a slight headache. As we slowly woke up, a little boy of around 8 years old with a mental disability came scurrying over to us. He sits down a few chairs away from us, but slowly seeks rapprochement by occasionally moving up a chair. He starts pointing to my camera that was on the table. I beckon him to come look.

Beaming smile
A beaming smile from ear to ear appears on his face. I took pictures of him which I then showed him, he started blushing and giggling. I give my camera to him and show him how to take pictures of us. He didn’t know where to look for it with joy. For an hour we took pictures with and of each other, showed them to each other and communicated with gestures and smiles.

These are the encounters that make travel so insanely special! How a simple village turned into a trip with special memories for us……

By Mellin

Travel date December 2017
Updated June 2024

Would you like to go on an organized tour to Cabo de la Vela (and Punta Gallinas), check out the options here. Look here if you want to know more about la Guajira.