Palomino
Palomino has a population of around 6000. This is notable because around 60 wedding guests had continued their trips to the beach town to celebrate Anna's 40th birthday, meaning that for the time we were there, we made up around 1% of Palomino. My hostel (more like a luxury hotel with dorms, chosen by the birthday girl) was beautiful. The pool was surrounded by various majestic trees, but not perfectly tames ones as in Pereira. Wild trees with fascinating shapes and contours. Over the next few days I spent lot of time floating in the pool and just looking up at the curving patterns nature had created.
A group of us walked to the nearby beach, which was thoroughly unimpressive. After bars and restaurants had been built right up to the sand, erosion had beaten them down, leaving little beach space and a mess of concrete foundations. Luckily someone had some local knowledge, and we walked for around an hour along much prettier sandy beaches until we found the promised paradise. At the point where a local river meets the sea was a typical Caribbean view of sand, palm trees and beautiful birds circling. A partly fallen palm tree made for a good climbing challenge. We were accompanied by a stray dog who I named Shiva, who walked the whole way there and back with us.
Palomino was a week of parrots with vivid colours, tubing down a river, parties until 3am, hangout out in the hostel next door, a boat trip to the beaches of Tayrona national park, a delicious birthday meal and a huge lightning storm at night, which Anna and I watched flashing over the waves of the Caribbean sea, and which took out all electricity and phone signal for the next couple of days.
And with that, the wedding section of the trip was over. I'd really enjoyed being in slightly more luxurious places with a consistent group of people, but I was also itching to get back to my traveller life for one last week before I had to head back home. I met Marina, another solo traveller in my dorm on my last day in Palomino, and after a quick stop in Costeño beach for a sunset, a sunrise and a last taste of sand and warmth, we headed to San Gil.