For New Year, my partner and I, together with Rafael, a native Wayuu guide, loaded up a landcruiser with water and petrol and drove to Colombia’s remotest corner. Travelling through La Guajira desert, we reached the most northern part of South America where the sand dunes meet the sea.
It didn’t get off to a great start when a wheel fell off only 30 minutes into the desert. Fortunately several people stopped to help and we were quickly on our way. Note to self: Always check the wheel nuts are tightened.
The desert is spectacular. We passed the immense coal reserves in El Carrejon and drove a good chunk of the 1,100km from Bogota. The landscape changes drastically every 300 meters, from deep mud to arid greens and red hues to rocky lands. It is salty, windy and the moon felt closer than I had ever experienced. It is truly a place cut off from the rest of the world and you can expect the pilgrimage to get shaky.
We encountered young bandits, kids who block the road to the 10 odd cars that pass per week, demanding some treats in exchange to let you through. You can choose not to fulfil their demands but expect some toing and froing. The desert is shared with Venezuela and it is a smugglers’ open spot. The wayuu indigenous community have been granted the land by the Colombian government. They can use it and settle in as they wish and the wayuus obey their own laws. Conflicts between them are resolved paying in goats with a designated intermediary called Palabrero, who has the same status as a lawyer. Rafael told me a good wedding settlement between the groom and the bride’s uncles is 70 to 100 goats. If it includes a cow is a very good settlement. If there is a car accident or even a murder, it is also paid in goats and even if there is payment, unless they shake hands in the end, there is no good resolution.
We were served goat and dried fish in unlikely eateries. We looked at the stars, slept in hammocks and saw all manner of wildlife. We saw goats roaming freely, the rosiest flamingos and even a crocodile. But mostly goats. This is raw nature. Midnight is blue and mellow and the dry soil at the golden hour looks on fire. A world unplugged from the world I know of daily news, media, timetables, comforts and anything resembling contemporary living. Untouched, unembellished and authentically beautiful.
All images © Marina Ribera Iñigo
