La Guajira Peninsula - Stark and Harsh Environment

La Guajira is actually a department in Colombia. It is in the far northeast corner of the country and is inhabited primarily by the Wayuu indigenous group. The peninsula is shared with Venezuela but since the entire peninsula is Wayuu, there is not much demarcation here between the two countries.

The habitat is dry and desert-like, but it is also beautiful in its own way. We took a two-night three-day mochila (backpack) tour of the area. We were with two other couples and a driver, and technically you are only supposed to bring what you can fit into your backpack.

I could easily put up several posts from the area but will try to cram it all into just two. Again, in this area the photos pretty much speak for themselves. The tour starts and ends in Riohacha.

The first night we slept in chinchorros, the heavy hammocks for which the Wayuu are famous.

On the first day we were very close to the northernmost point in South America.