South America

The coastal town of Camarones (= 🦐) lies one hour north of Palomino, but couldn't be more different. We were virtually the only tourists and there was not much to do but (trying to) escape the heat. We woke up at 6AM (😴) to meet our guide Daniel, who took us to the 'Santuario de Fauna y Flora los Flamencos'. We saw a lot of flamingos (of course), but also pelicans, herons, peccaries, caracara and ibis while paddling through the lagoon in our canoe.

Daniel told us that the lagoon is often used by narcotraficantes. Last Christmas, a few villagers stole some cocaine and were killed as revenge. Colombia’s government has struggled to limit cocaine production in recent years, as rebel groups and drug trafficking gangs take over territory that was abandoned by FARC guerrillas following the group’s 2016 peace deal with the government.Read more