COLOMBIA: TATAMA NATIONAL NATURAL PARK, PART 2

 Tuesday, March 21, 2023

I got up at 4:30 to shower to be ready for a 5:30 drive to the top of a nearby mountain. Savannah, as always, was ready on time and waiting for us outside her room. We stopped for a few minutes at the moth net to see what was left from the previous night's partiers, then got in a truck that was waiting to take us to the lodge, where we drank some hot chocolate and picked up food for a breakfast that we would eat at the end of our drive.

We only stopped a few times to look at birds on our way up a steep road. It took us two hours to drive about 8 miles, which gives you an idea about the condition of the road, which was built to service a military base at the top. The road would be impassable to most vehicles. It is rocky and uneven. Our driver, Jon, drove very slowly.

From the end of the road, we had a beautiful view of the rugged Tatamá Peak across the way, shimmering in the early morning light. Its summit is 13,500 feet above sea level, and there are several other peaks we could see in the same range that must also be close to that elevation.

The far-left guerrilla group FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolutionarias de Colombia, or Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) attacked this military outpost in 2000 during a long period of Colombian conflict. Apparently the outpost is there to protect some vital communications towers that link isolated parts of the country. According to an LA Times article, there were 600 FARC rebels who attacked 50 government soldiers at the complex. The government soldiers ultimately prevailed, although there were at least 20 fatalities. The family who runs the Tatamá Eco-lodge told us that they saw soldiers bringing all the bodies down from the mountain.

The road we took ended at a gate that said no photos were to be taken of the military facility, but I figured the tops of the communications towers that peaked out over the heavy vegetation were okay.

The forest service has built a large observation deck at the end of the road. 

A nearby sign notes that Tatamá is an important bird conservation area and has 536 species of birds, 12 that are endemic, 6 that are endangered, and 2 that are critically endangered.

The observation platform has several hummingbird feeders stationed around it. Someone had beat us to the top to fill all of them, and we saw dozens (hundreds?) of hummingbirds.

It was one of those surreal "pinch me" moments. We were so far away from anywhere in an indescribably beautiful spot where probably no one I know will ever go. We had no choice but to trust a few strangers in whose hands we were. Hummingbirds were flitting and buzzing around us, and the morning sun made the mountain range in front of us seem almost transparent. 

Bob took some beautiful photos both here and on the way back down the road to the lodge:

Chestnut-bellied Flowerpiercer

Velvet Purple Coronet

Munchique Wood-wren, critically endangered
First discovered in 2008 
Approximately 300 pairs in the world

Tanager Finch

Masked Trogan

Purplish-mantled Tanager

Gold-ringed Tanager: an endangered species that is
found only in three areas--all in Colombia.

Collared Trogon

He was in Bird Heaven.

Savannah always seemed to find the bugs to be more interesting than the birds. I don't think I've ever known anyone to be as free from the "ewwww" part of bugs as she is.

She also enjoyed a little time on the phone, talking to one of her friends in Mandarin, which she has studied since first grade. Another surreal part of this particular moment was that phone service where we were was probably provided by the military communications towers mentioned earlier. I could never have dreamed of this possibility when I was her age.

Our guide pulled out the breakfast he had picked up at the lodge when we left--cold scrambled eggs, two types of bread, and three slices of papaya. I am working hard to get over my dislike of papaya, and I ate all three pieces (although I can't say that I loved them). They also brought along our favorite condiment, a bottle of salsa de aji. Aji is a specific type of chili pepper, and the sauce is very common all over Colombia.

After 30 or 40 minutes, we said good-bye to Tatamá Peak and started back down the bone-jarring road.

We were only 10 or 15 minutes into the drive when the driver stopped the car and we got out and walked, looking for more birds. I have to admit that this long slog back to the lodge was fairly dull for Savannah and me, though we did enjoy the plants and bugs.

A Colombian species of anthurium on the left, and an interesting plant on the right that looks like pompoms on a string.

An unidentified flower on the left and some interesting moss on the right.

There was frequent evidence of mudslides/landslides, which must be part of the reason the road seemed so impassable.

Savannah found a ginormous beetle, and I think the work of leaf ants on the plant on the right makes it look like stained glass.

I love the fungus we saw everywhere. I believe this one is known commonly as "turkey tail."

The plant below left is Maxillaria speciosa, which sounds like a charm from the Harry Potter books. The flower below right looks like a kind of fuschia, but I don't think it is. 

Sav wore out after a while and took a nap in the back seat of our 4x4, which seemed to be permanently parked on the road.

When we finally got moving again, she opted for the rear-facing jump seat in the bed of the truck. That would have made me green, but she has a cast iron stomach. It was 1 1/2 hours of painfully slow driving to the lodge.

We went straight to our rooms and finished packing up our things. Savannah took one more look at the moth/butterfly net, and we snapped what may be my favorite photo of the entire trip. You'll be seeing this on our Christmas card this year.

We were able to eat one more delicious meal at the lodge--bean soup, shredded chicken, steamed broccoli and cauliflower, and rice (a staple at every meal), all doused in salsa de aji, of course.

While we were eating, we noticed a couple of black vultures stalking around the lodge area. They are not as ugly as most vultures, but I still wouldn't call them attractive.

We got back in the truck with Jon at about 11:30 or 12:00, and then there were miles and miles of more jarring, winding, unkept roads until we FINALLY reached a nice highway. With the elevation change, the terrain and climate also changed.

I stayed awake this time and saw the hillsides Bob had told me about that were covered with coffee plants.

Sav had realized the previous night that she didn't have one of the gifts she had purchased for a friend, the Queen record carved with the band's image. She had set it out with her luggage at Tinamú, but we had not loaded our luggage into the van ourselves, and those who did must not have seen it. We had reached out to the tour company Bob had worked with to plan the trip, Kimkim Inc., and they contacted the lodge at Tinamú for us and arranged to have it brought to the airport for a small fee. Miraculously, two people on a motorcycle were there waiting for us at the airport in Pereira, package in hand. 

We had almost two hours before we took off for Medellin on a LATAM Airlines flight, so we walked around a bit and got some snacks, but there wasn't much there other than an Oma Coffee Shop . . .

. . . and another place that sold alfajores, a dessert I remembered my brother mentioning as one of his favorite South American treats. Of course, I had to try them.

The flight was only about 25 minutes long. The distance is relatively short, but it takes seven hours of driving on roads that may be closed for repair at anytime. A flight seemed to be the more prudent mode of transportation. We weren't the only ones who thought so as every seat on the plane was taken.

We were picked up at the Medellin airport and driven to Hotel 10. The road from the airport to our hotel goes through an 8-km-long tunnel under a mountain that seemed to go on forever. Our driver said this tunnel, which took six years to build and opened just four years ago, saves an hour driving time over the old route, which goes over the mountain rather than through it.

We dropped our bags in our room and went down to the hotel restaurant for dinner. Savannah's hamburger and my plate of traditional meats were so-so . . . 

. . . but Bob was quite a fan of this assortment of meats hanging on hooks and served with three types of chimichurri.