Most people who buy fast food and bring it home, don’t finish their meal, and immediately toss their trash on the floor. Most of us take that extra step, and toss it in the trash can. We don’t want to look like slobs, and we don’t want our house to look disgusting, so we keep the trash off the ground. So why do so many people insist on putting that same trash all over the big floor out their door?
Tayrona National Park is one of those great places that helps us remember just how beautiful our earth can be, how fragile it can be and how getting back to nature releases our inner child. Tayrona is part of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain range. The Sierra Nevada mountain range is the worlds highest coastal range, and the highest point in Colombia, reaching up to 18,700 feet.
Tayrona offers two different trails to get to the same destination. One trail takes over 8 hours and involves some rock climbing. We arrived too late in the day to start that course, also our combined fitness levels are somewhere between Homer Simpson, and Peter Griffin. The other trail is about a two hour hike through the jungle. No matter which trail you decide to take, the end result is soft sand, and clear blue waters.
We stopped at Cabo San Juan to relax for a few hours and take a dip in the ocean before hiking back. Cabo San Juan de Guia, is one of the many beaches along the hike, and one of the last ones along our trail. There is also a nude beach just a little further, but after seeing the horses along the way, I decided to keep my bathing suit on.
The beaches were beautiful, but for me, the pentacle of this trip was the hike through the jungle. The ground moves under your feet. Leaf-cutter ants work their way across ancient roots on the ground, above, birds of all colors make music, and monkeys hop from vine to vine. The park is also home to the indigenous natives of Tayrona, who live throughout the jungle.
For a while, investors have been trying to push hotels inside of the park, so far no one has caved to the pressure. For once greed does not have the upper hand. Let’s nurture our nature instead of bulldozing and building. Many people disagree on issues like climate change, and deforestation. Excuses like, “it’s not my problem”, or “I’ll be gone before we destroy the earth” are usually espoused in these conversations.
Even if this is how you feel, can’t we all agree, that collectively, as people, we take pride in the appearance of our homes, and the work it takes to keep it maintained? Without that roof over your head, the ground that you walk on is still technically your home. Our home is full of beautiful things, like trees that walk. Plants are the ventricles that feed the pulse of our earth, and unlike Tyler Durden, I do not feel like destroying something beautiful.
So on Earth Day, and everyday, remember we are always guests, and always hosts.