After backpacking a month and a half in Colombia, my biggest recommendation is a place that I’d never heard of until I got to Colombia – La Guajira desert. There are so many things to see and places to visit in Colombia so it’s hard to choose if you have a limited amount of time but La Guajira desert is one place that is so worth seeing and it hasn’t gotten very busy with tourists yet. It is a desert on the Caribbean on the northernmost part of South America. La Guajira is also very unique because the population is 70% indigenous with the Wayuu people.
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I normally don’t take tours while I travel but this one is definitely worth it especially since it would be hard to get there yourself. I booked the tour with Alta Guajira and they did a great job but there are many tours to book with. It cost around $212 for 4 days and 3 nights with everything included (meals and accommodation). We slept in hammocks every night which I was worried about but they ended up being very comfortable. You could also pay $10 a night for a room upgrade.
The tour is also fully in Spanish so I thought of it as a Spanish immersion experience but there were 2 Colombians and 2 Mexicans on the tour that helped us translate to English a little.
The tour starts in Riohacha which is about a 3 hour bus ride from Santa Marta. We stayed in Laguna Sala Hostel the night before and after for $11 with breakfast included. The hostel is very comfortable and nice before sleeping in the desert. The tour picks up straight from the hostel.
I’ve attached the itinerary the company sent us in Spanish and then I’ll show our itinerary day by day. 
Day 1: Mayapo
The driver picked us up around 9 at the hostel and we headed off to start the tour. Our first stop was a Wayuu village. They hold a ceremony for you and paint your face with their symbolic face paint. The circles represent circles represent your achievements and the swirls represent your goals. 
We actually didn’t get a ceremony because they had a funeral that day but we were able to speak to an elder in the Wayuu village and ask her whatever we wanted to. She was super friendly and we learned about their day to day activities and culture.
We had lunch there which was goat and it was delicious! 
After lunch, we went to the beach in Mayapo where we stayed for the rest of the day. We had dinner at the hotel/hostel and played card games at night. There was limited cell signal but it was nice to unplug. The hotel also didn’t have running water because Mayapo is pretty secluded from the rest of Colombia. We slept in hammocks there at night on the beach which were actually very comfortable. 
Day 2: Salt Flats and Cabo de la Vela
We started the tour at around 7:30 am. It wasn’t too hard waking up since we woke up with the sunrise and I’ve always wanted to be a morning person! For breakfast, I chose huevos pericos and arepas every morning which is scrambled eggs with tomatoes and onions and it’s one of my favorite Colombian foods.
After breakfast, we headed over to the salt flats which were beautiful and so pink. 
This is how they looked without a filter! It’s such a unique spot and I had no idea it existed before the tour. 
After the salt mines, we stopped in the capital of La Guajira, Uribia, to get some snacks. The whole desert area is very underfunded by the Colombian government so the area is very poor. To make money or to get more resources, there are “tolls” that children and sometimes adults put up in the desert. The “tolls” are usually just rope or chain that they hold up. We would roll the window down and hand them snacks and then they would lower the rope and let us pass. I had never seen anything like this before. We passed maybe 30 tolls of children outside asking for snacks. Each person bought a bulk bag of cookies like oreos which were around $3 or so. 
Our drive ended in Cabo de la Vela where we had lunch and that was where we were going to stay for the night. That hostel was nicer as it had running water and better signal but it didn’t have wifi. I got the fish for lunch which was delicious. I normally don’t love seafood, but the quality is so good on the coast that I had to! 
And then, we went to an area where you can see rainbows which was incredible. The water splashes so hard onto the cliff that it produces beautiful rainbows. 
And then we went to a beautiful beach in the area and relaxed there for the afternoon. The beaches on the desert had some of the softest sand I’ve ever felt. 
And then we went to a lighthouse for sunset and had dinner at the hostel we had lunch at. I had shrimp which was delicious even though they had plenty of other options.
We ended the night with more card games with the other people in our tour. It was very fun teaching Colombians and Mexicans on our tour my favorite card games in Spanish.
Day 3: Punta Gallina
We woke up at around 7 and had breakfast at the hostel and then started driving since we had a long way to drive for the day. We drove for a few hours and ended up at a beach where we were having lunch with more amazing seafood. In between, we stopped at a wind farm. 
After lunch, we headed to the sand dunes which was one of the main highlights of the trip. You could rent sandboards and ATVs for around $12 more but we just relaxed by the beach. The dunes were massive and it was so unique and beautiful. 
Of course we had to have a little photoshoot. 
After spending a few hours at the beach, we went to the northernmost part of South America for sunset and it was the perfect end to the day. There were hundreds of these rocks stacked up and they represent the dreams of the Wayuu people. If the piles last and withstand the weather, it means their dreams will come true. We had so much fun with our group here. We also watched the most perfect sunset here.
After sunset, we headed to our last hostel which was very cute and had a delicious dinner and ended the night with a bonfire on the beach. Some of the people at the hostel were from Cali (the Salsa capital of the world) so of course we all had to dance some salsa. And one of the girls in our group was celebrating her 30th birthday so we had some local Colombia liquor too. It was the perfect last night of the tour.
Day 4: Drive back to Riohacha
Our last day was spent driving back to Riohacha which took around 6 hours total. We said goodbye to our hammocks and left around 8:30 after breakfast. I’m still surprised I didn’t have any back pains after sleeping in hammocks for 3 nights! 
We stopped to take some pictures in the desert to break up the drive. 
And we had lunch back in Uribia which was delicious and arrived back in Riohacha at around 3 pm.
All in all, the tour was amazing and Cesar, our driver was great and super fun and helpful. There was a lot of driving but it was really cool to tour the whole desert and at the same time, I learned so much about Wayuu culture.
I hope I’ve convinced you to take this tour or visit this region of Colombia!
