Granja Cinduli, Sierra Nevada

While at the coast of Northern Colombia (north of Santa Marta) at Palomino staying at a out of season beach camping site (we were the only campers for several days), we decided that we wanted to visit Sierra Nevada. We considered doing the 5-day hike to Ciudad Perdida, but we frankly neither liked the price nor the idea of a pre-packaged and touristic content. Instead, Mona managed to find a “jungle” Airbnb lodging inside the nature park of Guachaca.  

Frankly, we did not quite know what to expect and soon found out that the only way to get there was by hiring a motorcycle-guide to lead us through some challenging dirt roads – first the moto-guide and then us climbing up and through narrow roads climbing through the dense forest. The first part of the road followed the road to the “lost city” (Ciudad Perdida) – and after many turns and bouncing around we eventually reached about 2 km from the Granja Cinduli lodge (cinduli means Colibri in……..). Here we parked the car in the middle of the jungle, the road was simply unpassable (with an extremely steep slope and with too narrow curves for the width of the Land Cruiser).

The last part we did by foot – about an hour’s walk – in quite high temperature and with high humidity, so we took it easy.    

Granja Cinduli is owned by a Venezuelan man who was born and grew up in the USA (living and working various places in the US for 25+ years). When returning to South America, he ended up in the Sierra Nevada area and bought this land (70000 m²) with the objective of finding the seeds and then growing white cacao beans (Porcelain Criollo Cacao, a specific, rare variety of Criollo cacao known for its pale, almost white beans and delicate flavor).

The objective is in due course to export processed cacao.

The property also has several rivers, waterfalls and plunge pools where one can swim completely hidden in the jungle. His Colombian partner and their team of volunteers also grow several fruit trees and lives in close symbiosis with what nature provides. And all in good company with their dogs, chickens, birds, animals and insects… a life in the old-fashioned jungle.     

One of the nice things during our stay was the opportunity to listen to their various stories about the area and the inhabitants of Sierra Nevada. We also had a unique opportunity to talk with their volunteers who were members of two different indigenous tribes.  Especially one of them was quite talkative (he was Arhuaco), and he appeared to tell us that he had fallen in love with a French volunteer who had travelled with him to his village in the Sierra Nevada. He also told us that the girl had given him a chainsaw as a farewell gift… so that he also may work independently when he has the opportunity.

The other volunteer was Wayu (another indigenous ethnic group of the GuajiraPeninsula). He was much less talkative, but we understood from talking to our hostess that he was working to be able to pay his future father-in-law the 3 million pesos (about Euro 650) he wanted for his daughter’s hand.

Different contexts, different cultures, and different social rules, but people still fall in love and are willing to sacrifice.

Not least, it was interesting to hands-on experience the difficult access to Granja Cinduli – it’s remoteness in the Sierra Nevada jungle really makes it special (it is for instance inaccessible for bigger overlanding rigs and 4×4 is a must). Normally, people arrive on the backseat of a motorcycle. In addition you need strong legs for the final walk.

It was also interesting to learn how our host, who has been owning and running the operation for 8 years, has much more trust in the well-established local drug-lord than in the local or national police authorities. And this, even though the drug lord reportedly himself presently is in jail. However, outside it is still business as usual as things are managed from the inside. And interestingly, our host commented that the gang surely knew that we were visiting and what we have been doing at each point in time…

I guess it is great to know that we are being kept an eye on.