After a 2 hour speed boat jaunt along the coastline of the darien gap we arrived at the small tranquil town of Capurgana. Surrounded on three sides by dense jungle with no roads leading to it, Capurganá is the last town of any reasonable size on the Colombian Caribbean coast before the border with Panama. It is a sleepy little place with a laid-back atmosphere, popular with Colombians, but is only just starting to put in an appearance on the Gringo trail.

The first night we opted to stay in a jungle lodge some 15 min walk back from the little town, but after getting lost in pitch black jungle that night attempting to return to the lodge the novelty wore very thin and thus chose to stay in town the following morning. It was our first experience of the caribbean coast and we weren´t disappointed. The small community had a creole feel to it, very laid back and friendly. We met another English couple to spend my birthday with, and we drunk the local rum and played cards till the early hours. We spent 5 days relaxing on the beach and exploring the surrounding beaches. One day we decided to hike to the next beach resort town of Sapzurro. The walk took us high into the jungle with beautiful views of both bays. On arriving we continued around the coast towards Panama, however there were military everywhere. Considering this part of Colombia was controlled by the Farc not so long ago, we were not suprised, they are a friendly bunch though generally keen to help and assist tourists.

We left Capurgana during possible the heaviest rainfall we had seen since leaving the rainy season behind in Peru, still we managed to endure the 2 hour speed boat journey back to Turbo by playing a name game with Brin and Jen, the other English couple. When back on dry land it was a quick change into dry clothes and then onto an all day bus journey to Cartagena. God we are getting sick of long bus trips!