Cabo de la Vela (Cape of the Sails) is a tiny little village which can only be reached by 4x4 across the desert. Aside from fishing the main livelihood for the majority of people is from tourism although we arrived in the low season so the place was pretty much deserted. There´s not a lot to do other than sit in hammocks and watch the sea and kite surfers. Of course we spied a hill in the distance and got the driver who had taken us to drop us over at Pilon de Azucar. It was a lovely spot, really windy, a great little Beach, interesting geology (Alison´s now going to do a geology A-level!) and the most beutiful sunsets with the ocean on one side and the desert on the other.

We stayed 3 nights and spent the remainder of our time reading, eating fresh fish and playing cards and chatting with the French and American kite surfers who were the only two other guests at our hostel - another one with no running water and limited electricity with a bucket and bowl as a shower. The tranquility of the Beach was only momentarily breached by the arrival of 50 or so soldiers. Now given what we´ve heard and read about armed Guerillas in parts of the country this caused some mild palpitations, so much so that Alison actually put her t-shirt on over her bikini as though it were a flak jacket! As two of the soldiers approached I was getting ready with the ´now look here my fellow, Her Britannic Majesty´s Secretary of State requests and requires…´. This proved unnecessary as the Captain introduced us to a Major in the Colombian Army who informed us that they were here on a training exercise, they were extraordinarily polite and courteous - not every day that happens now is it.