Minca – jungle paradise for hippie hipsters & vegan yogis
Minca is a popular travel destination as it can easily be reached from Santa Marta with a 30 minutes collectivo or taxi drive. I recommend going straight to Minca, as Santa Marta (a mid-sized town at Colombian Caribbean coast) is not that spectacular. Minca consists of a couple of restaurants, bars, cafés and hostels. There is a small church in the middle of the “town” square and the most delicious French bakery at the end of the street. That’s about it. So why should you go there you ask yourself?
Well, firstly it is the vibe and the view. I really recommend staying in Minca overnight for at least a couple of days. If you do so, make sure to choose a hostel up the hill. Some of the hostels can only be accessed after a little hiking, climbing stairs or by taking a collectivo. However, any struggle is absolutely worth the stunning view. You get to overlook the amazing jungle that spreads over the surrounding hills. At the edge of the horizon you see the city of Santa Marta, which lights up beautifully at night with the sea in the background. And the sunsets in Minca rank in my top 3 ever!
Second reason to spend more time in Minca are the many outdoor activity options. Basically you could get lost in the jungle for days with lots of awesome looking hostels in the middle of the jungle, off any beaten tracks. Here’s what you should not miss:
Coffee and cacao farm of “El paraiso de Tuki”
To be honest, the hike up to the farm was short but a total pain in the ass. Late starters as we are (ooookay, as I AM) we started with the trek at noon. The sun was burning down on me while I dragged myself up the steep and dusty road. I seriously doubted I could make it given the heat and my lack of strength. We spent the prior week on the beach, where I’d only moved myself between the hammock and the bar – mas o menos. But well, the view got better and better and the last 15 minutes led through a jungle path, which made the hike a lot more interesting.
The farm itself is a family business, which also offers a Bed & Breakfast. It is already run by third generation. You don’t have to pre-book a tour. Instead you show up and wait until the next ones starts. In the meanwhile you can play with Tuki, the domesticated toucan and name giver of the farm. Once we arrived we were welcomed with free drinks and could help ourselves to the farm’s own grown coffee and cacao. And of course enjoyed the amazing view. The tour itself is interesting and worth the 5,5 EUR per person. We joined the cacao tour and were demonstrated the whole process from harvesting to selling. We could taste the handmade hot chocolate and got a cacao facial mask.
On our way back we took the shortcut as labeled along the path’s signs. This included a stop-over at the most wonderful lookout for the sunset.
Hostel reco in Minca
Casa Loma is located in the middle of nature. After walking up the 300 steps you get rewarded with ice-cold mountain water (THE BEST after months of drinking bottled water) Besides you can relax in one the hammocks or the overall nice outdoor common area. The food served at Casa Loma was one of the best during our whole trip. The meal portions didn’t seem too much at the beginning, but always made us full and happy. The hostel offered yoga lessons for 5 EUR (for an almost 2 hours lesson), massages and all kind of guided trips. The cocktails are amazing too and prepared with ingredients from the garden. The daily happy hour was our treat after an exhausting day of hiking!
Hike to Marinka waterfall
As mentioned above, Minca is a dream destination for hiking lovers. You can easily access the majority of the treks right out-of-town. We fancied an 8 hours round-trip hike, passing waterfalls, view points and leading through the jungle. The first stop is the Marinka waterfall, which is about 1,5 hours out of Minca. It is a nice place to take a break, relax and swim. From there the hike soon leads through the tropical jungle, which was my personal highlight of the hike. The route also brings you to the popular Hostel Casa Elemento with its huge hammock above the jungle’s treetops. However, at some point along the route we agreed that the way was the destination. So we headed back to our cozy hostel in order to have a relaxed rest of the day.
Lunch reco in Minca : At “lazy cat” veggie dreams come true! The terrace at the back of the restaurants invites to enjoy a fresh fruit juice, good coffee or one of the delicious wok or burger meals.
There are so much more things to do and explore in the region. You can easily spend a week or more in Minca! It is the perfect place to get active in nature, relax in a hammock, feel the jungle vibe and enjoy some delicious food.
PS: bring looots of mosquito protection and cash!