We were up before the sun and loading all of our gear into a tiny taxi cab outside of a small hotel in downtown Medellin. Brian, Gregg from WhereNext Productions, and I squeezed into the backseat and we sped off toward the airport. Once there, we boarded a small twin propeller plane that regularly ferries people back and forth from Medellin to the remote coastal fishing village of Nuquí. The flight was incredible, flying low over the rolling green Andes Mountains and getting birds-eye views of muddy winding rivers and small mountain settlements. When we landed in Nuquí we really knew we weren't in Kansas anymore. There was no phone service, and chickens ran around the small airstrip, ducking in and out behind a relic of a plane that once trafficked drugs out of Colombia.
Awaiting us at the airport was Fausto, who would be our guide and host for the next couple of days. He walked us around the village of Nuquí and told us a bit about the area and the community. We didn't stay too long because Gregg had scheduled a motorboat (lancha) to take us to Utría National Park, where we would spend the night.
The boat ride was about an hour and a half of Pacific waterways framed by pristine, dense jungle that spread all the way up to the beach. Speeding over the water knowing there was very little civilization or even human presence for hundreds of miles around was an unforgettable feeling.
We arrived at Utría National Park the only way possible: from the water. The deep jungle and mountainous terrain of the park is impassable, there is no road entering it. Its remoteness offered another new experience: being completely alone in a National Park. Aside from the two cooks tending the eco-lodge where we slept, our small crew, and the boat driver, the immense park was completely devoid of human life. After a long day of traveling, we enjoyed a beer on the beach at sunset and swam in the warm Pacific.
