A piece of Colombia that goes into the Caribbean; this is how La Guajira appears on the map. Located on the border with Venezuela, it is the northernmost part of South America and also one of the most unspoilt, is the land of the indigenous Wayuu, a region little known even to Colombians.
It's the cradle of vallenato, that sounds in every corner of the capital, Riohacha. Its precise origins are uncertain, but cattle-herding songs sung at night by workers on large estates formed the basis for the sung stories that became vallenato songs. The ensemble playing them uses three instruments: drum or box, guacharaca and accordion. Each of these three instruments originates from one of the three ethnic groups that make up La Guajira: the accordion comes from Europe, the drum Africa and the guacharaca of the Colombian indigenous peoples.
Author Pilar Sierra
Silent, lonely, arid and mystical land in equal parts, a place of magical sunsets as far as the eye can see, and home to the Wayuu, one of the oldest ethnic groups in Colombia. Also known as Wayu, Waiu, Guajiro or Uáira, these indigenous people have lived here for centuries. Their economy is based on herding, growing beans and maize, salt extraction and weaving. Organised into clans, they live in small, widely separated rancherías made up of related family groups. Traditional authority survives among the Wayuu, with their own system of administration and a parliament guided by the palabrero, who resolves disputes between clans.
Upcoming trips to Colombia
✔️ Colombia
✔️ 16-day trip
✔️ Departures 1, 15 AUG > 1, 30 SEP 2023
✔️ Price from 3850€
In Colombia, the Andes reach the tropics, a land of coffee estates and high-altitude moorlands. We fly to Bogotá and then the Caribbean, travelling from the remote Guajira Peninsula to Cartagena de Indias
✔️ Colombia
✔️ 16-day nature trip
✔️ Special departure 3 July 2023
✔️ Price from 4580€
As well as Bogotá and Medellín, the city of eternal spring, this route explores 3 natural jewels of Colombia: Caño Cristales in the Eastern Plains, the Tatacoa Desert and whale watching on the Pacific coast.
