Pargo Dorado

The rooms are fine, and if you ask, they’ll include shower water in the price. I didn’t try the food, and hardly anyone was eating at the restaurant. But be careful with the tour and hammock offer. The receptionist was really unfriendly, usually wearing a black baseball cap backwards with a diamond MaryJane leaf, and wanted 25,000 cop per person for a room. He offered to drop the room to 20k per night if we took the 130k tour with a hamaca included. We left a 30k per person deposit and signed up. The tour itself cost 100k, which we paid to the driver on arrival. Then the hospedaje tried to charge us again for the hamaca. We explained what had happened and didn’t pay it. It felt like the receptionist was trying to scam gringos. The deal is supposed to include everything except food. If you take it, don’t hand over the 30k per person deposit, pay 15k each and keep the rest for the hamaca.

There’s no running water, and electricity from the solar panels is only available at certain hours. Toilets are flushed by filling a bucket from a tub and pouring it in, and showers are by bucket too. That’s part of the experience and charm here, since much of La Guajira has no running water. The chinchorros were comfortable, the food was good, and it’s a nice place. The locker setup could be improved: it was one room with open cubbies, and people kept coming in and out to get their things. We planned to leave the hostel at 5 a.m. after sleeping in the beach hammocks, but the front gate was locked and no one was watching it. I was glad I’d held my pee in the night, because it would’ve been awful to climb out of my chinchorro and find I couldn’t get to the bathrooms. If you sleep in the hammocks, take anything you might need during the night with you to bed.

The food was low quality, and there’s no running water most of the time. We were put in a room beside the electrical generator, so it made a terrible noise all night.

It’s all right, but it’s just fried fish, and you can find the same dish for less elsewhere.