The general attitudes of travellers towards sleeping in hamacas (hammocks) are not the greatest. People seem to think it’s something they need to try, but don’t prioritise revisiting. Not me. I can’t get enough of those badboys. And when I found out that a hostel with the worlds’ biggest hammock was up in the mountains, above the town I was staying, I set my sights on the hamacaphile’s main contender.

Minca is accessible from Santa Marta by a collectivo, or shared car/taxi. Basically you turn up on the street corner for Minca collectivos, wait until there are enough passengers to fill a pick up truck and then set off together. After an hour or so of driving up the bumpy mountain roads, we arrived in Minca. It seemed like a peaceful one-horse (multiple motorbike) kind of town. Casa Elemento, aka Hammock Heaven, was yet further still up the mountains and my journey continued. The hostel is accessed by either mototaxi (motorbike taxi), or a two hour hike from Minca. I opted for the energetic, and certainly safer, second option.

The hike took me up a steep mountain track, through the jungle and past farms and coffee plantations. There is a lot of bamboo in South America. Don’t know why. But the jungle path was dotted with huge congregations of bamboo reaching 10 metres and higher into the increasingly cloudy skies. With the ascent, the stifling Caribbean heat was diminishing, and humidity was rising. I stopped off at a jungle survival school half way up, where I chatted to the British owner over a fresh tropical juice before continuing my trek. Toby, a dog from Casa Elemento had been chilling with his friends down at the jungle school and kindly accompanied me for the remaining hour. He was setting the pace a fair few metres ahead, but stopped to check on me and make sure I knew where I was going every so often.

A few mototaxis passed me on the way up, small off-road style motorbikes balanced precariously with a driver, passenger and often huge rucksack. I was getting tired and a bit jealous of the high-octane option over the hike. After nearly 2 hours of sweaty uphill trekking, a sign at the side of the road reinvigorated me. I pushed on for the final fragment up the long steep path.

What awaited me at the top of the mountain was well worth the challenging journey. A mountain paradise of hammocks, jungle, spectacular views and top quality people was my home for the night. Anyone visiting North Colombia must stay at Casa Elemento! It was a one night only thing as I was flying to Medellin the next day. I could have stayed for a week. After a heavenly and hedonistic 24 hours I traversed back down the mountain to Minca. My final treat to myself was the exhilarating mototaxi ride down; zipping through the jungle to whoops and beeps of the driver, the wind through my hair and the sun on my face.