Back in Bananatree

Bananatree Palomino – Epic Journey 2016-2018 Part XVI

After a good 9 months of road tripping through the USA and Mexico, we are back at Bananatree in the Mango Village in mid-March 2018.

Our cottage already had its first guests via Airbnb who were generously taken care of by Karina and Alejo. The vast majority were thrilled with their stay at Bananatree. Only because it was sometimes a bit noisy with the neighbors or someone was not used to the roosters and chickens in the area, there were also a few negative aspects.

But most of them wrote that they would happily come again. Just like us. How excited we are to be back "home"!

The following are excerpts from the diary:

April 2

Palomino is growing rapidly. Every month a new restaurant or hostel. People are building everywhere.

Still, here in Divino Niño, in our neighborhood, we don't take notice. Village life as it has always been.

Sometimes nice and quiet, birds, roosters, neighbors waking up (we even heard howler monkeys the other morning - for the first time ever here).

Sometimes loud and noisy. Divino Niños inhabitants incomprehensibly love to put the volume of their speakers to the max to play their Vallenato music all night long.

The snowy Sierra Nevada, the Palomino river that meets the sea, a melting pot of cultures coming together in this small place: indigenous Kogis, local costeños, hippie artesanos, alternative-living folks, and tourists from all around the globe.

All this is part of Palomino.

We arrived in Palomino two weeks ago and were welcomed home by old and new friends.

In the meantime, we have baked a lot of stuffed and braided bread - for ourselves and for sale (especially braided bread goes down very well with everyone). We have repaired things, planted new plants, discussed Palomino, and planned trips.

The new bedroom should be built soon. The most difficult thing again: getting the materials. We still have about four weeks and want to use them.

April 7

Yesterday and today we sprayed all floors and posts against bugs, so Bananatree will live a little longer.

Next week we should finally start the second bedroom.

Along the way there are always little things to do: Garden, repair something here and there. And of course the "bread business" with our friend Diego. Twice a week we bake the whole day and Diego distributes the bread in the village.

Through him, we have met many interesting people, like the Dutch Laila and Kaspar with their two-year-old child Moos who have been traveling through South America with their camper for a long time and - as it happens to many - got stuck in Palomino.

So we have a dazzling time despite a lot of work and Vallenato noise from next door.

April 18

Yesterday the first, long-awaited rain started. All the dust is washed off the leaves and house roofs. The almost unbearable heat at noon is as if forgotten. I even have to put on a shirt in the evening!

Probably it will continue to rain every day now; the small rainy season in April.

Which means power outages every now and then. That's not bad at all, because the neighbors can't play music without electricity.

The boards are sanded. Tomorrow we can finally start the upper bedroom. Let's see if it will be as easy as I imagine.

Unfortunately, rainy season also means mosquito season. Annoying how they are buzzing around me right now. That's where the electric bat comes in.

Since our old neighbor Maria left, Jorge's family has spread out around us. We remember: Jorge is the carpenter next door who sold us the land and made the entrance gate.

So things have not become quieter. Although there is less swearing since old Maria left (they moved her off to her daughter in town), to compensate, there are more children screaming every year. And at least one of Jorge's daughters is pregnant again.

It's kindergarten over there. I've long since lost track of it all.

Let's see: There's Jorge and his wife Tomasa, then the daughters (about four of them have babies of their own), who range in age from under ten to - what do I know - close to thirty, Jesús (the only son), and two or three more sons-in-law who have recently started living here, too. That makes about, hmm, 15 noses living right next door; in the same space as the two of us.

Yes, it could be quieter.

They already offered us Maria's land for sale. 45 million (about 15 thousand dollars) for a piece of land half the size of the one we bought four years ago for the equivalent of 4 thousand dollars. Not a third of that would I pay.

How much we want to invest in Palomino, I ask myself every now and then.

The place is not that great. Although we have many good friends here and this corner of the world undoubtedly has its magic.

This magic is not always immediately apparent. At first, you might notice the noise and the sometimes annoying lethargy of certain inhabitants of Palomino. It takes a little patience and serenity, inner peace, to let it all sink in. And you get stuck here for months, like us and the Dutch, for example.

Seraina and I call this "taking the palomino step" or "shifting into the palomino gear." It often takes a week or two to be able to do that. Only then do you stop rushing down the road to get from point A to point B. Only then, once you get used to the Palomino lifestyle, do you start to stroll and enjoy the road. Time has taken its Palomino shape.

We both love having our own self-built home where we can do whatever we want. There aren't many rules in Palomino anyway. We're as close to the highly touted freedom as possible.

And the locals welcome the gringos with open arms. Rarely do you hear anything bad said about the rich foreigners who settle here or build a hotel. After all, this means jobs for the local population. They do not profit much though.

They may be able to afford a few more things, but on the whole, they continue to live in their cheap shacks and cement blocks.

They seem to be content with that. And why not? Of course, many things could be better. But that takes time (perhaps a bit more in Palomino than elsewhere). What will Palomino look like in five and in ten years? Will we still be here then?

May 10 - Last day in Palomino

Everything done, almost everything cleaned up and ready to leave. We will never be finished here. I always see something that could still be done.

Therefore it is good to set a point and gain some distance.

The rain was a long time coming. In between, it fell a little, and yesterday full blast. Today it's thundery again, but it doesn't seem to be as heavy.

Yesterday on the way for a bath at the river a bolt of lightning struck right next to us. My heart missed a beat right then!

But the weather is changing constantly and very quickly at the moment. The river has a lot of water again, is brown and amazingly cold. Yes well, up there on over 5000m.a.s.l. prevails the ice age.

Yesterday we had our farewell party. The pizza night was a great success. We slowly got the hang of the clay oven. A little ember is all it takes after it's been properly fired up (for 2, 3 hours) to get a nice crispy and super tasty pizza.

We were showered with compliments!

Tomorrow we fly to Bogotá, from where we want to take the night bus to San Agustín. San Agustín has been on our itinerary for a long time. We are curious to see what awaits us there.

Seraina macht "pan relleno", gefülltes Brot — Seraina making "pan relleno", stuffed bread

Karinas Hunde- und Katzenheim — Karinas dog and cat shelter

Auf Hundespaziergang an den Strand — Walking the dogs to the beach

Neggy, Karina, Pizzy und Alejo — Neggy, Karina, Peazy and Alejo

Here is the link to the Bananatree website.Here we present our cabaña. It's not really up to date anymore and the links to the booking site Airbnb don't work because we don't rent it out at the moment.

And following are a few comments from former guests that made us very happy. How nice that we are not the only ones who love our Bananatree but that it sweetened the stay of so many people.

Bewertet mit 5 von 5

Comments

Gabrielle

Februar 2020

Ein kleines Paradies! Es hat alles was man braucht zum glücklich sein! Ein traumhaftes Grundstück mit Palmen,

Bananenbäumen, verschiedenen Pflanzen und eine artenreiche Vogelwelt. Das Cabana ist zum wohlfühlen da.

Und nicht nur das. Es ist eine Augenweide.

Die Lebensmittelgeschäfte sind gut zu Fuss erreichbar. Ebenso das Meer mit seinem schönen, langen Sandstrand.

Kurzum, mein Aufenthalt war leider viel zu kurz, aber ………. ich komme wieder!!

Lukas

Mai 2018

Die Banana Hütte ist eine tolle, süße, selbst gebaute Hütte, wo man sich sehr wohl fühlt. Es ist alles vorhanden was man benötigt! Der Garten ist schön grün und es gibt vieles zu entdecken. Es sind nur wenige Gehminuten zur Ortsmitte, wo man alles bekommt was man braucht. Der Pizza Lehmofen ist top und die Pizza schmeckt daraus köstlich!! Vielen dank für alles!

Nici

August 2018

The tree house is absolutely gorgeous. A really impressive tree house and a wonderful experience. A bit far to walk to to beach but absolutely worth it when traveling with a few friends. Make sure to bring a loooot of mosquito spray and reapply every few minutes. Thanks for having us!

Noah

August 2017

The bananatree cabana is lovely. Except of the noisy neighborhood it is a very nice place to stay and rest. The wood oven is very cool we even made our own delicious pizza. We really enjoyed to stay there. Karina and Alejandro did everything to help us and make our stay comfortable.

We would definitely recommend this place!

Leo

Juli 2020

El lugar de Simon y Seraina es increible! Tuvimos una estancia muy linda, la casa tiene una atmosfera encantadora, una energia muy positiva, bonitos detalles y una vista maravillosa hacia la sierra. Es una casa que tiene todo lo que se pueda necesitar, la cocina super equipada con horno y tambien horno de barro para hacer buenas pizzas! Hay lavadora, baño y duchas grandes y cómodos, y el pequeño espacio con sofa y amacas arriba para relajarse mirando la selva es lo mejor de todo! Tiene una tienda justo en frente y es ubicada en un barrio muy bonito y central, pero parece que uno no esté en Palomino sino en la pura naturaleza, como tiene muchos árboles, plantas y frutas y es un espacio muy privado, de verdad un pequeño paradiso.. Nos enamoramos del Banana Tree in the Mango Village! Mejor lugar en Palomino, volveremos sin duda, gracias por todo!

Kateryna

Februar 2020

Such a lovely place. Charming, clean, definitely different from standard accommodation, feels more like glamping. Would stay here again

Kelly

Januar 2020

We arrived later than anticipated from Tayrona and because we had been without WIFI the few days prior we hadn’t communicated our ETA to Karina. She was kind enough to come at the last minute to introduce herself and put up mosquito nets for us. She is very friendly and she runs a great dog & cat rescue program called Palomino Animal Soul. I highly recommend going on the dog picnic at the beach that she offers if you want to do something unique while also supporting a worthy cause. Bannanatree is a great place to stay. The yard is shaded by banana trees and the 2nd floor is an particularly nice for relaxing. I especially liked that it is right in the community, which is very friendly, rather than on a street of hostels. It’s just a short walk to the main street of restaurants, as well as a nice walk to the beach.

Carolina

Januar 2020

Lo positivo, la buena onda de Karina y Alejo y la ayuda que da este alojamiento a su refugio de perritos, el sitio es pet friendly y puedes cocinar, tiene buenos espacios y ha tratado de construir un lugar contagiado de su magia. Lo negativo mucho ruido de día y de noche de parte de los vecinos. La cabaña está ubicada un poco lejos de la zona de hostales, para ser más exactos está ubicada dentro de la comunidad en un barrio vulnerable. Hay una situación muy triste en el entorno con respecto al tema de educación en el cuidado del medio ambiente, las calles están llenas de basura, hacen quemas y la contaminación auditiva es tenaz, los habitantes de la zona son amables, pero desafortunadamente aman la música a todo volumen y a cualquier hora del día.

Scott

Januar 2020

This was such an amazing space, much quieter than the rest of the town, as with everywhere i’ve been in colombia people are just generally noisy, this is much quieter than most places ive stayed, only complaint is the time confused local cockerels that start their daily shouting around 2 am. Will most certainly stay here again when i next visit colombia. Theres ever a beer shop next door and atleast 4 shops within 2mins walk. Karina couldn’t have been easier to deal with and ever accomodated us arriving a bit earlier than planned. 10/10

Santiago

Dezember 2018

Banana is a magical place, you can tell that a lot of hard work, dedication and love was put into building it. The house will drag you in with its charm for sure. The location is amazing because it’s in the middle of palomino, among the local population. It’s about 20 minutes to the beach and to where all the popular hostels are located. If you’d rather be surrounded by other travelers instead of by local residents, then maybe Banana is not the place for you. Karina and Alejo are very kind, they will give you recommendations of what to do in Palomino and they also do amazing activities themselves, like a walking beach tour and picnic with rescue dogs that they take care of.

Clay oven can work great but you need to make sure to ask for enough leña (fire wood) and coal. We didn’t have enough so it didn’t get hot enough. Just in case there’s a regular oven.

The family that lives next door sells beer and other items, they’re very nice honest warm people so make sure to meet them and they’ll gladly help you out if you need something. Nando, the young teen who lives with them will help you ran errands in case you need something and don’t want to walk all the way back to a store. Just make sure to tip him and get to know him a little bit, he has some great stories to tell.

Make sure you write in the guestbook as well and contribute to the common story of Banana. We will be back soon for sure.

Thank you for the magical days: Roberto and Santiago

Frani

November 2018

a lovely place with a lot of details the open space fits perfectly in the area. even Rüdiger showed up once :). Karina and alejo are lovely persons with a great energy. we had the best pizza in whole south America.

be prepared that your are in the middle of a Palomino neighborhood. so its gone be sometimes a little bit louder surrounded by kids and building houses sounds.

and you are in small village, so amenities are sometimes a little bit rare (no electricity, no gas or water). but you have the wonderful beach just a short walk from the cabana. so you can life with it 😉

Leanne

September 2018

The bananatree is a great little gem in the heart of Palomino! Very unique and gives you a true local Caribbean experience. A 20 minute walk to a the ocean and a 4 minute walk to the local buses to take you to Parque Tayrona, street food, shops and groceries! Super easy to get around!

Hilde

Juli 2018

The banana tree is an amazing cabin! You have lots of space and everything is taken care of and very clean. You can make amazing pizza’s in the real pizza oven and make fresh mango juice from the mango ’s that just fall on the ground. The hosts are really helpfull and will show you everything you need to know about the town.

Maxi

März 2018

Wonderful dog-friendly place in the centre of Palomino not far from the beach. Karina is a great host and so is the tree house, we absolutely recommend staying here!

Emilie

Februar 2018

Lieu formidable, très spacieux bien équipé, douche géante, hôte (Alejandro) pas loin et très disponible. Un four a bois formidable qui nous a permis de faire du VRAI pain!!! (j’ai laissé la levure sur le frigo à vous de jouer!) la terrasse est très agréable , bien ventilée, la chambre est très confortable (ventilateur !) Nous avons passé quelques jours avec notre fils de 4ans, nous regrettons davor dû partir. Nous recommandons cet endroit pour sa tranquilité (loin du bloc des hotels qui sentassent plus près de la mer) et pour son four fameux!

Sergio

Januar 2018

Realmente fue una experiencia maravillosa vivir en la casa del árbol. El lugar esta muy bien equipado para pasar unos días increíbles. Estuvimos alojados tres días y nos hubiera gustado quedarnos más pero ya teníamos otras reservas.

Una experiencia recomendable.

Darwin

Januar 2018

I’m not sure you can find a more unique spot in Palomino. The home is rustic but has all of the accommodations we needed.

Karina and Alejo were very responsive to anything we needed, and the house was a quick walk to the main street and about 10-15 minutes to the beach.

Its location put us close enough to the town’s main attractions while also letting us get away from all the activity at night.

I would definitely stay here again, and recommend it to anyone looking for a comfortable and memorable place to stay in Palomino.

Sander

Januar 2018

Hermoso lugar lleno de magia, puro realismo mágico

Gustavo

Januar 2018

Banana tree is an amazing place to stay in Palomino, peaceful and nice!

Misha

September 2017

This place is amazing. It really feels like a tree house. It is basically constructed out of bamboo and wood, on a piece of property that is really a small banana garden. The amenities are very basic, but this is part of the experience and should be that way. The bathroom/shower space is a work of art and is fun to wake up to. The hosts are fantastic and will tell you everything there is to know about Palomino and other locations and will point you in the right direction for fun activities around the area.

Harriet

August 2017

Banana tree is great. It was really quirky and it’s clear a lot of effort has gone in to designing and building this little coastal retreat. Karina and her partner were really helpful and communicative before we arrived and I’m sure their up and coming restaurant business is going to be hugely successful in the future and we’re pleased to have been some of their first customers. The place was clean and comfortable. It’s in the village so close to the main road which has restaurants, shops and bars, plus main bus routes. It’s about 20minutes walk from the beach which means you’re away from the tourist traps, however, might get woken by cockerels, and the locals get up with the sunrise so be prepared for early starts. This was great for us, because the skies are bluest in the mornings and you can walk down to the beach and see the peaks of sierra Nevada which is incredible. Top tip from Karina: Buy the bug soap from the local shops called nopikex, we managed 4 nights with minimal mosquito damage! There is no WiFi, and the water in the village is supplied on a weekly basis, so once you’re out, that’s it – i.e. If you’re into ecotourism and want a bit of time ‚off-grid‘ this is definitely the place to be. Really relaxed and chilled. We loved it and would stay again in a flash.

Bobby

Juni 2017

I highly recommend both Palomino and the Banana Tree for an extended visit. I wish I could have stayed longer than a week. This rustic home is a work of art, down to its thoughtful construction and handmade lamps. Get to know the neighbors, for they are kind and welcoming. You’re also in very good hands with Karina, who lives nearby and will see to it you’re taken care of – and be sure to say yes to all of her offerings for cooking meals! I hope to return to this magical place soon. It’s a real treasure. Thank you for everything! xo