Nuqui is located in the department of Choco in the Northwest part of Colombia, West from Antioquia. Choco department lies along the Pacific coast and is covered by rain forest. Mainly blacks, descendants of African slaves, relatively unmixed with other racial groups, populate the region.
Difficult to access, scarce in facilities and lacking any obvious tourist attractions, the region is rarely visited by Colombians, let alone foreigners.
The place is quite different from the other places I have been visiting in Colombia. The village is located by the sea in the jungle, which makes it quite special.
The bungalows where we lived were located about 45 min., by boat, Southwest of Nuqui at a beach called Turqui, a very peaceful and beautiful place.
The bungalows were located quite isolated near a even smaller village with about 200 inhabitants. The people was really poor, making the living by fishing everday.
From the first day I felt the silence, the calmness, the harmony, the pureness, making the place quite spectacular.
The first day, we went diving two times.
The first thing that stroke me when going down was the cold water and the current. Then, you felt the pressure in your ears, by the sound of the regulator in your mouth, sounding everytime exhaling. Then, looking at the other divers, looking at the fishes, the corrals, the sea life, knowing you are not in the element in which you have the complete control, though, still trying to gain as much as you can.
The fishes in the Pacific Ocean are very big making the place very attractive for divers. The visibility is poor and the current is strong making it tough, but a challenge. A challenge in staying calm and relaxed, which are two keywords for the diver. In total, we made 6 dives, going on 100 feets as the most profound. Unfortunately, I did not see any sharks, turtles or whales, but some of the other divers saw a gigant turtle and hundreds of dolphines. At night time we went swimming, looking at the pure stares and the plankton illuminating the beach as a laser show. I promise you guyes, I have newer seen anything like that, moments of magic. When moving your hand in the water you see the small plankton illuminating like gold.
Except for diving we went trekking in the jungle with the waterfalls and the enourmos variety of fauna.
We also went to a hot water spring at night time bringing candle lights. The water spring was located even deeper in the jungle. Relaxing, hearing the sounds of the jungle in the dark was incredible.
Everything seemed strong and powerful, we were closed to the nature, fare away from office, city, cares, computers and metro, another world, other rules, other values, just enjoying the time. Not thinking about tommorrow, not thinking about problems, just being there in the moment of truth.
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