Tubing with Roberto on the Rio Don Diego Mission

Roberto the guide, shares my name.

Toiling up and down for half an hour along a path into the jungle, we arrive where a boat awaits beside the river with our inner tubes.

Into the tubes and off we go in a floating convoy. After rain overnight, the usually crystalline waters are murky.

We progress regally into shallows and minirapids, passing grey herons, villagers bathing beside a bridge, squadrons of sunbathing vultures, and napping howler monkeys on branches high overhead. 

We overtake another gaggle of local tubers and joke that the last one buys the beers.

The sun is bright and burning, so we splash ourselves with the cool riverwater.

An hour later, we start bumping our bottoms protuding from the tubes on sand, then round the corner to a fabulous view of flights of pelicans welcoming us to wade ashore to a place I love: where the river meets the sea.

A local fisherman has set up a shanty shop, beach bar, and ceviche joint on the broad sandbar breached by the river. Wiggling our toes in the sand, we savour freshly prepared prawn ceviche. The bar dog sprawls at our feet, the owner retires to his hammock. It is all we need, easy five stars for ambiance, an unpretentious you beaut place I will remember.

Our boat takes us back past giggling tourists in tubes with 'just married' painted on the rim, stops briefly at a yawning caiman on his grass throne, then deposits us below the bridge with our driver.

Back in 1995, they filmed The Mission on this river. Today was perfect, our mission accomplished too.

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Colombia, Tubing, Rio Don Diego, Caiman