Gringos of the Carribean

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Arriving in Santa Marta, from Bogota is a bit like walking from your house to entering an oven. To make matters hotter, bus drivers like to crank the AC to full blast just to make sure that the adjustment is that much harder. Arriving at our hostel was a very welcome event. Naps and sun were on the menu, with a side of Cerveza please.

There is something about Colombia, an air of danger that follows you where ever you go. It makes some of the most simple outings seem like and adventure, even if that adventure is just finding dinner.

Our Guest house or hostel had a little something for everyone, and what it had for me was a roof top patio with a hammock that had my name on it. Also a very lovely Mexican restaurant just down stairs meant maybe i dont even need to leave this building... ever... Just a few days to get some colour and some R&R is all you need, then you get the itch and its time to move on.

Cartagena on the other hand is this beautiful ocean side city, where on either end is modern sky scrapers and apartments and the middle is riddled with history and a charming old town surrounded by a protective walls. Just outside the wall you find the crumbling red light district where you can still see the former glory under the peeling paint and crumbling sidewalks. Of course this is where backpackers would call home, pinching their pesos between the colourful Hostels and ramshakle shops connecting them. And so we followed suit, when in Rome right.

After getting just about as much culture that we could take, we decided to hop on a mini bus and head the the mud Volcano that we now fondly refer to as the 40 dollar tourist trap where we had a group mud bath with about 25 other gringo. And after getting nice and dirty, why not hop into a lagoon where old colombain women strip you down before you can bat an eye, and before you know it you are now skinny dipping with those 25 other strangers that look just as confused as you. Somewhere lost in translation our mud bath turned into a nudest retreat.

It was some time shortly after that we decided maybe its time for some serious spanish school. So tomorrow we're off to Ecuador.

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Photos

Santa Marta
one long lazy day with books and hammocks

Comments

[Sue]

I love the colors and thanks for including some flower pics.

[margbunkowski]

Colorful
The gold is certainly extravagant, the colours vibrant, the views breathtaking and I am sure all else drab by comparison. Just don't land behind anymore bars, bamboo or otherwise - LOL:) !!!! Looks pretty quiet?