Blogs from Taganga, Santa Marta, Colombia, South America

Vrijdag 9-3 weer eens op een moutain bike gezeten. Een downhillrit van 1300 meter hoogte naar sea level. Door de jungle bij een temperatuur van 35 graden en een hoge lucht vochtigheid. Over dirt roads en zeer slechten paden die vol met kuilen zaten en overal lagen grote stenen / rotsblokken. Samen met Marijn, een andere NL jongen, een gids en iemand die ook engels sprak denderde we de berg af. We hebben zo'n twee en half uur echt op de pedalen gestaan. En dat is best lang zal ik je zeggen. Dan voel je je rug en boven benen best wel. Sommige stukken gaan zo stijl naar beneden dat zelfs met beide banden geblokkeerd je toch nog door gleed over het zand. Het grootste deel was over je zadel heen boven je achter wiel hangen. ... read more

(momenteel in slecht weer en koud, dus terug wat tijd om blog te updaten want ik sta weer hopeloos achter) Omdat het al maanden nodig was en omdat ik er zo weinig mogelijk geld aan wil geven: naar de kapper in Cartagena! Ik had het tekstje "enkel de puntjes" al ingestudeerd :D. Dus voor minder dan 4 Euro is mijn haar nu eindelijk geknipt (en heb ik er een goede hoofdmassage bijgekregen). En ben ik teweten gekomen dat "de jongere generatie in europa blijkbaar nooit meer vraagt om te drogen, maar enkel om te knippen", dat had de kapper van ne collega uit frankrijk gehoord. Uhm .. I don't know. De supermarkten hier: gene vette, niveel keus voor koekjes :(. Heb me wel een baby-JnJ shampoo'ke aangeschaft, JnJ baby productjes verkopen ze hier wel overal! De ... read more

I had high hopes for Taganga as i had read and heard really good things about it from people i had met. I did really like it, its this cute little sunny fshing village full of backpackers on te varibbean coast but i didnt think it was as amazing as people had said. It had a really good vibe as Reggae music literally courses through the whole place and everyone seems really chilled out and relaxed the whole time. The nightlife was really good on the weekend, we went to a bar overlooking the bay and it was really nice to dance and drink outside looking out over the ocean with the stars all around us. I loved all the salsa music that is played throughout the bars and clubs and the locals salsa dancing with ... read more

So, after 4 months in Colombia, I have finally left the country, reluctantly. I did not think that I’d enjoy one country to the extent that I could imagine doing business or even living there for a while. I was sceptic at first, very aware of safety issues and so on. G showed us the family life of uncles, aunts and the holy Easter week celebrations in Popayan. This was a great time. Mainly because everyone was so hospitable and interested in G’s international friends. We were served fabulous Colombian food, made fresh juices, driven around to see the best local attractions and viewing points, bars and what have you. It was a great time. And with G as our local Colombia guide, we were ensured to be given the best prices for all things. ... read more

Up early & repeated yesterdays breakfast before diving. I guess we don't care if we're paying for it...Their coffee is really good, so it's worth it. Plus we get a glass of freshly made juice & it's been different each morning, so that's nice. Today we're diving again with Juan, our DM from yesterday, & one other girl. It's raining this morning & before our first dive we all sat on the boat trying to get ready & just getting drenched from the rain. At least it's not cold & you can't tell it's raining once you're deep enough. It was kind of fun. Our first dive was at Juan's favorite dive spot & it was incredible. There were so many fish & they were sooo big & healthy. We saw the biggest Angelfish we've seen ... read more

We left Villa de Leyva with the intention of breaking the journey halfway in Bucaramanga. Steve was especially keen to stop here as there was another opportunity to eat something odd, this time it was large bottomed ants!  However when we arrived at Bucaramanga bus station and went to purchase tickets for the following day we discovered the journey to Santa Marta was not the mere 8-9 hours the guidebook proclaimed. It was in fact 13-15 hours (i.e. had to be a night bus). So we booked ourselves on to the next bus out. We arrived the following morning in the baking hot coastal city of Santa Marta (after 26 hours and 3 buses). We decided to head to the sleepy fishing village Taganga just a short taxi ride away (thankfully, as for reasons we still ... read more