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Published: September 15th 2009
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2 days to chill in Santa Martha before the Ciudad Perdida trip which I booked with Turcol at their office near the waterfront. I noticed a lot of old buildings in the old town where I am staying, the waterfront is nice but it is sticky and hot here. i did not like the hostel i stayed in the 1st night so moved to Turismar for 15,000, same price I have a cable tv! The rooms though were nothing to write home about, and very stuffy, no windows. Met up with Junko once again, she just came from Tayrona and raved about it, we had a few beers and dinner of some chicken soup at a street vendor.
While in the internet one time I oveheard some Filipinos talking, they work in the ship,all men. saw them again with lots of girls at an outside bar near the waterfront, for some reason police officers came and the filipinos dispersed right away, dont know really what was going on. Junko did not want to do the Perdida trek so I said goodbye to her tonight and hopefully will meet up with her in Ecuador.
For the weekend I decided to
visit Taganga, the town was not attractive to me at least the beach front and the main beach is so crowded I went uphill and hiked around the craggy hills until I found a nice patch of beach. Swam most of the day drinking beers, when more peOple found the place I decided to head out and back to Santa Martha.
A week after my Ciudad Perdida hike i returned to Turismar Hotel, was given a very hot stuffy room, did not like it but have no choice, I claimed back my backpack that I left for storage and sorted my crap quickly. I decided to go to Tayrona tomorrow, maybe chill for a few days. The next morning after the usual breakfast of caldo and eggs and fresh orange juice from the street vendor, i head off to the bus station the LP said between Calle 11 and Carerra 11, when I came to a crossing, I asked an old lady where to go she pointed me to go head straight in the narrow street where street vendors sell their wares, found the bus, hopped on and went right away but very slow, trying to get fares.
More than one hour later we arrived at the entrance of the park, i got dropped off, paid 30,000 pesos for entrance fee and waited fo awhile for the collectivo taxi to leave. 2,000 pesos per person. We got dropped off at Canaveral then you have to walk at least 30 minutes to Arrecifes beach, the walk was nice through the jungle with big boulders popping up here and there but I just finished a 6 days trek and am annoyed I have to walk again! I hear birds singing on top of trees. Once in awhile I see horses coming through, you can rent it if you dont feel like walking all the way to Cabo San Juan de la Guia. I saw a sign to Don Pedro's cabanas, the place recommended by my French friends, about 5 more minutes walk and I found it, Carlos welcomed me, very friendly people, Don Pedro is an old man who owns the place I chat with him for a bit, very laid back dude. I rented a hammock for 8,000 pesos a nite.
There were only 4 of us here for a big place, an Austrian and a couple from
Bogota, I think they were all together. The place has lots of fruit trees, bananas, guavas etc. I had fried red snapper for lunch, cheaper here than in the city. I met a dude whose name escaped me, he works there and I noticed black spots on his body, turns out he is infected with leaishmania! I have studied it in school but never have seen the actual infection, it's like a sore, a big sore. he said he cant take the medicine the doctors gave him too strong, made him vomit so he resorted to traditional medicine, the black thing on his wound were the herbs he put on it. he claimed he got it from Taganga, deep within i kind of freaked out, we were bitten to bits during the trek by sandflies and they are the vectors of leishmania. Just hope I dont get it.
Had a walk after lunch the beach is beautiful, lots of beaches are unswimmable due to the current but the Piscina is nice, water is warm. You walk to a path about half hour from Arrecifes, then after a swim i headed to cabo another 15 minutes, the bay is scenic
lots of gringos, mochilleros, and the hammocks and tents for rent are more expensive, just a tad though. As i walked i noticed Nicole, the girl from the trek but she was sleeping in the beach so i did not bother her. After spending some time admiring the view i went back to Don Pedro.
Had a shower then chatted a bit with the staff then had some snacks. I was tired so i just chilled in my hammock and fell asleep, got woken up by torrential rains, there was a hole in the roof so I got a bit wet, rain dripping on my side, half asleep i learned to ignore it, rain eventually stopped. Woken up by this freakin loud Colombian girl they are staying in a tent but since they are friends with the Austrian dude who shares the cabin space with me for hammocks she came and chatted with him oblivious of the fact i was still sleeping, quite annoyed I got up and had a shower, paid my bills and left.
I saw some red squirrels looking for food in the tree branches and hummingbirds as well. On the path I saw a
small colorful frog. Went back to the beach and chill, the waves are strong and i cant be bothered walking again to the Piscina so i decided after a few photos to start heading back to the entrance to leave the park. it was a 40 minute walk, No taxi yet when I arrived so i decided to walk it, crap it was far! It took me i think almost an hour walking it, I never thought it would be this far, my legs were tired! Halfway thru a pick up truck indicated he can give me a ride but i dismissed him thinking its not too far now, but everytime i go around the bend or up a slope no end in sight, f..k! To make matters worse a collectivo passed me with passengers.
Quite tired i made it out and a bus was waiting for me there, I was asked to put on my shirt before getting on, i was sweating heavily and I smell bad, I dont care at this point,I squeezed myself in one of the seats. Another slow ride but made it back to town. I decided to find an aircon room this time
with cable tv, i asked Hotel Las Vegas, the price was 22,000 pesos($10) so i took it, Went back to Turismar with a lie ready to be told, I left my pack there and made a room reservation,I told the recepcion lady i have an emergency in Cartagena, so cant stay, quickly took my pack and left.
The next morning went for breakfast at my favorite restaurant which is next to Turismar, and as luck would have it the recepcion woman whom I lied to the day before was there and subbing as a waitress!! The look in her eyes clearly want to ask me so... Cartagena huh... oh well I pretend I did not know her and had my meal and quickly left.
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Chris and Nikki
Chris
Looks like a paradise island!