Colombia - Cartagena/Playa Blanca/Taganga/Tayrona/Palomino/Bogota

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So we had decided to high-tail it to the Caribbean. On one of the bus legs there is a notoriously dangerous stretch of road from southern colombia to Cali. It is advised to take this route by day. We didn't really know this and took it overnight. Our bus arrived safely, but a week earlier a bus was hijacked by paying customers and driven into the jungle and held for 2 hours while the hijackers robbed everyone at gun point for all they had. we arrived safely however. A stop of 7hrs in Cali (where we wondered the streets- and we thought that's all you need there), 5 buses and 72hrs later we arrived in Cartagena, Colombia.

We arrived at the bus terminal about 8pm and needed to get to town. The terminal is quite far from the centro so a taxi ride was required and took about 20mins. We dont really like arriving in new places at night and this was no exception, the cab ride was pretty intimidating, driving through some quite undesirable parts of town, getting yelled at by locals, we were glad to be out of the cab. We promptly found a double room hostel in Getsemani for 45,000 COP - $25AUD which had no aircon. It´s pretty damn hot and humid here near and became apparent overnight we might want to find some AC.

After checking in to our room we went out the front for a ciggie and within 3 minutes we had a local ´Businessman´ approach Jay and proceed to show him his merchandise and want to do business. Jay politely declined and over dinner we decided that we would go and look at another neighbourhood to stay in tomorrow.

We ended up finding a really nice and new hotel in the old historic centre called Hotel el Porvenir. 50,000 COP - $28 AUD per night, it had cable TV, free internet and AC. Bargain, we were happy. Cartagena is a cool city. One of Colombia's largest cities and an important economic centre for the Caribbean region. Its location is on the Caribbean Coast lends it self to a truly tropical climate with year round average highs of low 30s (90% humidity) and lows of mid 20s. the Old centre of town has beautiful old Spanish colonial buildings and mansions lining the streets and its narrow streets are really cool to stroll around. What became apparent instantly is the relaxed, laid back nature of the people and the city. Everyone is really friendly and most people speak a bit of English, which makes is a bit easier for us. As with everywhere in South America, siestas take place every day from about 2pm to 5pm (to escape the heat here). After 5pm, restaurants (the food here is awesome - great variety and quality and good prices) and bars open up, serving mainly beer and rum (drink them quickly however coz they go warm real quick) and Salsa music sets the theme for the days and nights alike.

The Old centre of cartegena once was enclosed by fortifications. this is still aparent with the mainly intact fortified wall enclosing the old town centre. You can walk around the top of the wall. this was built by the spanish to defend the town from pirates, as is was and still is a major shipping hub to the rest of the world. Down the beach a bit (beaches here were pretty disappointing and muddy, not what we had in mind) the is a newer developed area of Bocagrande where highrises and designer shops dominate and is a Colombian holiday getaway.

Moving from Getsemani to the Centro didn't allow us to escape the many ´Businessmen´ however. in 4 days we had been approached no less than 6 times. Now Even we thought this was pretty full on and it is but the ´Businessmen´ are however really friendly and were not intimidating and after a few days just say hi and leave you alone, only wanting to chat, mainly about Muchos kangaroos.

Dissapointed by the beaches, it is lucky a short boat trip can get you to some islands. 45mins on a boat 25,000COP + 12,000COP tax = $20AUD and we were at Playa Blanca, Isla Baru. Meaning ´white beach´, it did not disappoint with perfect soft white sand, coconut tree lined beach with hammock and camping accommodations. We spent 3 nights on the island. Sleeping in hammocks on the beach. Nothing to do except drink beer, smoke, swim, read and eat fish. There was no fresh water or electricity. It was brilliant. in the morning from sunrise to about 10am the water is a still as a swimming pool. The day trip boats start arriving about 10am and the beach fills up a bit with day trippers and locals selling there wares and offering massages. The locals are quite persistent and can be a little overbearing. Just be firm with some ´No Gracias´s´ an they get the idea and will leave you alone. Through the day it was hot and the tents on the beach and regular dips in the perfect temp water would provide a welcome escape from the heat. About 4pm the boats take the day trippers back to cartagena, and locals go back to their villages, leaving maybe a dozen or so other people have the beach to ourselves for the rest of the night. The beach is west facing so views of the sunsets are picture perfect, amazing. Nights consist of eating, drinking, sleeping. Sounds good hey. It is. Anyone travelling to this part of the world should go. Don't just do a day trip. Stay a few nights to really appreciate what this place has going for it. RECOMMENDED.

We checked a few places out on the beach to stay and decided on ´Refugio de Carol´. 5000 COP per hammock per night $2.80AUD was too good to refuse and with a couple of hammocks right on the beach suited us well. Oobie was the guy running the show, spoke excellent English and was our cook also (Food ranged from 10000COP to 20000COP - $5-12AUD) . Food was delicious too with deliveries by boat of fresh fish in the mornings you cant go wrong. Oobie was more than accommodating and would always check up on us to see if everything was ok and for a friendly chat, he has been living on the beach for 1 year now, a long time hey, but the guy that owns it has been there 30 years. 1 year or 30 on a caribbean island and you become a little different to most and in a good way, very friendly ´chilled dudes´. we also had resident dogs ´Peter´ The top dogs getting on a bit. Check his nails in the photos. And Guadapo his understudy, being groomed to take over one day. the dogs guard there area of the beach and will let you know if any unwanted people, dogs or Cows and Bulls are in the area. Cows and Bulls? Yes, pretty amazing sight but Cows and bulls wander the beach in the evening and throughout the night. We didn't believe it ourselves until we saw it the first time. Also at the ´Refugio´ they have a proper Cock Fighter (Cock Fighting is huge in Colombia) who may wake you occasionally with his somewhat distorted Cock-a-doodle-doo. He has won 5 fights and the guys are pretty proud of him and he lives like a King.

Snorkelling is also pretty good here with some pretty good coral just under the surface and plenty of tropical fish of all sizes. Visability is good, we saw, huge crabs, octopus, squid, even sting rays. there isn't much happening of a night here so if you want to party its not the place for it. Over dinner a couple of nights we met some lovely people. Bette and Klara from Holland. Colin and Katie from England. We hit it off straight away with them and organised meeting up with them when we head to Europe.

Time was up and we headed back to cartagena for a few nights before moving on. Next stop via a 5hr bus ride was Taganga. Taganga is a small fishing village about 15mins from Santa Marta. It is quite popular with back packers as it offers a pretty lively party scene and some of the cheapest scuba diving in the world. we planned on staying here for 3 nights and ended up staying for about 10 days! We wanted to stay on the beach - we are lazy, so we checked out Casa Blanca when we arrived only to find it was full. 2 doors up however a lovely older local couple had the 2nd floor of there house avaiable for rent for 50000COP - $28AUD. We had a Kitchen, bathroom and huge balcony with hammocks and a private entrance. Perfect. We Could only stay 3 nights however because they had friends coming. the first night there we ran into our 2 new Dutch friends Bette and Klara. this was the beginning of our 10 day party adventure with the girls. By day lazing on the beach or scuba diving is the go. At night sitting on the street curb on the main street outsid the bottle shop with a bottle of Ron (Rum) a bottle of coke and a bag of ice is the what you do before hitting one of the 2 clubs ´Sensations´ (just as many locals as tourists - salsa, reggatone, electronic) or ´Mirrador´ (more tourists than locals- harder electronic house ,salsa, reggatone). So after getting a great feed every night (The food in Colombia has surprised us both, being so good, the steaks here in taganga some of the best we´ve had in St America), we followed our nightly routine with the girls.

On our 3rd day we went scuba diving. Nicole is experienced and has her certificates, Jay however has never been, so a little nervous being his first time and a little hungover too after the bottle of Ron we polished off the night before we set off at 8am for our briefing. a 30sec explanation of what we needed to do is apparently all you need to go diving and the next thing jay knew he was rolling backwards off the boat and scuba diving. We did 2 dives and had a great time, saw some cool stuff. It cost us about 120000COP - $65 AUD per person for the dives and well worth it. The guys we did the dive with were a small family run op and lovely. they even had a live on boat dog called ´Scooby´ who only gets off the boat when we stop for lunch whilst diving.

After another tuff day lazing by the beach, we both decided to take a dip at sunset. What we saw next would shock us for a while. A topless girl dancing around on the 1st floor roof of Casa Blanca took a run up and tried to jump from the roof to the water below. She didnt make the 8-10meters required, no one would. her legs hit the rock hard sand first, then her head/neck hit the water just as hard and she was KO´d. A number of people had seen it and we all ran over. She was out for about a minute before coming around in great pain. We didn't move her and waited about 30mins for an ambulance to arrive. Not bad for where we were and how remote it was. It was one one the worst things we have ever seen, sickening. We had actually met her and her boyfriend back in La Paz and found out later that she had broken 1 ankle in 3 places and badly sprained the other. She wouldnt be able to walk for a while so apparently would be confined to her hotel room for some time.

After witnessing that we needed a drink. We ran into Alexi and Sally that night who we had done the salt Flat tour in Bolivia with. So the girls, alexi and Sally and us polished off a bottle of Rum and went out and partied the night away. the next day we learnt that Bette went skinny dipping with a guy and had there stuff nicked from the beach. He had to walk back to his Hostel with no pants. hehe. Funny girls, great value.

from taganga the 6 of us decided to do a side trip to Parque Nacional Tayrona. A national park on the caribbean coast you get there by boat or bus/hike. We chose to get the via a cab to the Park entrance (1hr) 50000COP - $28AUD, then hiked in about 1.5hrs after paying the Park entrance fee 30000COP - $17AUD. the hike is through jungle and along picturesque caribbean beaches, its hot and the food we bought with us took a beating on the hike. We ended up at Cabo San Juan camping ground where you could camp in a tent or rent a hammock. tents were only 5000COP more than the hammock so we decided on the mozzie protection of the tent for 45000COP - $22AUD per night. Bloody expensive for a tent, majorly overpriced but unless you wanted to hike back near the park entrance to find cheaper accommodations you don't have a choice. the scenery was pretty awesome. A lot like some of the beaches in brazil we visited but not quite as good. sand at these beaches is pretty grainy and swimming conditions not that good. That aside it is an amazing place as the photos will show and one of our must see sights on this trip.

We only stayed 2 nights and on our 2nd night Alexi, Nic and Jay went down to a quiet little spot overlooking the beach to star gaze. As we were walking bacvk to our tents we were stopped by a military cop. he wanted to Search Alexi and Jay. The cops don't search girls but padded Alexi and Jay down and turned out their pockets and went through all of their stuff. Nothing to find so we were on our way but still a pretty hairy experience however, especially when our spanish is so poor and you constantly hear stories os the cops and military bribing tourists. Just the way it is over here.

Next day Alexi and Sally were heading back to Bogota to fly home. We are looking forward to cathing up with them in London. So the the girls and us decided we would head further up the coast to a place called Palomino (on our hike out of the park we saw some big crabs, monkeys, lizards and a giant Guinea Pig thing. Finally got our monkey fix). We heard you could hire tubes in Palomino and tube down a river through the jungle to the sea. There isnt much going on in Palomino, it is a little village off a main highway which really acts as a truck stop with a few little restaurants to eat at. We found some hammocks for the night and went for dinner (Roast chicken, potatoes- not sure how long the chicken had been sitting there) and some beers afterwards before walking back to our hammocks some some sleep. Next day we walked up to the road and sort out the tubes. they came with a guide (well a guy who i think just wanted to go tubing with us). It cost 15000COP each - $8AUD. We walked for 1.5hrs through the jungle, up hill carrying our tubes. One of the hardest walks we have done so far. It was stinking hot. We arrived at our departure point pretty deep in the jungle and drifted quite calmly down the river, enjoying the overhanging jungle. ther were a couple of small rapids on the way, Nic of course cam out of her tube on the first of them and has the bruises to prove it. We floated for about an hour before it flattened out down at sea level and became a bit tiresome and oppressive in the blazing sun. We made it to the sea after about 1.5hrs. Mission accomplished. We trekked it back to our hammocks grabbed our gear and gor a bus back to Taganga that afternoon. Need a shower badly.

So we were in Taganga again and stayed for another 3 nights. Pretty easy place to get caught in. We heard of people staying for months. This is where we would go our separate ways from the girls. We are also looking forward to catching up with them in Holland when we get there and go ´Bananas´.

So we have 10 days or so left in Colombia and we don't know what to do. Horrible dilema isn't it? We decided we didn't want to travel around to much as we are well and truly over buses. After some research we actually decided to go back to Playa Blanca again, we liked it so much. We spent another 5 nights there. This time as good as the last except there wee many more mozzies this time. A couple of nights were nearly unbearable. But another great time relaxing, reading, working on the tans, not a worry in the world.

Back to Cartagena for a few nights freshening up, showering for the first time in 6 days and sleeping in a bed. Nicole has a bit of a stomach bug so we just stayed put for a couple of days. Just what we need before flying to Bogota for a couple of days before our South American Journey comes to an end.

We arrived in Bogota rather painlessly. Much easier and quicker than all of the buses we had been catching!! We went straight to the Platypus Hostelin the suburb of La Candelaria. Double room with shared bath was 44,000 COP - $25 AUD per night. Bogota is the captital city of Colombia and sits at en elevation of about 2600m. We were back in the Andes and both felt the altitude immediately. Slight headaches and lack of breath when walking around. The temperature change was a welcome relief from the heat of the Carribbean however. About 20 degrees and sun shining it was nice. We only had a limited time in Bogota, 2 days actually so our itinerary was pretty simple, wander around. La Candelaria is pretty cool. It is in the historic downtown old centre of Bogota and its narrow streets are lined with old spanish architecture. We found many different cafes, bars, restaurants and artesan shops in the area. What we also liked was a number of independent clothing designers/artists with shops in the area. It reminded us a bit of San telmo in Beunos Aires and even a little bit of Melbourne. We also checked outan art gallery which was pretty cool with some pretty famous artists like Picasso and Botero. In stark contrast the north of the city is where the wealthier live, new highrise buildings are everywhere but lacks the character and soul of the historic region - La Candelaria. Pretty nice spot, shame our stay here was so short.

So that brings to the end our 5 month South American chapter of our trip. That´s right its not over so stayed tuned. Next stop ´The Big Apple´ NYC.

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Photos

Colombia - 1,000,000 Dollars
Crazy! everything sounds like so much when 1 AUD = 1,700 Pesos.

Playa Blanca
Means White Beach

Playa Blanca - Bull Sh*t
Told you there were bulls and cows

Taganga - Drinking on the street
What you do in Taganga

Bogota - For Mark Lawton
Mark you should ask Paula to cook you this Sth American delicacy. Salchipapas - Deep fried chips whith sliced frankfurts and a healthy covering of tomato sauce and mayo.

Playa Blanca - Breakfast
We ate fruit salad every morning. Lovely lady would wait for Nic to wake up every morning.. Bit creepy

Comments

[BARRY.R]

HI.
HI. JAY,LOVE YOU NIC.THANK YOU FOR THE BLOG. DAD.

[Annette]

Have really enjoyed your South American trip, can't wait to hear more xxx