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Published: October 6th 2008
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Hi all,
Life on the coast of Colombia is quite the paradise. Arriving to this paradise is a whole other story. Our journey to the north coast began on Wednesday afternoon September 17th at 3:30 pm. The bus was quite comfy, large reclining chairs and TV´s. These conditions are ideal for bus rides up to 12 hours. Try and double that with a dose of drunken vomiting teenagers, 2 mechanical breakdowns, being stuck on the bus with stench of vomit at 3:00 in the morning when it´s 80 degrees and no AC or open windows. Add few military check points, and random bouts of the speakers blaring the song “Me gusta, Me gusta” by Silvstre Dangond and you still barely understand what it´s like to ride in a bus for 22 hours in Colombia.
Despite our horrific bus ride to the Coast we were warmly welcomed by my cousin and her family in Cartagena. Laura, Jorge and their 3 year old daughter Gabriela invited us out to dinner on that Thursday evening upon arriving and offered us their spare apartment in Bocagrande, An area comparable to the Hamptons in the states. After dinner we went on a carriage ride
throughout the city and ended up at an awesome lounge called Café del Mar overlooking the ocean. We were pleasantly greeted by a late night fire work show as well. On Friday we went out to do some much needed shopping for basic beach attire and went on a Chiva ride that night. A real Chiva is a bus that is used for transportation in very rural areas that typically carries chickens, fruit, veggies and people. The one we rode on was quite modernized with a nice sound system, free rum and cokes along with maracas and guacharacas, full of other vacationers in Cartagena. We made friends with a couple from Bogota who happened to be seated on our same row. The bus conductor challenged the bus as to who had the rowdiest row…. Guess who won that one!
Saturday was spent on an Island in Cartagena called Tierra Bomba. We left early that morning with Fran and Drea - our new bus friends from the night before - and arrived to our first beach experience. This little island girl called Gabriela was mesmerized by Lara and hung around us all day. The tour that day included a delicious
lunch consisting of fresh fish with arroz de coco and patacones. On Sunday, Laura and Jorge invited us for a full day of boating all the way to the ´Islas de Rosario´, a perfect gift for Lara´s birthday which happened to be that same day. Within the islas there is an outdoor natural aquarium with dolphins, sharks, and many species of fish. The most interesting part of this aquarium was watching the aquarium´s tour host feed the fish and explain to us the various types of eating habits each species has. For example, some species surround the feed and delicately share whatever is tossed their way. Another species will play the first come, first serve game. A third type of species eats very similar to that of piranha. After the aquarium, we finished the day with another tasty lunch including morning fished lobster with arroz de coco, patacon and fresh coconut juice straight from the coconut.
Monday morning we left with Laura and Gabriel a off to Barranquilla, and from there we took a private taxi straight to our hostel, ¨Casa de Felipe¨ in the very unique fishing village of Taganga. We settled in and took a stroll that
evening with a few fellow travelers seeking a late night dinner. We found a little restaurant and after dinner, Roland, a local Taganga guitarist invited us all down to the beach to listen to him play. Surprisingly he was actually really good, so good, we ended up buying his cd. Roland invited his son to come play who was also just as talented. The next few days were spent both in Santa Marta which is only 10 minutes away and El Rodadero. We just spent one day on the beautiful beach in El Rodadero, turns out my dad spent an entire month living in a tent on this exact same beach back in the sixties, crazy hippies!
On Thursday we took off for Minca, a very small village an hour away from Taganga that used to be ruled by the Kogi Indians. Upon arriving there we asked a few locals for directions to The Arimaka waterfall which was a sacred location for the local Kogi Indians. Today the Indians have retreated to higher locations in the Sierra Nevada and the waterfall is rarely used in ceremonies. We found this location after an hour walk up hill through the rain
forest. This location offers a freezing swim. In the pool below the waterfall you can find pre-Colombian pottery shards or treat your skin with the beneficial clay. As soon as we left the waterfall a torrential down pour accompanied us all the way home. My superstitious senses tell me it was the large X Lara drew next to the waterfall with a bamboo stick that irked the Kogi spirits causing it to rain. Hopefully this spell is short lived!!
In the end, Taganga has it´s perks, but not enough to stay around for a week. By that weekend we were itching, both literally and figuratively, due to the mozzies, as our Scottish friend O´sheen would call mosquitoes. Besides these nasty little bugs, we learned the hard way not to drink water from the TAP anywhere on the coast or eat ceviche from any beach vendors. Thinking it would be safe to do so; we did in Cartagena and felt the full effects of that during our stay in Taganga.
My cousins, Miguel and Catalina who were on a week-long school break, joined us in Taganga for the 1.5 hour boat ride to Tayrona national park, A beautiful and
absolutely amazing park full of beaches and palm trees. Don´t take my word for it though, just look at the pictures. For all those who have fears of coming to Colombia for whatever reason, keep in mind the only fear there really exists is that of staying here. Our first couple nights were spent in hammocks close to the beach. We were really hoping to reserve some hammocks in the cabana up above, but unfortunately they were all taken. The food at the restaurant was very good and very fairly priced for being out in the middle of nowhere. Half way through our weeklong stay in Tayrona we had to make a day trip all the way back to Santa Marta on foot and bus which is no easy task. It´s not just the 2 hour hike and hour long bus ride, but it´s also coming back with a TON of extras from the supermarket and having to do the whole trek again with 30 extra pounds in tropical heat. Miguel and Catalina went on the hike with us but stayed in Santa Marta because they needed to get back to Bogota for school.
We had a nice surprise
waiting for us when we returned to the park. Since the park official accidentally gave away our hammocks for the evening to a few other travelers, he offered us the top of the Cabana (from the pictures), which is a private area for hammocks. The view is STUNNING from up there and completely surreal. When the sun went down distant thunder storms started and we would just lie in our hammocks and watch the lightning storms for hours. The added plus was that we experienced no rain during these storms because of the distance between us and the storms. The experience from up there is truly indescribable. Waves and lightning crash simultaneously, making it difficult to distinguish the two at times. The 180 degree view feels as if you are in a gigantic real life Omni theatre.
We returned to Taganga yesterday by boat from Tayrona and will be taking off to La Guajira tomorrow. La Guajira is Colombia´s northern most province and from what we´ve been told, is basically Colombia´s final frontier; a vast and dry landscape where ocean meets desert and Flamingos flock for solace. Until next time!
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Aya
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El Tiburon!
How was seeing all those sharks? Creepy! Hope your tummies are feeling better by now. Keep having fun!