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Published: June 16th 2008
Santa Marta
This place changes when the sun goes down! Our final 2 weeks in Colombia sees us heading 5 hours further along the Caribbean coast to Santa Marta. At least it was meant to be 5 hours, as is the way with Colombia we were sat in a jam for two hours waiting for an accident to clear. This meant we arrived about 12.30 at night, with no idea of where to stay, brilliant. Fortunately we got chatting to an English guy on the coach who just happened to be travelling with a Colombian girl, so we headed to the same hostel as them and low and behold we ended up lucking out and getting a 4 bedroom room with them, sweet...or at least it would have been if it wasn´t for the fact that the room was about 40 degrees, with only two small fans to try and cool it down. The top bunk I was in, wasnt even in the line of fire of the fan, so I ended up moving my mattress onto the floor just to get a bit of air!
After a crappy nights sweatfest...sorry sleep, we made our excuses to the really nice helpful guy who owned the hostel (we didnt have the
heart to tell him we were moving hostel, so we lied and said we were leaving town!) and checked into a new place around the corner which was a bit cooler! There wasnt really alot to do in Santa Marta, so we just chilled on the beach and watched the sun go down.
Next stop was 10 minutes further along the coast to the beach town of Taganga. Its a really small place where diving is popular and cheap and the beachfront has small shacks serving fresh fish. We had already been recommended a hostel by Scottish Dave as he had already been here. Now the hostel has really good facilities, but Dave recommended it because he said you had to see the girl who runs the place´s boobs. I should probably explain, that Colombia has a really high rate for breast surgery, with many people coming from as far as the States for boob jobs. Apparantly its really really cheap here. Needless to say when we arrived at the hostel and the girl answered the door, it was pretty obvious we were talking to the same girl Dave had told us about and it was all we could
do to keep our smirks in check!
First port of call was to get some lunch, so we headed down the beach for a spot of fish. We asked to see the menu and the woman who runs the place wandered off...we assumed to get the menu. She came back holding a tray with several fresh fish on it....now thats the kind of menu you want, 3D! Then all you do is pick the size and type of fish you want, then she gives it to a fella who descales it right in front of you, cooks it up and hey presto....Red Snapper for lunch! The afternoon was pretty hectic, I had to get up off my hammock a couple of times to go to the toilet, which really upset my reading time!
The following day we were supposed to head out diving, but Chris has a serious bout of the turds (not good when you are sharing a small room and its 35 degrees....needless to say I didnt spend much time in the room) so we gave it a miss. I guess I could have gone out on my own, but had a shark come at me,
I would have felt a lot worse about pushing a stranger in front of me as protection, than if it had been Chris. So I spend some more time doing not a lot but playing guitar and reading!
After a couple of days with not much activity, I head of to Tayrona National park, leaving Chris back at the hostel, with his arse still enjoying a sort of honeymoon period with the porcelain throne in our room.
The national park was actually really cool, about 1 1/2 hours walk through the forest and you come to the first beach of Arrecifes. Which is absolutely gorgeous. A huge long golden sandy beach, with relentless waves crashing along the shore, best of all there was absolutely no other person on this beach! There is also a really cool rock formation at one end, which for those of you that have been to Abel Tasman in New Zealand looks a bit like split apple rock. Back into the forest and I head towards my stop fir the night, which is Cabo. En-route I spend a bit of time stalking these small vividly coloured blue-ish, green lizards...which is hard work as they
the Oldest Cathedral in Colombia.....
fortunately they got a little more creative after this! are nothing like the ones in the Galapagos islands, these little bastards run the minute you spot them! Likewise there are also hundreds of land crabs on the final path to Cabo. You can barely spot them, because as you head down the path they retreat back into their tunnels, you can hear them scurrying about though.
Cabo is a pretty simple arrangement of hammocks and a restaurant, on a secluded bay. So I hire out a hammock for the night and sleep under the stars, well I say sleep...they were all pretty close together so if you swung on it you ended up knocking into the fella on the hammock next to you!
The following day I take a ridiculously humid walk back through the forest to the entrance...damn I sweated so much that those Texas Double Whoppers I had back in Quito were easily burnt off! My time in the park on my own was pretty cool though, its good to have some time to yourself to gather your thoughts. I mean seriously, if Oranges are called Oranges , why arent Lemons and Limes named after their colours?! (I did ponder other such serious issues in
Taganga seafront....
nothing but fish huts! my time there...see people this is why I hate my own company!)
The one thing I wasnt sorry to leave behind when we left Taganga was the mosquitos...man alive, the little bastards destroyed my legs! At one point I counted 30 bites on my right foot and 33 on my left! (its fair to say they may have been having some form of contest!) Actually thats just reminded me...what did I do with those malaria pills?!
Next stop is Medellin. This is the vibrant city, that the famous Pablo Escobar ran his Colombian drug cartel from. Apparantly during his reign
he was responsible for the death of 30 judges, 457 police officers, numerous innocent people and a partridge in a pear tree! (well in fact the jury is still out on whether he is responsible for the partridge...I guess we´ll never know, apparantly they are struggling to find judges for this case!) Anyhoo, Medellin is now a vibrant party town that is working hard to move on from its troubles in the past. Apparantly it also has some of the most stunning women in South America....not that I could really confirm this, as it was the first couple
The fresh menu.....
much better than looking at a bit of card! of days at the Euros and so I spent most of the time there watching football! The one night we did go out was with some Argentinian lads, but it was pretty quiet. Apparantly they also have a bar here where midgets serve you drinks and they do cabaret shows dressed as Micheal Jackson and other such people! Out of choice I dont like seeing this kind of thing, personally I find it a little bit ghoulish and degrading. Plus it was closed on the night we went there.
On the day that we did venture out into the city, we headed up a cable car to the top of the city for some great views. (its not just a tourist attraction, the locals live on the hills so for them it is the easiest way to get to the top) As the cable car broke down when we were at the top, we decided we would walk down to the first station. On the way we had some lads shouting at us to get our attention. There were 2 lads behind us and another 2 to the side! Well instantly we took our tops off, a la England
see.....
didnt I choose wisely! hooligan style and started windmilling (swinging your arms about) into the pack whilst chanting c´mon you slags!!! Inger-land Inger-land Inger-land!!!!! So anyhoo it turns out that they just wanted us to help them with their English homework. Upon reflection, the savage bloodletting we inflicted upon them was probably a tad uneccessary, but I did their homework for them and all was forgiven. Chris did say that I shouldnt really aid them in cheating, but I always copied other peoples maths homework and it never did me any harm. So we said goodbye to the 5 of them and headed back down the hill.
After that we headed to Plaza Boltero to see the famous sculptures by the artist Boltero. You would recognise them if you saw them. (they are all unaturally curvy in their appearance) Then in the evening we had a BBQ back at the hostel, in wgich I may have overdone it on the food front and got the meat sweats! (Im nearly 30 people, when will I learn not to eat too much!!) Actually there is a real loud mouth American staying at the hostel....I really did want to inflict some savage bloodletting on this arsehole,
At long last...........
Brightons campaigning for a better ground had paid off! god he was annoying! The Aussie guy he was sharing a dorm with had us in fits of laughter though, when he explained that he was woken that morning by the American in the middle of the dorm screaming "I´ve had enough of this phony balony faggot fucking bullshit!" several times as loud as he could, before storming out of the room! FREAK.
Next stop after Medellin was 5 hours south to a coffee farm. The journey was actually pretty amusing. The farm is at the end of a long dirt track that taxis wont go up, and so you have to get a jeep part of the way. Of course that is unless you get a cabbie called John. This guy spoke really good english as his wife was American, and relished every minute of carving his way along the dirt track...at one point we heard carcking and popping under his wheels and had visions of having to get out and push him out of the mud! All he could say in response was "man this is fun!"
The farm was cool, it was set in a valley, right among fields of coffee and Plantanos (big bananas).
Tony Adams was on hand....
to open the Seagulls new stadium. The owners Hugo and Damaris were both very friendly and served us small cups of coffee at almost every available interval! They also had a really cool dog called Damian, who was always even more friendly when our meals were served...funny that. We spent the day chilling by the beautiful swimming pool and enjoying our surroundings, prior to Hugo giving us a tour around the coffee plant and showing us the process of how they make it. Oh man the smell of fresh coffee was awesome...we were in black gold heaven! He even showed us the two types of beans they have, good and not so good...the latter are the ones they keep in Colombia, as the better ones can be exported for more money!
Our last couple of days sees us heading back to the capital of Bogota. Its an 8 hour journey and the bus we do the ride in is actually a Mercedes van, so we figure it should be a bit faster than a bus. It starts out like any normal journey and then half way through it takes a bit of an unusual twist. The driver changes over at a stop we make and
All the heavenly glory!!!!
who needs floodlights........ gets the party started! Suddenly there are 1970's style blacklights on the bus...you know the purple looking lights, aned he puts on some kind of disco mix CD! He cranks out a bit of Boney M, Kool and the Gang and ABBA. He also played the Village People...always good to have a quick look around the van and see if you can spot the dyslexics! Im pretty sure the driver was wearing a pair of Lionels (flares) too! Now thanks to my mum, I pretty much grew up on a staple diet of Boney M, the Beatles and the Stones so I love all this old stuff...but when he started playing the Bee Gees...well you have to draw the line somewhere! (By the way Old Dear, what ever happened to your taste in music...Boney M and the Beatles to that middle of the road dross you listen to now like Westlife....what a load of old shit!)
Back in Bogota our hostel is crap. There is no hot water, and the drains are blocked so when you have a shower the water actually fills the room! Me and Chris also manage to block the only two toilets in the place!
the Bayview Hostel....
well camouflaged against the dusty hills! (Its fair to say we haven´t been eating the healthiest of foods!)
we do some cultural things like check out a Gold museum, that has artefacts dating back to pre-hispanic times and the Boltero art museum. We also go and check out a cathedral, that has been carved into a salt mine! Its underground and there are a cool series of tunnels a crosses carved into the walls along with a huge cavern area with an alter. It would be a cool place to have a party!
Next stop......Argentina!
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Nikki77
Red77
Looking forward to hearing from you in BA
Hi there, I've read your whole blog. I'm sitting here in my living room in Sydney planning my 6 month trip around the world. Will be spending about 2/3 months in South America and keep changing my mind about where to go but your blogs have really helped! I'll be arriving in December and now know I will make it to Rio for the Carnival. Will definitely go the Galapagos now too. Interested to hear your thoughts on Argentina as I have often heard it is some peoples favourite place!