Easter in Santa Marta

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Day 177 Thursday 5^th April

Cartagena is a city of 3 parts, there is the touristy old city which we have been staying in, there is the working city where all the locals live and work in, and then there is the flashy beachside area that resembles the Gold Coast. We had often looked across the bay from the fortified walls of the old town at the huge glistening high rises that appeared more threatening to the ancient town than Francis Drake and his squadron of frigates. We only hope that common sense prevails and keeps the glass monsters away from the old town. Today was going to be the day we ventured around the bay to see what may lay on that side of the world but in the end we just love the old town so much that we just couldn’t be bothered.

After breakfast instead of getting a taxi over to the new town we went for a walk again and thought we would check out the souvenir stalls. A section of the old fortified walls were converted into a large collection of souvenir stalls but the bulk of the stuff was either very expensive or just the usual collection of tourist junk. It is so hard to pick up something that fits our criteria of unique inexpensive and easily packed in our backpacks, we are getting to the point that we think that no such thing exists. After wandering around for a while we realised how empty the streets are and when we asked back at the hotel we discovered that today is a public holiday. Thankfully a lot of shops were still open and nearly every restaurant was and it soon became apparent that it was a bit of a family feast day. Decide to join in and we stopped at a street café for a slow feed and a beer.

Had our usual couple of hours back at the hotel to escape the afternoon sun before heading out again to Café Del Mar. This is a huge bar/café that sits on the western tip of the town’s wall and has great views up and down the coast as well as out to sea for the sunset. Luckily we got there by 5.30 and got a great table with a view, and although it was overcast so we couldn’t watch the sunset it was still a good place to end our stay in Cartagena. The drink prices were horrendous as would be expected but there was live music and it was well worth it.



Day 178 Friday 6^th April

On the move again so we were up at 6.00am to pack our bags and have breakfast by 9.00am. We were told that the bus would be here at 10.00am but needed to be ready by 9.00 in case of changes to the schedule. Of course there were changes to the schedule as it is Good Friday and due to the procession at Plaza Del Santo Domingo the road was blocked getting in, so we had to pick up our backpacks and walk to the road outside the Old Town walls. One of the staff from the hotel walked with us and helped carry our two small day packs and waited with us to hale down the correct minivan. We ended up going around the world picking other people up till we were full in our crammed little bus. We had a guy who was coughing and snotting like he was about to die, we had a mother with a small baby and another who looked 9 months pregnant; all we needed was a nun with a guitar and we had the makings of an Irwin Allen disaster movie. It is only 4 hours to Santa Marta but our driver could have been the captain of the Poseidon. The van was a heap and the driver had to continuously start every time the engine stopped even whilst flying down the highway. About 1 hour from Santa Marta it started to pour rain and the streets quickly flooded, but this did not stop our driver from having an in depth chat on his mobile. At one point we were flying up on a taxi that was stopped in the middle of the road with its hazard lights on, which all the passengers could clearly see but not our driver. Luckily just before I screamed swerve he realised and did just that, thankfully most of the trip was relatively safe.

The driver who now was co-driver as we picked up the new driver along the way showed us on the map where he was going to drop us off which was only about 4 blocks from our hotel. On with our backpacks and walking a new town, unfortunately this one is not as picturesque as Cartagena and on first impression a bit rundown.

We found our hotel which is nice and the room is on two levels with a bathroom and small sitting room downstairs and a loft upstairs with the edge of the floor very close of the bed. We dropped our bags off and went for a walk to the beach area and the restaurants for a lunch/dinner. The whole area was packed and we eventually chose a café across from the beach, the food ended up being OK and the fish I had was fresh. Note I had fish on Good Friday had forgotten about it till Scott pointed it out – but Mum and Nan would be happy with me. After we walked across to the beach and I use this term loosely as it is a port town with coal being loaded onto ships plus an array of other shipping at the end of the beach. The sand on the beach is black and we are not sure if it is naturally black sand or a mixture of coal and oil, but this did not stop the locals from having a good time. The whole beach was packed and everyone covered in mud (black sand), we brought a beer and sat there watching the events and sights in front of us. At 5.30 we headed back to the hotel for a while and then went to the Plaza de la Catedral to watch the proceedings for Good Friday. By about 8.00 we decided to go back to the hotel as the day’s journey was starting to catch up on us.



Day 179 Saturday 7^th April

Hard to pull ourselves out of bed this morning but another great adventure awaits us – breakfast, the last hotel was good but who knows. As it turned out it was also good with fresh fruit and scrambled eggs and bread freshly toasted, a first in Colombia, this hotel is a very tranquil spot. We have decided to check out the local tour operators to see if we will do Ciudad Perdida (The Lost City) which is a 5 day hike. As we walked the streets here you could not get a town more different from Cartagena the buildings are not as grand which we had read, but it is a lot to do with the streets which are very run down. It is definitely not a resort town and other than a stopping off point to other places, not a holiday destination but we are here 4 days so we may change our opinions. We visit 3 tour companies, the first place Turcol were flat out speaking to us and just put a folder in front of us that had less information than we already knew so we walked out. The second one Guias-Baquianos the lady was very helpful and informative so a possibility and the third Magic Tour was also helpful so we now just have to decide if we want to trek for 5 days in the hot and humid jungle sleeping in hammocks. The prices are all the same at all the tour companies 600,000 pesos ($325 Aussie) each and the itinerary is identical and you may end up joining the other tour groups.

We went for a long walk around the town and dropped in at a very small craft market and saw the beach area at the opposite end of the port which from a distance appeared to have white sand. About 1.15pm we were hot and sweaty so we stopped at a great café called Lulo that had fantastic wraps and smoothies, plus fans to cool us down.

We spent the late afternoon relaxing and reading at the hotel and trying to discuss whether to do this hike or not. Later in the evening we went back to the area we had lunch and discovered this street (Carrera 3ra) is bustling in the evening and for about 4 blocks is full of bars and restaurants. This area is definitely more interesting and fun than the beachfront, but most of it is closed during the day so it does not stand out.



Day 180 Sunday 8^th April

Easter Sunday and we were up at 6 so we could get a good seat in church for the Sunday mass…..as if. Had planned on sleeping in till those noisy neighbours of ours started clanging their bloody bells first thing in the morning and then repeated the cacophony every 30 minutes. The racket may have worked on guilty minds but not mine, I just swore at them and rolled over and went to sleep. Got up at 8.30 and then had a slow start to the day, starting with a really good breakfast, and a surprisingly great coffee. Needed our clothes done but we couldn’t find any laundry in town and so had to settle for the hotel doing it which is expensive at 2,000 pesos ($1.10) per item but we didn’t have much of a choice. Didn’t expect anything open today in town because of it being “that day” but incredibly everything was open and the streets were packed with shoppers. We had sort of made our minds up to do the trek to Ciudad Perdida but thought before we would commit we would see if we could pick up some supplies and equipment for the journey. This was sort of a gentle way to sucker ourselves into doing it, and we started with a supermarket down the road where we bought stuff like an extra towel, water, toilet paper, etc. We then went out and picked up a pair of sandals for both of us for wading across rivers. Shelley hadn’t brought any and mine had fallen apart in Rio so it was a fairly essential to the trek. Went searching for a midsize backpack as our main packs are too large and our day packs are too small. Discovered all the packs on sale in town were expensive and crap. Most of what we looked at had broken zippers and torn seams which wouldn’t be much good for a 5 day trek in the jungle. Dropped in at one of the tour agencies to ask a few more questions and to find out where we may pick up a bag.

Went back to our room where we got our laundry back and spent an hour or so surfing the net and trying to figure out if we were going to do this or not. We soon realised that we really needed a half size backpack and so went out and picked up one at a nearby shop that had a tear in it but should get us through. We still hadn’t quite made our mind up but after all this expense we were sort of now committed, I mean how could we back out now! We wandered back down to the town beach and found a café where we could discuss our folly over a coke and in the end sort of agreed we would do it – “in for a penny in for a pound”

Spent an hour back in the room looking at what we needed to take with us before heading down town for dinner. Picked up a good feed at yet another restaurant, which was one of the few open on this holy day.



Day 181 Monday 9^th April

We headed back to the tourist office which is closest to our hotel, although I was starting to get a bad vibe about this one but thought all the groups join up anyway. The guy working there had tried to persuade us to book in yesterday as he only worked weekends, but when we arrived this morning he was there. We said we would do the trek and would like to pay with credit card and he replied that the machine was not working and it would be better with cash. As we were not happy with this he grabbed our card and “tried” the machine and said sorry it is not working, maybe we could go to the bank and get cash, it seemed he did not want us to pay with credit. We walked out and around the block discussed this as it would mean 4 transactions as we only seem to be able to get 300,000 out at a time, with each transaction costing us. So we went back told him no and went to Guias-Baquianos Tours who only were too happy to take our credit card and we are now booked in for tomorrow so we will not be posting a blog or be contactable for 5 days. The credit card concern we have is that the card machine where we booked did not print out a credit card receipt and just came out blank, but he said it went through OK.

So back at our room we did an initial pack for tomorrow checking we had everything we need and hoping our cheapie backpack will hold together for 5 days. We seem to have everything so went to Lulo’s for another great lunch we decided we need all our strength for this trek. After we went to the Museo del Oro which is a small museum containing artefacts mainly jewellery from Ciudad Perdida and other local areas. We are trying to get as much info on where we are going as the guides only speak Spanish so their lengthy explanations will be lost on us.

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Photos

Cartagena
Colonial Street

Cartagena
Govenor Building

Cartagena
Shelley at Cafe Del Mar

Cartagena
Walls of Old Town

Cartagena
Scott at Cafe Del Mar

Santa Marta
The Town Beach

Santa Marta
Easter Holiday Fun on the Beach

Santa Marta
Good Friday Mass at the Catedral

Santa Marta
Simon Bolivar Plaza

Comments

[traudy glasencnik]

Jungle fever!!!!
Sounds awfully exciting!! Hammocks and all. You sure have a funny way of convincing yourselves, slowly, slowly, HOOKED! Hope you had fun. I'm looking forward to the read. xx