Colombia Part Two

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Hello all,

Picking up where I left off during my last entry . . . we flew to Cartegena, which is a beautiful city on the Carribean coast of Colombia. We spent an afternoon there walking around, checking out the beautiful architecture of the city. All the buildings in the old town are very colourful and Spanish-influence. After walking around the old town, we went to go see the fort that the Spanish built to keep invaders out the city. It was extremely impressive, one of those things that make you wonder how they built such a structure without modern equipment. The fort actually extends out under the water in order to keep boats out. We stayed at a fun hostel, the "Holiday Hotel", and met some really nice Aussies and Brits that we shared a few drinks with and exchanged travel stories with.

After Cartegena we headed to Parque Tayrona. Tayrona National Park is absolutely stunning. However, to get there was definately a bit of a trek! We caught a bus to the entrance of the park without much drama, but we got to the entrance at 5:02 and they wouldn't let us in (closing time was 5:00). So, we had to walk about 2 km down the road with our backpacks to a private campground, where we spent the night in hammocks. It actually turned out to be quite nice as there were only two other people at the campground and we never even saw them. We had a beautiful stretch of beach to ourselves, and the owners made us a wonderful fish dinner. The next day we went back to the park entrance and were successful at getting in! Next challenge was to get to the actual campground, which is a two hour hike (again, with our big backpacks). We rented horses for about $15 CAD to get us there, money well spent. We then spent three nights at the campground. Randomly, in the tent next to us were Adriene and Nico, two French guys that we had met in Villa de Neyva. Small world! The next three days we hung out with Adriene and Nico at the beach and went on hikes. One day we hiked to the "pueblito", this little village about 1.5 hours away from the campground that only one indigineous family still lives at. It was extremely challenging, with lots of massive rocks you need to hop over. Think the Grouse Grind, but harder, in 35 degree heat, and with no beer at the top. 😊 That day we also decided to hike out of the park instead of rent horses, so I was quite tired by the time we got to Tanganga. A few beers were in order (especially since at the park they sold them for about $2.5 CAD, and everyone else in Colombia they're about $1.10).

Taganga is a small fishing village outside of Santa Marta, another larger city on the Carribean coast. We opted to stay in Taganga as both Aaron and I prefer to stay in smaller places (easier to get to know the locals, usually less dangerous, less crowded). Taganga was a great place to spend a couple of days, had we had more time we would have liked to stay longer. On the first day we hiked over to this deserted beach that Adrien and Nico had told us about, where there was a little makeshift restaurant. So laid back, in fact, that we had to ask the guy hanging out there if that was indeed the restaurant, he didn't even try to sell us lunch when we got to the beach. We had fresh fish and the beach all to ourselves except for the guy running the restaurant. (Well, and a cat that seemed to live on the beach, that was very interested in trying to steal our fish from us. We gave him our leftovers.) At night, we had dinner with a group from the hostel and hung out in the hammocks. The next day we got a fisherman to take us over to an island off the coast of Taganga, and we swam in the water and tanned while he caught fish with a spear! When we got back to the village we bought a big fish and barbequed it back at the hostel. We stayed at "Casa de Filipe", a french-run hostel that was amazing. It is one of the best hostels I've been to anywhere . . . tonnes of hammocks in the common area to hang out in while chatting with other travellers, cheap drinks, very clean, very helpful staff and reasonable prices. If you ever go to Taganga, I would definately recommend it.

The next day, we flew to Bogota and then spent one more night there. So cold compared to the coast! The next day, I flew to Quito and Aaron flew back to Vancouver.

And that's Colombia! 😊 I will miss Colombia and one day would like to go back. The beaches there blew me away . . until I visited Colombia I had always thought that the beaches in Boca del Toro, Panama were the best I have had the privledge of seeing, but Parque Tayrona proved me wrong! While getting to the park was a challenge, those that make the journey are rewarded by pristine, uncrowded beaches. And again, the people are so hospitable and happy to have tourists there.

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Photos

Beach outside Parque Tayrona
Where we spent our first night when they wouldn't let us in the park . . . blessing in disguise, we has this amazing beach to ourselves!