Playa Koralia Santa Marta

Santa Marta<br><br>We left Cartagena early on Tuesday morning and boarded a 4 hour bus to Santa Marta. Thankfully it was not as humid as Cartagena and our first impressions were a bit better. However, Pa continued to panic on every turn. <br><br>We checked into our hostel and went for a walk around the city. Santa Marta is a popular holiday destination ...

... Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! Until the heat set in after the shower and then I wanted to die. Ha ha! No really, at 8:45pm it was 87 degrees and 80% humidity. My room had no windows and a fan that did not work that well.<br><br>Once I was ready to die of heat stroke, I wanted to find food. I was in the lobby and met Kiwi. He is an Irish guy that had just arrived so we went out to see what we could find. We found an ATM and a place to eat. Life was good until I went to bed in the hot box. It ...

... Beach, but we found out there weren't and so we decided to eat lunch and ride back to our hotel in time for some more R&amp;R at the preferred beach near Eco-Habs Resort. Had a good dinner since we now know to order fish and then spent some time watching fireflies &amp; lightning from our hut.

... people who had a private van were headed from the volcan to Santa Marta. For some reason the driver of the bus made us pay, which seemed weird after we figured out what was going on, since it seemed like he had been hired by these families to drive them around. We guessed he saw an opportunity to make a little extra on the side. But, for $20, we didn't care, and were on our way.<br><br ...

... s still came in and bit us alive all night. We stupidly were running out of repellent* and the whole trek was spent looking like we had the measles. That was one long night. My mind went to all sorts of places; worried about insects, worried about being kidnapped, you know the usual thing.<br><br>*On day 5 we realised that the insect repellent Pip had been carrying and using the whole time was in fact Insect Bite Relief. Oh how we laughed...<br>

... with a guitar and hand-drum while we all sat around with beers and tasted their cane liquor. A few young kids immediately became enthralled with Fran, and as soon as she took out her camera, she was swarmed by a whole group of kids, all wanting to see the pictures of themselves. After a few beers, we all went inside one of the houses, where Cicily had planned to come and make tamales. A local woman taught us how to prepare the tamales, and by this time we ...

... they were also paying the full rate! They too seemed to have been affected by the air or the water or something they had consumed in Locombia, as they entire time I was there they ate nothing but raw fruit and vegetables. When they were feeling crazy, they might (might!!) put a little bit of olive oil or honey on their meal. Some sort of purge diet apparently... Nor did they consume any form of intoxicating substance, or ...

... walk for about 200yds through the mud (carrying any luggage) to where some jeeps were waiting for us on the other side. The jeep drivers must have been pretty happy as they charged us all extra and crammed in as many people in as they could - along with several others I had to stand up on the back and hang on as we followed the winding roads down to the village! The next day I spent a full day visiting Tierradentro with Erwann (French) Carmen (Brazillian) and their little boy Miles. They ...

... da ricordare, quando un po' piu' giovane era anche lui... in cavallo fino in Ecuador. Abbiamo contrattato un viaggio in jeep fino ad altri siti archeologici e ad un cascata. Mattina presto e uova in padella. Poi acquisto di caffe' al mercato: finalmente del caffe' di queste parti, macinato davanti ai nostri occhi... ma il sapore....chissa'. Dovremo spedire tutto a casa al piu' presto. Dapo giro, ma ridotto per assenza di altri turisti con cui ...

... Apparently she started school when she was about three, both reading and writing, and University at the age of 14. Except for that, she seem to have been around the world several times, and speaks a myriad of languages. Makes me feel like the broken rusty old screwdriver in the toolbox. Oops, is that a flat tire? "Anibal, how do we fix a puncture up here in the mountains? I haven't seen a soul around for hours." Turns out that Anibal has been around before. He got most ...