Cartagena & the Caribeen coast

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  Cartagena, Colombia
Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Hello all, I hope everyone is well?? I have had a pretty lazy couple of weeks in Columbia, spent the time having a wander around Cartagena and up the Caribbean coast to Taganga and the National park, Tayrona.
The flight to Cartagena was seamless, we arrived to a wave of heat as we disembarked the plane which is always nice, felt like I was on my holidays again. The familiar sounds of ghekos echoing in the distance made it all very exciting to be here. The humidity also hit us as we walked to the terminal before negotiating with the taxi driver for a ride into town. We had booked a hostel/hotel before hand in the old town so it was nice to know we had somewhere fairly decent to stay on the first night. The old town was bustling with Saturday night fever when we arrived, musicians playing salsa music in the nearby plaza, street vendors selling everything from jewelery to Cuban cigars and locals playing chess on street corners all combined into one great party atmosphere

Cabo beach, Park Tayrona

! We immediately threw our bags in and set about finding a local cafe for a much needed cold beer to quench the thirst, thirsty work this traveling you know.
The next day we just wandered around the labyrinth of narrow streets with beautiful colonial architecture, large buildings with wooden carved balconies, sixteenth century cathedrals and museums make this city a very photogenic place to visit. The wall large wall that surrounds the city also makes it very safe place to be. The moment you set foot outside however it is a different story. Walk towards the Getsemani area and its almost a different city which to be honest I liked it alot. The locals selling on the streets, cafes set up on street stalls, fresh juice stalls, vegetable markets and the smell of sausages and chicken been cooked all set your taste buds going wild. There is also a little air of danger about the place, on more than one occasion I witnessed the police bundle people into cars and street fights are quite common. Over all though I felt quite safe and if you apply the usual big city awareness you will be ok.
The next day we jumped on an organised tour to the local mud volcano, here you get the chance to jump into high density mud up to your eyeballs, get a massage, well a rub down and then after all that have the locals scrub the dry mud off you in the local blue(grey) lagoon. When I jumped in it felt very weird, I was floating in a large bath of mud with a load of other back packers firing mud at each other like kids but the real reason we were all here was we were "informed", it was good for your skin

Cartagena, old town

. Yes were all vein in some way or form. I got out mud dripping from everywhere and headed for the lagoon, I was greeted by a local lady who immediately set about scrubbing the mud off me, then she said off with the shorts, I duly obliged, I wasn't going to mess with her. She scrubbed the head off me, I felt like I was been washed by my mother again when I was 2 or something, very funny experience. After my scrub we had some fruit and then we all had lunch together on this rather grey beach with swarms of pelicans patrolling the shore looking for their lunch time feast. We hooked up with a girl from Liverpool called Bearnie or Beeeaannie as she said in her strong Liverpool/Irish accent, Bernie if your reading this I´m only pulling you leg! 
We then caught a bus to Taganga a lovely little fishing village on the outskirts of Santa Marta town. We checked into our hostel which was right on the beach and had a bite to eat before going for a dip. On closer inspection the water seemed quite dirty and full of washed up debris, so I quickly got out and opted to sit on the beach and watch the sunset which was amazing. The next morning we took a couple of buses to Park Tayrona, beautiful national park on the Cari been coast with lots of white sandy beaches and good hikes if you feel the urge. We walked into the park which took about 45 mins and then a further 45 mins to Cabo beach which is where we would base ourselves for the next few days. I caught a nasty stomach bug along the way so the next few days for me were literally lying on the beach not been able to walk too far from the toilet in case of an emergency. Cabo beach was really nice, the facilities at the beach could have been a little better, 4 toilets for 150 people doesn't really work and hammocks placed beside the restaurant area didn't really work either. We managed to get some hammocks in the mirador (lookout) area which was really cool. The couple of days flew by in Park Tayrona and by the end of it I was starting feel a bit better

La Picina beach, Park Tayrona

.
I left Clodgah and Bernie in the park and headed back towards Cartagena for a couple of days to sort out my boat to Panama. I had emailed lots of companies before I went to Tayrona so I had an idea of what dates there was boats going. I'm booked on a boat tomorrow that will take 5 days to get there. We stop off at group of secluded islands called the Sandblas which are meant to be amazing. I´m looking forward to that. I have been hearing from lots of other travelers that Panama and Costa Rica are a wee bit on the expensive side so I may head to Nicaragua for a week or so if I get the time. I´ll see how it goes in the next couple of weeks.
Columbia for me has been a real surprise, I have really enjoyed it, I would certainly recommend people to come here, all the political instability and crime you read about in the news doesn't really help this country and I´m sure in years to come that will change for the better and tourists will flock here.
Thats it for now, I will update more when I get through Panama and into Costa Rica which will be my final stop, cant believe it has gone so quick. Until next time, take care,

Mark
PS thanks again for the messeges and sorry I havent replied to people sooner, I promise I will do eventually.

                                           
     
                                        

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Local buses, Cartagena

Sunset, Cartagena

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