The best beach in the World!

Trip Start Jan 03, 2007
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Trip End Nov 03, 2007


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Flag of Colombia  ,
Saturday, September 29, 2007

Plans can change massively when youre travelling, a fact demonstrated by my time in northern Columbia. Originally I had hoped to spend about a month up there, a week or so in Cartagena and then 3 weeks on the beach at Tyrona National Park, Taganga, the city of Santa Martha and the Ciudad Perdida (Lost City) trek. Then maybe head to the capital Bogota, Venezuala, or Panama.

What actaully happened was that I arrived in Cartegena with Luke and Ash, didnt particularly like the overcrowded city, and decided to head off the following day to Santa Martha to get to the tropial beaches without further ado. I picked up 2 Irish girls on the way, and hung out with them becoming a free Spanish teacher for a few days as they were both completely 'inutil' (useless). Luke and Ash headed straight off as I guess they wanted some alone time, and I was left to look after the others A new 'road canal'
A new 'road canal'
 !

After a few days we headed to the Tayrona National Park, which i had heard very good things about. It involves an hour's walk through the jungle before finally coming to the most beautiful beach Ive ever seen. We only spent 2 nights there, sleeping in hammocks and then I had to get back and check my e-mails (as I had to meet other friends somewhere). Probably for the best as the mozzies there are amongst the most hostile Ive ever seen...

After returning to Santa Martha and checking my mails, I had a few days to kill, so I took a 5 minute cab ride to a nearby fishing village of Taganga (which apparently had an outbreak of Dengue Fever), and stayed there for a couple of nights, met some more nice people and did a couple of dives before heading back.

Here's when the plan changed... I had to go back to Cartagna to see off my friend Sarah who Id met all the way back in Sucre, Bolivia, had a few great nights out there, and would have returned to do the Lost City treck, but for an offer I received one morning of sailing to Panama on a really nice yacht the following day. So basically I went for that instead.

There is oviously some truth in the stories you hear about Columbia, but predominantly these are a thing of the past, and I feel now is the best time to go, as the locals are so friendly to tourists and the prices and crime rate hasnt inflated yet. Altogether its probably my second favourite country after Argentina, a must see!!!
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