Coastal Tripping
Trip Start
Sep 13, 2004
1
19
25
Trip End
Apr 30, 2005
Cartagena,
Colombia
Sunday, January 23, 2005
After our last correspondence we left Cartagena for a few nights to explore the nearby coastline. Unfortunately, unbeknownst to us non-Catholics, we were attempting to travel on another holiday (epiphany?) and we were unable to find a boat willing to take us to our destination of Isla Grande. We finally hooked up with a couple of others with the same destination and the four of us along with 4 or 5 locals piled into a land cruiser to go the first stretch of the journey. In the developed world this vehicle would have been abandoned long ago but here it was deemed fit for travel. The hatchback was propped open with a stick and after a rather violent bump in the road the whole door fell off the vehicle as the hinges had finally given in to the rust. Thankfully no one was injured (with the exception of the driver's pride).
After boarding a boat to cross the channel we arrived that afternoon on Isla Grande and checked into a couple of hammocks for two days of sun and snorkeling. On day three we left Isla Grande for Playa Blanca, a nearby beach on the mainland. Turned out to be one of those postcard spots, white sand, coconut palms, turquoise water the whole bit. A bit crowded but otherwise top drawer. We stayed the night before returning to Cartagena the next afternoon.
Back in Cartagena we tried unsucessfully to locate a ride to Panama before leaving town for Santa Marta and nearby Parque Tayrona, four hours east along the coast. Parque Tayrona is a beautiful strip of small coves, beaches and reefs bordered by coconut palms and dense jungle. Again, accomodations were of the hammock variety and food was almost exclusively fried fish. (We have yet to find seafood prepared otherwise here.) We spent three nights in the park and even met a firefighter from beautiful Steveston, BC whom we hustled at Hearts. We then returned to Santa Marta and spent a couple of nights just outside the city in a small village and a great hostal run by a French ex-pat. (Iteresting aside: almost all of the great hostals we have found so far on this trip are run by European ex-patriots and their Latinamerican spouses.)
We are now back in Cartagena and are once again looking for a ride to Panama via sailboat. Hoping to depart before the end of the month.
Our experience with Colombia has been very interesting. It seems to be a very misunderstood and dicotomous country. It has an international reputation as one of the most dangerous countries in the world as a result of the long ongoing armed conflict between military and paramilitary troops. For this reason many of the travellers we had met in the Andean nations on an itinerary similar to ours had or were planning to skip Colombia by flying from Quito to Panama City.
The problems in Colombia are very real and while we haven't seen any evidence of conflict we don't doubt that there are parts of the country (largely in the South) where paramilitary control and cocaine production are a part of everyday life. However, after spending some time here and talking to a few locals and other travellers it is clear that the average Colombian does not live with these effects and is largely frusterated the perception of their contry as a dangerous war zone and cocaine stronghold on the behalf of the international community. Our experiences so far confirm the misconception. Police and military presence here is less than it was in Ecuador or Bolivia and we have yet to meet another traveller that has had serious theft or curruption troubles here (in great contrast to Peru and Ecuador where most had at least one such story).
Colombia is no utopian paradise. The country suffers from the same ills as most others in the region: Government corruption, huge income disparity, fiscal instability, crime and all those other symptoms plaguing the nations we've visited. Gringos too aren't treated any better here than in neighbouring countries (there is an unwritten rule here that white people be charged twice the price for anything that can be got away with). The food is still bad and the water undrinkable. But none of these negatives are any worse than those we've found other countries we've visited. And Colombia is not without its redeeming qualities: incredible coffee, great climate, tasty rum and unparalleled fruit in both quality and variety (ever tried lulo?) Our experience here has so far been a pretty positive one and we would urge others headed this way to reconsider the warnings and caveats from guidebooks and travel agents and give Colombia a try. And if your bus gets stopped by guerrillas in the middle of the night and they take everything you own, including your Birkenstocks and UBC Ice Hockey ball cap, blame Julie.
The stuff Pete leftout!! Pete, while doing a great job with our feelings about Columbia, left out some key details about the past few weeks.
First of all the beaches: Oh man... they are unreal, I've seen the post cards and the pictures of Carribean water and sand, but they do the real thing no justice (as is the case we are finding with most things). Really, they blow my mind, so beautiful and pristine. I doubt that we will ever find a more perfect beach than the ones in Parque Tayrona.
Second the snorkeling: We havn't yet been to any of the fantastic snorkeling sites yet, but already we've seen an octapus, a sting ray, I saw an eel, sea cucumbers the size of cats, amazing and very interesting coral, plus a whole bunch of colored, tropical fish... carrying our masks and snorkels through all of South America is finally paying off.
Food: Yes the fruit and coffee are fantastic and we are both hooked on the small, steaming hot cups of "tinto" that is sold on every street corner for about ten cents. Pete mentioned the fried fish... well you get the whole fish, head, tail, fins the works, they pop it into the deep frier and then right onto your plate (often the fish is as big as your plate) with some coconut rice, beans and maybe some veggies, all served with fresh lime. We have become very skilled at riping apart the little suckers with our hands and sucking clean the bones.
Accomodations: Sleeping in a hammock takes practice. Sleeping in a hammock while trying to avoid mosquito bites takes even more practice.
And to set the record straight it was I who cleaned up in hearts... I beat those guys with a brillant last hand where I come from behind with control...
I am feeling ready to leave Columbia, I like it here, but I am ready to explore what awaits us in Central America. My one complaint about Columbia is the men. While in every country we've visited, I get the occaisional comment if I walk alone on the streets, here I can't go anywhere without "hey baby"or "hey you beautifull woman" or some other comment, even when I walk with Pete... once a guy on the street kissed me and grabbed my breast! Normally I have no problem ingnoring it all, but here the men are much more aggressive and it is starting to get on my nerves.
Hope all is well at home.
Love,
Pete and Julie
