Week 19 Santa Marta to Medellin
Trip Start
Aug 01, 2007
1
31
69
Trip End
Dec 19, 2008
Tayrona,
Colombia
Friday, December 14, 2007
Dec 7th Santa Marta to Tagonga
The beaches aren't that great here in Santa Marta. Nice coastal town which reminds me of a coastal town in England with a big promenade where couples and teenagers walk around (apart from the hot weather, beautiful girls, scruffy stalls, clean water..ok, its nothing like England really). Everyone I'm with (including me) is on a beach buzz at the moment (the hunt for a decent beach is on...) so Me, Mick and Andre and a German fella we'd only just met waiting on the street decided to share the short taxi ride (10 mins and $2.50) to Tagonga where the beaches are apparently good.
Arrived in Tagonga and checked into the Hostal de Felipe (dorm bed at $6...outrageous). Tagonga is even more laid back than Santa Marta with a real Carribean feel. The main part of town runs along the beach front with a long line of local bars, restaurants and shops. Today every local seems to be out and about getting lashed on 'Aguila' (cheap local bottled beer) as its a national holiday. Tonight every household in Colombia will light candles outside their homes to celebrate the coming of Christmas (Sweet Jesus...what are they going to be like on Xmas day?).
Hearing that there's a really nice beach about 25 mins walk away everyone walked over the hills and cliffs to get there. Nice views durin the walk and the beach is ok (good for a swim, sunbathe and chilling). Had a fair sized freshly caught fish for lunch ($5) then did nothing all day. Alot of Colombian familyies about today so the beach was pretty packed.
Tagonga, Colombia
There are some strange local fellas who walk around offering massages. I tried to explain every time they came round to ask us that we all feel more comfortable getting massaged by a female of the species (for some strange reason they didn't get it).'When in Colombia, do as the Colombians do', so after buying 2 litres of rum (the good stuff apparently) everyone at the hostel lit a candle at 10pm and we drank rum and coke into the night (joining the celebrations were Me, Paul (an English fella really into Battlefield 2), Karsten (the German fella), Mick and Andre). Needeless to say drinking 2 litres of rum and coke between 5 of us at a pace that would have had Ollie Reed smiling. Hate to admit it but I was the first to drop out after nearly keeling over in the patio chairs. Wishing everyone a happy birthday (apparently) I headed back to my dorm bed and crashed onto (not into) my mosquito net. The mosquitos had a celebration of their own that night...and probably had the same hangover I did the next day.
Dec 8th Tagonga
Never gonna drink rum again..ever. After a late rise I needed the cool seawater to wake up properly and to relieve my itchy body after a night of mosquito feeding frenzy.
Pretty much slept all day in the shade only waking to drink water and swim. Alot more people here today. All the weekenders from Santa Marta and surrounding areas are piling in for the weekend of partying.
Tonight it was decided that Me, Mick, Andre and Karsten were going out on the town.
Tagonga sunset
Catching a cab to Santa Marta and specifically the bar 'La Puerta' we all grabbed a table near the dancefloor for a good view and short enough distance to sprint for a dance if need be. By 11 the place was heaving and the ideally situated table turned out to be a liability of people knocking over our beers and falling over us so we abandoned it and moved around to socialise. Bumping into the girl that works the desk at the hostel we joined her and her weird mates (they all hate blokes) for the evening. In general they were nice enough to talk to and one of them luckily spoke English. For over an hour all the girls talked about was how jealous and possessive Colombian blokes were. I did mention that Colombian women were exactly the same. In revenge later in the night they all claimed I look like Phil Collins (gutted..and its not the first time it's been said to me either).Durin the only major attempt by everyone to hit the dancefloor and only after 1 minute of dancing a Colombian fella decided to run through the dancefloor and spray vomit on everyones head as he made a dash to the toilet. This was enough to stop even the hardiest dancer (they really do love a boogy...more so than the Mexicans even).
Poor Karsten with his Arian good looks (a blond version of Boris Becker) was singled out by a middle aged woman all night and she became a stalker within just 5 minutes of seeing him..he didn't like her at all (mind you it didn't help that we all secretly told her he fancied her).
The night finished off with a slice of dodgy looking pizza at a local stall and a taxi back to Tagonga.
Santa Marta, Colombia
All in all a good night.Dec 9th Tagonga
Ok, there can't always be stuff to write about. Today was real alcohol and healthy eating recovery day. Went to the beach for a couple of hours and then back to the hostel. On the way to the beach noticed that the Colombians are still at it. It's getting messier though with blokes sleeping in a beer fuelled dream world on chairs outside the bars (even with their girlfriends regularly trying to shake them awake to save their embarrassment).
Said cheerio to Andre today. He's off to catch the night bus to Medallin (15 hours). I need to do the same journey at some point but definately won't take the night bus, mainly becasue I like to see the sights and views as we go past and also for security (its abit riskier at night).
Dec 10th Santa Marta to Tayrona National Park
Time to leave the relaxed Tagonga behind and head for Tayrona National Park. Mick and Karsten are joining me for this trip.
First a taxi to Santa Marta and dropped off my pack at the Hostal Familiar. I carryied only a limited amount of stuff with me..theft and robberies can happen so the only thing of value was my camera. Me and the gang stocked up on food and water because Tyrona is pretty limited in supplies and what they have costs alot. I spent about $40 on tinned tuna, biscuits, bread, fruit, peanuts, chocolate and water (no alcohol allowed to be taken into the park!!). Then it was a long walk to where the minibus leaves from and caught the $2 bus to the Park's entrance (1 hour).
Then a shockingly expensive $12 entrance fee was paid and a just as shockingly search by an army guard..he even check every cigarette in my sealed packets (drugs, weapons and alcohol are the main worries here).
Tagonga at night
The fella even kindly showed us a newly seized bag of weed (no kidding it was about half a kg) from his pocket. Didn't want to risk anything by asking how much he wanted for it.Then followed a 30 minute ride from the park entrance to the Tyrona hike starting point.
From there (and remembering that I'm carrying a day pack, 5 litres of water and 10 kilos of food) was a 2 hour hike through some stunning tropical forest (saw loads of little monkeys). Some of the path was so muddy the locals had put down coconut shells as a walkway (ingenious). Mosquitos were quite ferocious here so I couldn't even have a decent rest for fear of being eaten alive. After about an hour the walk continued along a huge stretch of beautiful beach and rocky outcrops. I was sweating like a pig in a sauna and everything was drenched by the time I got there.
Totally ignoring the need to find somewhere to sleep I just ran into the sea to cool off. Accomodation is very limited at El Copa (the part of the coast we all decided to stay at) and so the only options were tents (nobody had a tent so hiring a 2 man tent was $30 a night for 2), hammocks near the restaurant ($7 a night) and finally hammocks in a small half open hut on top of a hill ($10 a night...bit pricey but worth it). The hill is on a small peninsular overlooking the sea...class. From my hammock I had a view of the sea durin the day and huge sky with big bright stars at night.
What was left of the day was spent splashing about in the sea, sunbathing and in general just admiring the beautiful views.
Santa Marta Xmas decorations
The waters pretty cool and choppy with huge boulders breaking the water so no heroic swimming done here.Dinner was a packed lunch of tuna, bread, an apple and some biscuits. I checked the restaurants menu just in case but a simple pasta cost $4.5 so I'm boycotting it. Just a small bottle of water costst $2.50...liberties.
After dinner I sat on the beach and admired the beautiful and big sky. The stars are just so crisply bright and big here. Saw Orions belt and what looked like Scorpio and quite a few shooting stars.
Tonight was going to be my first night sleeping in a hammock for years so I was pretty excited about it. Putting on my MP3 player's earphones I swayed in the hammock listening to some Van Morrison, Pink Floyd and Lynard Skynard staring at the stars.
Dec 11th Parque Nacional Tyrona
Ok, so for me sleeping in a hammock isn't all it's cracked up to be...especially in gale force winds tearing in from the sea. It was nice enough but late at night it got cold and uncomfortable. There are plus points though.. the views are amazing with the view of the sunset, the sound of the crashing waves nearby and the fact that your sleeping outdoors (kind of).
Apparently this park is where Steve McQeen fell in love with the Guajira Indians after filming Papillon.
Went for a 7am swim which soon refreshed me after last nights lack of sleep and then a rationed breakfast from my supplies.
Around 11am Me and the German fella (Karsten, the German teacher) set off for the hike to a lost village called Pueblito.
La Puerta club, Mick tries his luck
It was a pretty tough hike through jubgle and over small rivers and boulders but the scenery was amazing. Saw loads of lizards, various ants (beavering away at carrying big pieces of freshly cut leaves) but no monkeys.The ruins themselves are extremely old and judging by the sign in Spanish dating back to 450bc. A few locals live and work around the ruins dressed in pretty cool long white trousers and white matching tops, held together with a rope.
Had another go at a real tarzan swing on the way back using a real vine and a decent height. Back to the beach for a cooldown after the 3 hour walk.
Later in the evening played quite a few rounds of shithead with Mick and Karsten and downed a few beers (well deserved after the walk).
Dec 12th Parque Nacional Tyrona
Got abit more sleep last night and have sort of mastered the art of hammock sleeping. The trick is not to lie straight but at an angle which keeps the body straight (easier said than done but definately more comfy). After the habitual swim to wake up and wash I went for a stroll to the last beach. Saw the strange sight of a bald couple naked on the beach doing some nudy sunbathing and a gang of local fishermen nearby (quite obviously pretending to fish whilst doing some voyeuring...and as proof they had caught nothing when I checked on my way back).
Had a final swim (todays the last day here), packed up my few possessions and ate up the last of my supplies and bid farewell to the folks hanging out on the beach that I'd met.
Durin the 2 hour walk (about halfway through) I heard Karsten mutter 'shit'.
Karsten, Tyrona National Park
Asking him whats up he said he'd forgotten his MP3 player back at the hammock...so off he goes while I wait in the humid jungle with the monkeys, ants and mosquitos.Finally reached the pickup point for the jeep journey back to the entrance and then waited around for the bus to Santa Marta. Took a while but eventually one came along. It was a good ride, full of drunken Colombians sipping from bottles of rum and singing songs.
Arriving at Santa Marta Karsten headed back to Tagonga and I stayed in Santa Marta (hopefully to catch the morning bus to Medellin). I was totally shattered and after a quick shower just collapsed on the bed and slept dreaming about long lines of monkeys carrying a coconut each across my path as I was hiking.
Dec 13th Santa Marta to Medellin
First mission of the day was to buy myself a new watch (this would be the third one) as my last one's claim of being waterproof down to 50m was a total lie. It filled with water durin some snorkelling at a depth of .10m (to be expected for the bargain price of $3). Found a stall with cheap watches nearby and haggled the seller down to $2 and even got him to test the watches waterproofness by tossing it in a bucket of water.
Went to the bus terminal and bought my 1.30 ticket to Medallin ($35) and true to time standing still here the bus left at 3pm (not too bad because it meant the 15 hour bus ride would bring me into the city durin morning daylight and not 4am.
The bus journey started with a Colombian fella standing at the front of the bus, making a 5 minute speech and then trying to knock out dodgy watches, ipods and perfumes.
Tyrona, much deserved rest
It was all snide gear but fairly cheap and I suppose useful for Xmas presents.Bus stopped for petrol after a few hours and as I watched the attendant fill the tank I realised he had a fag in his mouth (sweet Jesus...could've set the whole place up in flames).
Weird thing happened while we had a 10 minute break. A fella was washing his hands just next to the open luggage compartment of the bus (I was having a smoke and saw everything that happened) when out jumped a hamster from behind the luggage and landed on his legs, scaring the shit out of him. It was so fast we couldn't tell what it was at first but after it stopped running I thought I'd help out a bit. The thing was too fast so another bloke helped, again no joy so the local policeman and a military guard who were standing idly by were called in as reinforcements. It took 5 people to catch the little blighter. The copper asked everyone on the bus if it was theirs which nobody admitted to (well, nobody was going to admit to smuggling hamsters). So, he arrested the little fella and placed him in the custody of a cardboard box (secretely he told us it was for his daughter (at least the backpacking hamster will have a good home).
Sometimes it's abit edgy when the bus stops for short breaks because the driver doesn't check too thoroughly whether everyones back on the bus yet. I've heard of instances where people have been left behind and then on top of that never seen their luggage again. I always stand close to the doorway after buying some food or drink, just in case.
The film I was treated to on the bus was a strange but funny film called 'Little Man'. Pretty funny, even in Spanish. And yes, for the 5th time I've seen Rambo 1 on a bus (couldn't bear to watch all of it).
Once I arrive in Medallin I plan to spend the weekend here. After that I head further south to spend a day or two in a place called San Agustin (has some ancient statues carved from rock), then heading back northwards to Bogota (need a day at least to sort out my flight tickets, then to a place called Zipaquira which has a cathedral carved out of a rock salt mine (sounds amazing). I think Xmas will be spent back at Tagonga or Santa Marta. If I spend it somewhere it might as well be in nice hot weather.
