Santa Marta
Trip Start
Sep 20, 2008
1
8
29
Trip End
Sep 2009
Santa Marta,
Colombia
Friday, October 17, 2008
We spent the next couple of days not doing much, simply relaxing and catching up with Caro's mum... three years is a long time! A couple of times Carmen Cecilia surprised us with 'arepa de huevo' a typical colombian snack, mainly for breakfast, basically a corn arepa filled up with egg and fried, delicious! Did a couple of trips to Santa Marta for shopping but didn't want to do much until getting the camera sorted. Although went to have dinner in a colombian "Mcdonald's" called El Corral, delicious grilled burgers
Ali
. After deciding that the best thing is to wait to get to Bogota to get the camera fixed, we went to buy a new one for now, which would work as a backup - given our history especially Ali's this seemed prudent.Today, taking advantage of our new camera we decided to venture ourselves to Santa Marta for the whole day for a bit of sightseeing. Took a bus into the city center where our first stop was the "Casa de San Pedro Alejandrino", this was the house where Simon Bolivar died. It was a very interesting place with a lot of information about him and the colombian history and independence. Parts of the house left pretty much as they were when he diied, with other parts left to displays of his life, and genereal war of independance. The house is all painted a striking yellow, with lovely gardens. Although the main attraction was the Quinta (house), we were quickly distracted by the massive iguanas in the gardens, just lying on top of trees under the sun, and hiding in the grass. After taking hundreds of pictures (with our new camera hehe) we head to the botanic garden where there was a selection of different trees, cacti and flowers... loads of nature.
After the Quinta we went to the Museo del oro (gold museum), where we could find information about the Tayrona Indigenous including a model of the lost city, as close as we planned to get to the real thing due to safety concerns. The museum was interesting enough, with examples of jewellery from the indigineous, weapons, ceramics, tombs and legends about both the tayronas and the actual lost city. Feeling a bit gutted by the fact of not being able to see it for ourselves, headed into town for a walk along the beach front, to find a nice bar to spend the rest of the afternoon and the evening.
Eventually we spot a tourism agency with information about the Tayrona Park and the Cabo de la Vela so we went in to get a bit of information on both. The woman was very helpful and after giving us all the information that we wanted ended up talking us into booking a trip to Ciudad Perdida for 5 days, leaving the next morning, saying that she guaranteed our safety 100% and that the trip was amazing. A little apprehensive headed back home to pack for a week´s hiking!
Hope all well, hasta luego!
Comments
Tres anos depois
A Caro e a Cecilia devem ter chorado como loucas! Tres anos depois, é muito tempo. Matem saudades!!!
Ali, tem lá paciencia, nós latinos somos muito emotivos.
Beijos e abraços muito grandes
Inês e Manuel Maria
HI YOU GUYS!!
Well what an i say you sound like you are having the best time!!! Great to see some piccies and great to see Ali chose the tshirt we got him for his birthday as an item of clothing on his year long trip!!! Hheheeeeee!! Miss you Ali!!! Take Care of yourselves x With lots of Love X Kathryn (and Nick of course) BIG HUGS