THE CARIBBEAN COAST OF COLOMBIA
We decided to take it easy in Colombia and see more by visiting less; therefore after the coffee region we skipped Medellin, an interim stop on most travelers' itinerary, and headed straight up North to the Caribbean coast. It was a significance change of environment – nature, temperature, people, food and all – compared to the center and the South of the country.
Cartagena
We started our tour in Cartagena, the beautiful Spanish colonial city which has a lovely old town that best resembles a Mediterranean coastal village in Europe. After Santa Marta, which is further East in the coast, Cartagena was the second city that the Spanish founded in the 16th century, and the only one that still preserved its original atmosphere in the old part of the city. The population is a mix of indigenous locals, Spanish descendants and that of the Africans who the Spanish brought here to work, especially after the much of the indigenous population passed away due to unknown European diseases in South America.
On the other side of the city, skyscrapers and hotels form a dense chain along the beach, which has a sharp contrast to the pretty old town. We booked a room in the old part to be able to discover it on foot. The city is active both in the daylight and at night – tourists wander around the narrow pebble stone streets taking pictures of the ancient buildings with balconies covered with blooming plants, and they have ice cream or fresh fish at open air restaurants at picturesque squares. At night horse coaches offer a ride around the town and street food vendors promote their food even louder than during the day. The typical street food includes freshly cut fruit, arepa (grilled corn flour dough ) filled with cheese, fried food like platanos (banana) or sea food. High quality restaurants, however, are also easy to find, and are busy at dinner time.
Picturesque Cartagena
We spent a few days just breathing in the colonial atmosphere and enjoying the great food. Some of our favourite places included Café Lunatico which has a 3-course daily menu of outstanding value for just around €3, the Italian ice cream place on Calle 35 or an excellent ceviche corner on Carrera 7 just off the Fernandez de Madrid square.
We also saw the house where Gabriel Garcia Marquez used to live and where some of his family still does. The Nobel-prize winner Colombian author was born and raised in a village called Aracataca about 2 hours (80km) from Santa Marta, which place inspired Macondo, the village that his novels immortalized. He later lived in Santa Marta and Cartagena too.
In Cartagena we could not miss an original Colombian salsa class in the Crazy Salsa dance school where you can just drop in to one of the several classes every day. We were only 5 in the class and had a great time shaking to the local rhythms. We (I) decided to look for a school once in Sydney to continue where we left off (Szilveszter would prefer a slower rhythm to be able to follow easier).
Bathing in the mud volcano
Based on a recommendation from my colleague, Georgie, we could not miss the popular destination of the El Totumo mud volcano, reachable within an hour from Cartagena. It is a 15 meter high volcano with dense mud inside where you can float and have fun while being covered in the nutritious mud (it's said to be good for your skin). As most tour buses arrive at the same time it can get quite touristy - we were about 30 of us there at the same time waiting for our turn by the edge of the muddy cone - but it's still fun, and if you put on your swimming suit back in Cartagena you gain a few minutes and will be among the first ones in the queue! After the bath local ladies wash you off from a barrel of water (in front of everyone with not too much attention to privacy, but it's part of the experience, I guess…) for a small fee, which is a tiring exercise for them as the mud is really sticky, so you'll surely have some left on you for later too to scrub off.
Taganga
From Cartagena we arranged for a bus to take us to Taganga, a little fishing village in the outskirt of Santa Marta, which has become a paradise for divers (due to its proximity to the Caribbean coral reefs) and hippies who seemed to just have forgotten about time and lay around in local bars and restaurants all day, making some handicraft or just chatting. Although nowadays the village has grown too big to preserve its original fishing settlement atmosphere, it's still a pleasant place to spend some time relaxing and enjoying the Caribbean beach.
Our first night was at a little adventurous hostel on the edge of the village, where the wind from the sea was so strong that it blew off our clothes drying on the terrace (despite using cloth pegs) and we had to find them on the street and the trees around the building. The hostel had a couple of double rooms and a dorm too, from where the zen music all night long was a bit too loud to let us sleep. The wind was so strong that it was shaking the building and the doors, which - by the way - we could not close at all as it had no lock. When asking the owner about it, he said that we should not worry since he lives in the house too so it is very safe… Not sure how that helps with the other 15 people in the building? After the night we decided to re-consider spending more nights at the place despite the very low price.
The following morning we left for a 3-day diving safari organized by Calipso Dive Center to complete the Advanced Open Water Diver course. Calipso is the only company that takes divers to the Tayrona National Park instead of the reefs close to the village, hence it offers a much more remote experience with less people which is excellent for seeing marine life. During the safari, instead of returning to Taganga each day, we stayed in the uninhabited Playa del Amor beach where Calipso has some basic facilities for divers in the safari – but nothing else at all. This way we could enjoy a private Caribbean beach just for the 10 of us in the group, including divers, instructors and a great chef who ensured that we had good food for each meal. So even if we didn't have a bed at night but only a hammock with a bamboo roof, and even if we could not take a shower for 3 days and slept with salt and sand on us everywhere, having proper food helped us overcome the lack of the rest of civilisation! It was an interesting experiment, not to be missed!
Sleeping in a hammock was a fun experience for the both of us, although it got quite chilly overnight due to the strong wind from the sea that covered us with even more sand (which didn't matter at that point), so the long-sleeved jumper and trousers were essential! During the days we did 2-3 dives with our private instructor and then rested in between. After some chat with the group in a circle around some candles we normally went to bed not much after 9pm, when we only had flash lights and the Moon with thousands of bright stars as sources of light. As part of the course we tried diving overnight, learnt how to use the compass underwater to find lost objects (with more or less success to recover them due to the poor visibility in the sea) and we also did a deep dive to 35 meters where when breaking an egg under the huge water pressure, we could pass it like a ball to each other! It was a fantastic experience at a beautiful location! When returning to Taganga again, naturally, we still very much appreciated the shower facilities of the diving center!
We spent a few more days in Taganga at a lovely hotel, Casa D'mer, close to the beach and restaurants but far from the noise. It has a terrace overlooking the sea with hammocks and many singing birds on the trees around which give a special background music for your rest on the terrace. Szilveszter loved the little pool too where he could dip in for a second to cool down. After the safari we thought that we have had ticked off the experience of sleeping in a hammock on the beach, so instead of the original plan to go to the Tayrona National Park for a few days where this is the only option for accommodation, we only went as a day trip and returned to the comfort of our room for the evening. We're clearly growing old…!
Tayrona National Park
If you want to do the park as a day trip you will leave by bus at 8.30am, get to the entrance in an hour, and after some briefing your bus drops you off at the beginning of a trek that takes you through the pristine beaches of the park. To walk to the furthest and probably the nicest beach, Cabo San Juan, you will need about 2 hours through the jungle, coconut palm gardens and a bit along the coast. You can stop by the beaches nearer too, at Arrecifes or at La Piscina; however you can't swim at Arrecifes as it is extremely dangerous due to the heavy currents (hundreds of people have drowned there so it's important to take the warning seriously). It is; however, still nice to sit on this beach to see the waves and the long line of palm trees along the coast. For swimming we liked both La Piscina and Cabo San Juan, although the latter was much busier when we were there.
Coconut plantations along the trekking path in Tayrona
And our destination, Cabo San Juan beach
Most visitors stay overnight in hammocks or in tents in one of the many campsites, and they hang out on the beach during the day:
After some rest and a nap on the beach we started heading back slowly to the starting point from where our bus collected us at 5pm. The other option is to take a boat from Cabo San Juan to Taganga (or Santa Marta) directly, so you save the 2-hour walk back to the starting point and you also get back sooner, however we had a few good reasons to decide against this option:
The boat ride in the national park is VERY rough. We experienced the waves when we went to the diving safari by boat, which was only half the length of the distance from Cabo San Juan, but was still very memorable. If you imagine yourself standing under the shower at full pressure of salty water on you for about an hour, then you add the bumps from the about 2 meters high waves all the way where your fingers get purple by holding on the edge of your seat to try to stay in the boat, then you will either scream by fun or by fear. We decided that having this much fun was enough once in a week!
The boat ride costs more than double the price of the bus, it is 45k peso instead of 20k.
Taking a boat in the National Park has negative impacts on the marina life too.
The trip to Tayrona was worth it despite the long walk to get there, as the walk itself is nice too. It was a nice close of our Caribbean adventures.
On the walking path in Tayrona National Park
We only had a few days left from our time in Colombia, and in South America too, so after discussing some alternatives we decided to start heading to Bogota by bus, and stop on the way in San Gil for our last few days. San Gil is a haven for adventure sports, like white water rafting, paragliding, trekking and many other activities, and it is also surrounded by a few traditional Colombian villages that make a great day trip. We'll let us know how we did in the river very soon!