Despite all the warnings about how dangerous Colombia is and my family´s desperate pleas for me not to go, all the good that I´d heard from others just compelled me to check it out. After all, it was one of the places on my trip that I´d thought was a must to do. Unfortunately though, given my albeit breif trip to The Galapagos, I was running out of time and not able to see most of what was previously on my itinerary. Given the time constraints I ended up flying from Quito to Cartagena and missing my bus journey through Cali, Medellin and the Zona Cafeteria. I guess though that´s an excuse to come back!
Cartagena was great. On route there I met an interesting young lass from Sydney who was awfully lost what with travelling for the first time on her own. As such, she tagged along with me to my hostel (which was rather dodgy I thought at the time) where we shared a double bed (essentially as strangers) as she didn´t want to sleep in a dorm room. That same night of arriving we met Eddy, another boy from Oz and his Irish entourage of 5 other guys and 2 Argentinians. Prior to going to Chiva with them, the aussie chic and myself went for dinner where we were serenaded by a Colombian and his guitar. From there it was Chiva with the boys. This is essentially an open bus tour (kinda like the buses in Samoa for all that are familiar with these) with booze a live ¨band¨and lots of what appeard to be under aged Colombian kiddies. It was all good fun though and a very lively and interesting start to Colombia. It made me all the more glad I´d not detoured past it.
The following day myself and the boys headed to the mud volcano about 45km out of Cartagena. This is a 1500m plus deep volcano which spews mud instead of lava. Despite it´s depth, given the density, there was no way to sink below your shoulders no matter how hard you tried. And the boys tried. It was like sitting in a pool of cream or perhaps melted chocolate. Very weired but very cool. Once you´ve done your time you then climb out and the ladies in the lagoon wash you off for a small fee. They do a very thorough job as before I knew it they had my bikini top off and they were demanding my bottoms too! Plus it was the first time I´d had someone elses fingers in my ears since I was washed by my mother as a very young child! All this for a small fee of course. I´d have not been able to do my back or hair without their help though so all worth it.
The following day the boys and I then decided to do a boat trip out to Playa Blanca via Islas Rosarias. I thoroughly recommend the trip to Playa Blanca but if you ever do this, I´d recommend skipping Islas Rosarias as unless you want to see the aquarium, there´s nothing to do and no where to swim except between the mangroves. Live and learn. Playa Blanca was exactly what I expected a Caribbean beach to be like: lapping waves, palm trees, white sand and thatched huts with hawkers selling their hippy wares. It´s possible to stay the night on the beach in hammocks but I was booked on a bus to Taganga the following day. I would have definately stayed other wise.
Taganga was also awesome. Fresh juice on the beach every morning for breakfast and the beach no more than a block away from everywhere. I stayed my first night in Baguettes de Maria (the local baguette shop) as the two hostels that were recommended to me were fully booked. The following day though, while booking my dives, I met a lovely Melbournian who took me around to the other hostels until I found one that was in my budget that I liked. After that I did my first two dives which were pretty but not the Galapagos. I fear I´m spoilt for life now. We saw lots of pretty corals and big French Angels, wrasse, butterflies and others. That night at the hostel I met a really nice guy from the UK called John and an Adelaidian called Steph and we decided that the following day we´d bus to Tayrona, the National Park along the coast where you can sleep in hammocks just off the beach and generally chill.
At the entrance to the park there were police looking for ¨drogas y armas¨. Why anyone would take drugs and weapons into a national park is beyond me but oh well. They gave John a real good search. I guess with his longer than usual hair they suspected drogas and they went through his wallet, all the pockets in his clothes and even gave his bits a good jiggle. Kinda funny after the fact but he wasn´t happy at the time. The rest of the Tayrona trip was uneventful. It was a long but pleasant walk through rainforest to the beach (which was unswimmable) and then another long walk to the swimming beaches. Still it was worth it. John stayed another night and Steph and I went back to Taganga where we chilled some more and I did some diving, including a night dive which was awesome. It was the first night dive I´d done in two years and what a site!
Before I knew it it was my birthday and it was one of the nicest ways I could spend it. I had a phone call from my beautiful sister which was great. It´s always nice to be remebered despite being on the other side of the world. After the phone call, the three of us went to the local beach for being too lazy to walk to the nicer beach 20mins away. There we stayed for the next four hours drinking coctails and cooling off in the water from time to time. That night we caught up with the divers and had drinks at the shop. Because Steph was feeling unwell and the divers were gearing up for a big one the following night, John and I walked to the only night club in town which unfortunately was closed, so we chilled on the hammocks on the roof of the hostel. All in all a fabulous day and a great end to my time in Taganga and Colombia.
Cartagena was great. On route there I met an interesting young lass from Sydney who was awfully lost what with travelling for the first time on her own. As such, she tagged along with me to my hostel (which was rather dodgy I thought at the time) where we shared a double bed (essentially as strangers) as she didn´t want to sleep in a dorm room. That same night of arriving we met Eddy, another boy from Oz and his Irish entourage of 5 other guys and 2 Argentinians. Prior to going to Chiva with them, the aussie chic and myself went for dinner where we were serenaded by a Colombian and his guitar. From there it was Chiva with the boys. This is essentially an open bus tour (kinda like the buses in Samoa for all that are familiar with these) with booze a live ¨band¨and lots of what appeard to be under aged Colombian kiddies. It was all good fun though and a very lively and interesting start to Colombia. It made me all the more glad I´d not detoured past it.
The following day myself and the boys headed to the mud volcano about 45km out of Cartagena. This is a 1500m plus deep volcano which spews mud instead of lava. Despite it´s depth, given the density, there was no way to sink below your shoulders no matter how hard you tried. And the boys tried. It was like sitting in a pool of cream or perhaps melted chocolate. Very weired but very cool. Once you´ve done your time you then climb out and the ladies in the lagoon wash you off for a small fee. They do a very thorough job as before I knew it they had my bikini top off and they were demanding my bottoms too! Plus it was the first time I´d had someone elses fingers in my ears since I was washed by my mother as a very young child! All this for a small fee of course. I´d have not been able to do my back or hair without their help though so all worth it.
The following day the boys and I then decided to do a boat trip out to Playa Blanca via Islas Rosarias. I thoroughly recommend the trip to Playa Blanca but if you ever do this, I´d recommend skipping Islas Rosarias as unless you want to see the aquarium, there´s nothing to do and no where to swim except between the mangroves. Live and learn. Playa Blanca was exactly what I expected a Caribbean beach to be like: lapping waves, palm trees, white sand and thatched huts with hawkers selling their hippy wares. It´s possible to stay the night on the beach in hammocks but I was booked on a bus to Taganga the following day. I would have definately stayed other wise.
Taganga was also awesome. Fresh juice on the beach every morning for breakfast and the beach no more than a block away from everywhere. I stayed my first night in Baguettes de Maria (the local baguette shop) as the two hostels that were recommended to me were fully booked. The following day though, while booking my dives, I met a lovely Melbournian who took me around to the other hostels until I found one that was in my budget that I liked. After that I did my first two dives which were pretty but not the Galapagos. I fear I´m spoilt for life now. We saw lots of pretty corals and big French Angels, wrasse, butterflies and others. That night at the hostel I met a really nice guy from the UK called John and an Adelaidian called Steph and we decided that the following day we´d bus to Tayrona, the National Park along the coast where you can sleep in hammocks just off the beach and generally chill.
At the entrance to the park there were police looking for ¨drogas y armas¨. Why anyone would take drugs and weapons into a national park is beyond me but oh well. They gave John a real good search. I guess with his longer than usual hair they suspected drogas and they went through his wallet, all the pockets in his clothes and even gave his bits a good jiggle. Kinda funny after the fact but he wasn´t happy at the time. The rest of the Tayrona trip was uneventful. It was a long but pleasant walk through rainforest to the beach (which was unswimmable) and then another long walk to the swimming beaches. Still it was worth it. John stayed another night and Steph and I went back to Taganga where we chilled some more and I did some diving, including a night dive which was awesome. It was the first night dive I´d done in two years and what a site!
Before I knew it it was my birthday and it was one of the nicest ways I could spend it. I had a phone call from my beautiful sister which was great. It´s always nice to be remebered despite being on the other side of the world. After the phone call, the three of us went to the local beach for being too lazy to walk to the nicer beach 20mins away. There we stayed for the next four hours drinking coctails and cooling off in the water from time to time. That night we caught up with the divers and had drinks at the shop. Because Steph was feeling unwell and the divers were gearing up for a big one the following night, John and I walked to the only night club in town which unfortunately was closed, so we chilled on the hammocks on the roof of the hostel. All in all a fabulous day and a great end to my time in Taganga and Colombia.
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