Tuesday morning saw Tess (Teresa) and I rising early-ish to pack up, check-out, and buy some last minute supplies for our journey to the coast. We moved on to the bus station, which was basically a pimped out version of Port Authority in New York. First, as a whole, it was much less grimy than Port Authority. It definitely had better food- not only were there fruit stands every few feet, but the bakeries were baking in-house, and the typical foods were also created on-site. Then there were the casinos...I kid you not, within this bus terminal were at least 3 casinos. There was also a bar. Trust me, it would have been hard to be bored there.
The bus ride took 19 hours; we left Bogota at 2:45 on Tuesday and arrived in Santa Marta around 10 the next morning. We encountered some interesting situations along the trip, in particular when a truck ahead of us went over a bridge and cracked the bottom part of the structure. We had to wait until the truck could be moved from the bridge- then we proceeded forward, crack or no!
A note on drivers in Colombia. They are crazy. It´s much like New York City in that aspect. We were talking about it the other day, though, and came to the conclusion that because there are no road rules in Colombia (or at least only loosely followed), it actually forces drivers to be more awake and alert, and therefore better than people who drive mindlessly because they've driven this road a million times and it´s just a highway and how bad can it be? The low number of accidents is truly impressive- I've not seen one pile-up or accident that required an ambulance so far.
The bus ride, though long, was pleasant because we were able to see so much of the country side go by. A good part of the trip had us winding through the Andes mountains, and getting a birdseye view of life in the countryside. It was also absolutely incredible to see the stars at night from the bus window. In the remote areas, you almost feel as though you´re at the end of the world, because you´ll look out, see hundreds of stars in the sky, and also other lights twinkling down near the horizon- and you can´t be sure whether they are stars or the lights of someone´s home, and it´s a completely magical feeling. 
Wednesday we arrived at the Dreamers Hostel, recommended by our friend Peter. It was a nice atmosphere, and had a pool, which alone was a definite win. Since it´s a bit far from town, we took a cab into the city to see more of Santa Marta. SM seems a bit confused about its identity; apparently it used to be more of a quiet fishing town but has gained notoriety both with the backpacking set as well as other Colombians who appreciate the beauty of the Caribbean coast. So there´s an interesting kind of urban sprawl going on, and overall the city seems relaxed but with lots of life and character. Our self-guided tour included trying kebabs,
baked yuca, mamones, and a fresh fruit bowl. Yes, we like food very much. We also took a walk down to the pier and back towards the main shopping center before catching a cab home. A pool ride and dinner then found us making our way to Taganga, another town about 15 minutes down the coast where our friends Nancy and Daniel were staying. Before we spent time with them, I was able to call my boss and get permission to miss the rest of work to stay in this beautiful country for a few more weeks- thank you Karen Schloer!! We sat with the gang while they ate dinner and made plans for the next two days...
Said plans included Daniel and our new acquaintance, Eran from Israel, meeting us on Thursday morning at the hostel in order to catch a bus to Parque Tayrona, a national park located on the coast. The game plan was to walk into the park, go to a beach and reserve our hammocks to sleep in at night. The reality was that, after a 40 minute bus ride, we arrived to find that we had to walk 3 KM to even get into the park. From there, we hiked at least an hour before arriving at our first beach. All of us were so exuberant to have made it that we threw down our bags, took off our sweaty shirts, and plunged into the water. Other explorations on the beach included Eran pretending to be a monkey-cave man (he suceeded in breaking open a fresh coconut for us all to share, seen in photo next to a grenadilla fruit!), coming up with fun movie names, and taking lots of photos.
We eventually realized that, as no hammocks were within site, that we needed to continue back on the trail. Said trail actually winds through the forest, and let me tell you, stepping back into the density of plants is HOT and STICKY. We trudged on about another 45 minutes to arrive at a hammock spot, but it wasn´t the area we wanted and had expensive food, so we trekked still more. A note on this- we came to find the following day that in some instances, we had taken more difficult trails than were necessary, but I´ll explain how that was revealed shortly.
Anyway, after goodness knows how many hours of walking, we finally arrived at Cabo San Juan and reserved our hammocks. In all honesty, we had a piece of heaven right there, all for the price of about$30 (park entrance fee and cost of hammock rental). After short showers in a public stall area, we decided it was time for dinner. We had to make smart financial decisions, because Eran hadn´t yet found an ATM where he could use his card, and there were no ATMs in the national park, so our monetary reserves were limited to what we had in cash. We realized that instead of buying food from the restaurant monopolizing business, we would simply buy rice from them and cook it in Eran´s pot, augmenting the meal with tins of tuna and some avocados that we had carried along. I don´t know how we did it, as it was pitch dark when we started cooking, and the fire sputtered and didn´t want to produce coals, but somehow after an hour of painstaking work and patience on the part of Eran (he kept us from opening the pot and ruining the rice) we ate what was made by hunger and exhaustion to be the most delicious meal of my life. We then all sat up, getting eaten by mosquitos and talking for a short while longer, then fell asleep in our hammocks.
I confess that I had no problem sleeping whatsoever, and slept pretty much
the entire night through, but I know others in the group weren´t able to sleep as easily. So I´m not sure what the overall consensus on hammock sleep is, but I definitely support it! The next morning I was up by about 7:30, and Tess had been up even earlier, so we hit the beach and spent a couple hours catching early morning rays and realizing how lucky we were to be in such a beautiful place. When Daniel woke up, we transitioned to the top deck of a cabana on the point of the rocks, where I will return and sleep again someday. Staring at the rocks and the ocean in between pages of my book made for an amazing morning.
Around noon we realized it was time to hit the road soon. We were planning to hike out by a different route, passing an indigenous historical site called Pueblito, before coming out on the main highway. We embarked on the hike, which was steep, humid, and thankfully full of monkeys to distract me from the other downfalls. Seriously, I got to see monkeys up close. Awesome!!! Anyway, after huffing and puffing along for a bit over a hour, we ran into an Argentinian fellow named Maxie, who inquired if we were heading from Calabazos (the towndown on the highway where we were supposed to end the day´s hike). No, we told him, we are on the way to Calabazos from Cabo San Juan. Confusion grew as Maxie related that he had also begun his hike at Cabo San Juan and was on this path, hoping it led to Calabazos. We decided to all stick together, and continued on our path. In about 20 minutes we arrived at Pueblito, which was this amazing clearing in the middle of the jungle. There were (reputedly) over 250 sacred circles in the entire area, though I did not count them. We unfortunately did not spend much time in Pueblito, as it began to thunder and clouds to roll in ominously.
A decision was necessary at this point: where to go? We checked every angle, but the only two distinguishable paths were those traveled by ourselves and by Maxie, both of which seemed to lead back to Cabo San Juan. We decided to continue our route, that is to say we were backtracking Maxie´s route, in the hopes that we would see a signpost to Calabazos, which was supposedly 2.5 hours away. In retracing Maxie´s route, we climbed some of the most arduous rocks and skidded over giant gaps. In some time, it began to rain, which increased our urgency to make it out of the jungle. It was also much darker under the tree cover, and I honestly started to think that every branch I was about to touch was a snake. Thankfully, the worst thing we saw was a giant cockroach. FINALLY, after about an hour an a half, fording a river, straddling boulders, and all that, we made it back to Cabo San Juan. We had a new dilemmna. One was that we really didn´t want to spend another night in a damp hammock, with no fresh clothes, and nothing dry (our bags had gotten wet between the actual rain, our sweat, and sliding on our asses from rock to rock at certain points). We also didn´t have enough money for hammocks, food, AND transportation home the next day. What to do?
Luckily, fate in the form of an ice cream man intervened. God bless this gentleman, and I realize now that none of us ever asked his name, but we encountered a man who, every day for 27 years, makes the hike into Tayrona to sell ice cream, and out again at the end of the day. This was the same hike that had us all exhausted the day before. This man agreed to guide us out of the park (the way we´d come). Thank goodness for him. Not only did he keep an amazing pace, carrying a huge insulated box as well as a backpack, but he took us on routes at certain spots that were much less taxing than those we had traversed the previous day. He was also immensely enjoyable because he often poked fun at the boys, because Tess and I kept up with him better than the rest. He said that we were the generals of the group. Bless him! So through the rain and muck, we somehow made the trek out just as the sky was darkening. We attempted to repay him to some extent by purchasing celebratory ice cream snacks as we left the park. We then sat through a 40 minute bus ride, soaked with sweat and rain, before being able to take a freezing cold but thoroughly enjoyable shower at Dreamers Hostel back in Santa Marta.
Was our day over, though? Of course not. Tess and I rounded up our things and procurred a taxi to Taganga, where we had decided to continue our visit to the coast. Though it was Friday, and hence party central in Taganga, we all only had it in us to have a few beers and a hot dog before sleeping soundly. A note on the hot dogs- Colombians know how to make them! It´s not a simple diggity in a bun, my friend. Add on fried onions, crushed potato chips, melted cheese, and any number of delicious sauces, and you start to approximate the joy of this experience. Just do yourself a favor and get one.
Saturday was fairly relaxing- spent some time in an internet cafe catching up on things in life, went into Santa Marta with the gang to do some grocery shopping as well as help Eran finally track down an ATM he could use, and then we had a delicious dinner of brownies, Doritos, bananas, and rum. The rest of the night passed in a quiet haze. Sunday morning/afternoon was equally relaxing and slow-paced- some lunch on the beach front with Daniel (as I mention in the 15 Questions post, things were super swamped with out-of-town Colombians who had come in to enjoy their long weekend), exploring the second, quieter beach, and taking a quick shower before getting on the bus to Medellin with Daniel...Medellin post coming soon!
The bus ride took 19 hours; we left Bogota at 2:45 on Tuesday and arrived in Santa Marta around 10 the next morning. We encountered some interesting situations along the trip, in particular when a truck ahead of us went over a bridge and cracked the bottom part of the structure. We had to wait until the truck could be moved from the bridge- then we proceeded forward, crack or no!
A note on drivers in Colombia. They are crazy. It´s much like New York City in that aspect. We were talking about it the other day, though, and came to the conclusion that because there are no road rules in Colombia (or at least only loosely followed), it actually forces drivers to be more awake and alert, and therefore better than people who drive mindlessly because they've driven this road a million times and it´s just a highway and how bad can it be? The low number of accidents is truly impressive- I've not seen one pile-up or accident that required an ambulance so far.
The bus ride, though long, was pleasant because we were able to see so much of the country side go by. A good part of the trip had us winding through the Andes mountains, and getting a birdseye view of life in the countryside. It was also absolutely incredible to see the stars at night from the bus window. In the remote areas, you almost feel as though you´re at the end of the world, because you´ll look out, see hundreds of stars in the sky, and also other lights twinkling down near the horizon- and you can´t be sure whether they are stars or the lights of someone´s home, and it´s a completely magical feeling. 
Wednesday we arrived at the Dreamers Hostel, recommended by our friend Peter. It was a nice atmosphere, and had a pool, which alone was a definite win. Since it´s a bit far from town, we took a cab into the city to see more of Santa Marta. SM seems a bit confused about its identity; apparently it used to be more of a quiet fishing town but has gained notoriety both with the backpacking set as well as other Colombians who appreciate the beauty of the Caribbean coast. So there´s an interesting kind of urban sprawl going on, and overall the city seems relaxed but with lots of life and character. Our self-guided tour included trying kebabs,
baked yuca, mamones, and a fresh fruit bowl. Yes, we like food very much. We also took a walk down to the pier and back towards the main shopping center before catching a cab home. A pool ride and dinner then found us making our way to Taganga, another town about 15 minutes down the coast where our friends Nancy and Daniel were staying. Before we spent time with them, I was able to call my boss and get permission to miss the rest of work to stay in this beautiful country for a few more weeks- thank you Karen Schloer!! We sat with the gang while they ate dinner and made plans for the next two days...
Said plans included Daniel and our new acquaintance, Eran from Israel, meeting us on Thursday morning at the hostel in order to catch a bus to Parque Tayrona, a national park located on the coast. The game plan was to walk into the park, go to a beach and reserve our hammocks to sleep in at night. The reality was that, after a 40 minute bus ride, we arrived to find that we had to walk 3 KM to even get into the park. From there, we hiked at least an hour before arriving at our first beach. All of us were so exuberant to have made it that we threw down our bags, took off our sweaty shirts, and plunged into the water. Other explorations on the beach included Eran pretending to be a monkey-cave man (he suceeded in breaking open a fresh coconut for us all to share, seen in photo next to a grenadilla fruit!), coming up with fun movie names, and taking lots of photos.We eventually realized that, as no hammocks were within site, that we needed to continue back on the trail. Said trail actually winds through the forest, and let me tell you, stepping back into the density of plants is HOT and STICKY. We trudged on about another 45 minutes to arrive at a hammock spot, but it wasn´t the area we wanted and had expensive food, so we trekked still more. A note on this- we came to find the following day that in some instances, we had taken more difficult trails than were necessary, but I´ll explain how that was revealed shortly.
Anyway, after goodness knows how many hours of walking, we finally arrived at Cabo San Juan and reserved our hammocks. In all honesty, we had a piece of heaven right there, all for the price of about$30 (park entrance fee and cost of hammock rental). After short showers in a public stall area, we decided it was time for dinner. We had to make smart financial decisions, because Eran hadn´t yet found an ATM where he could use his card, and there were no ATMs in the national park, so our monetary reserves were limited to what we had in cash. We realized that instead of buying food from the restaurant monopolizing business, we would simply buy rice from them and cook it in Eran´s pot, augmenting the meal with tins of tuna and some avocados that we had carried along. I don´t know how we did it, as it was pitch dark when we started cooking, and the fire sputtered and didn´t want to produce coals, but somehow after an hour of painstaking work and patience on the part of Eran (he kept us from opening the pot and ruining the rice) we ate what was made by hunger and exhaustion to be the most delicious meal of my life. We then all sat up, getting eaten by mosquitos and talking for a short while longer, then fell asleep in our hammocks.
I confess that I had no problem sleeping whatsoever, and slept pretty much
the entire night through, but I know others in the group weren´t able to sleep as easily. So I´m not sure what the overall consensus on hammock sleep is, but I definitely support it! The next morning I was up by about 7:30, and Tess had been up even earlier, so we hit the beach and spent a couple hours catching early morning rays and realizing how lucky we were to be in such a beautiful place. When Daniel woke up, we transitioned to the top deck of a cabana on the point of the rocks, where I will return and sleep again someday. Staring at the rocks and the ocean in between pages of my book made for an amazing morning.
Around noon we realized it was time to hit the road soon. We were planning to hike out by a different route, passing an indigenous historical site called Pueblito, before coming out on the main highway. We embarked on the hike, which was steep, humid, and thankfully full of monkeys to distract me from the other downfalls. Seriously, I got to see monkeys up close. Awesome!!! Anyway, after huffing and puffing along for a bit over a hour, we ran into an Argentinian fellow named Maxie, who inquired if we were heading from Calabazos (the towndown on the highway where we were supposed to end the day´s hike). No, we told him, we are on the way to Calabazos from Cabo San Juan. Confusion grew as Maxie related that he had also begun his hike at Cabo San Juan and was on this path, hoping it led to Calabazos. We decided to all stick together, and continued on our path. In about 20 minutes we arrived at Pueblito, which was this amazing clearing in the middle of the jungle. There were (reputedly) over 250 sacred circles in the entire area, though I did not count them. We unfortunately did not spend much time in Pueblito, as it began to thunder and clouds to roll in ominously.A decision was necessary at this point: where to go? We checked every angle, but the only two distinguishable paths were those traveled by ourselves and by Maxie, both of which seemed to lead back to Cabo San Juan. We decided to continue our route, that is to say we were backtracking Maxie´s route, in the hopes that we would see a signpost to Calabazos, which was supposedly 2.5 hours away. In retracing Maxie´s route, we climbed some of the most arduous rocks and skidded over giant gaps. In some time, it began to rain, which increased our urgency to make it out of the jungle. It was also much darker under the tree cover, and I honestly started to think that every branch I was about to touch was a snake. Thankfully, the worst thing we saw was a giant cockroach. FINALLY, after about an hour an a half, fording a river, straddling boulders, and all that, we made it back to Cabo San Juan. We had a new dilemmna. One was that we really didn´t want to spend another night in a damp hammock, with no fresh clothes, and nothing dry (our bags had gotten wet between the actual rain, our sweat, and sliding on our asses from rock to rock at certain points). We also didn´t have enough money for hammocks, food, AND transportation home the next day. What to do?
Luckily, fate in the form of an ice cream man intervened. God bless this gentleman, and I realize now that none of us ever asked his name, but we encountered a man who, every day for 27 years, makes the hike into Tayrona to sell ice cream, and out again at the end of the day. This was the same hike that had us all exhausted the day before. This man agreed to guide us out of the park (the way we´d come). Thank goodness for him. Not only did he keep an amazing pace, carrying a huge insulated box as well as a backpack, but he took us on routes at certain spots that were much less taxing than those we had traversed the previous day. He was also immensely enjoyable because he often poked fun at the boys, because Tess and I kept up with him better than the rest. He said that we were the generals of the group. Bless him! So through the rain and muck, we somehow made the trek out just as the sky was darkening. We attempted to repay him to some extent by purchasing celebratory ice cream snacks as we left the park. We then sat through a 40 minute bus ride, soaked with sweat and rain, before being able to take a freezing cold but thoroughly enjoyable shower at Dreamers Hostel back in Santa Marta.
Was our day over, though? Of course not. Tess and I rounded up our things and procurred a taxi to Taganga, where we had decided to continue our visit to the coast. Though it was Friday, and hence party central in Taganga, we all only had it in us to have a few beers and a hot dog before sleeping soundly. A note on the hot dogs- Colombians know how to make them! It´s not a simple diggity in a bun, my friend. Add on fried onions, crushed potato chips, melted cheese, and any number of delicious sauces, and you start to approximate the joy of this experience. Just do yourself a favor and get one.
Saturday was fairly relaxing- spent some time in an internet cafe catching up on things in life, went into Santa Marta with the gang to do some grocery shopping as well as help Eran finally track down an ATM he could use, and then we had a delicious dinner of brownies, Doritos, bananas, and rum. The rest of the night passed in a quiet haze. Sunday morning/afternoon was equally relaxing and slow-paced- some lunch on the beach front with Daniel (as I mention in the 15 Questions post, things were super swamped with out-of-town Colombians who had come in to enjoy their long weekend), exploring the second, quieter beach, and taking a quick shower before getting on the bus to Medellin with Daniel...Medellin post coming soon!
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