I went to Columbia, Part 3: Northern Columbia
Against my Dad’s wishes, I went to Colombia, Part 3. The third Colombian post is about the northern coast of Colombia including Tayrona National Park and Cartagena.
I’m going to apologize since it’s been 6 months since the trip I’m writing this, some of the details are going to be lacking. Also, Luke was slackin on posting this. It’s now 8 months overdue. So anyhow….
I got a flight from Medellin up to Santa Marta with the end destination of Tayrona National Park. The flight was a pain in the ass. VivaAir sucks. I got a ticket and then they charged me at the gate for a carry-on saying that I only get a check bag. Landing in Santa Marta, I was already in a great mood. From there I got a bus. I thought it was going to the center of the town. I didn’t really know. My data ran out when I was boarding the plane so I didn’t have any good directions. Luckily, I found the only other white person on the bus and asked where she was getting off and coincidentally, it was the same place.
Once off though, instructions were poor. I needed to walk a good 20 min to some spot to catch another bus, but of course the buses don’t advertise where they’re going, so that was nice. With some help from a local, I got the right bus. From there I told the driver where I was going, and 40 min later I got dropped off on the side of a road in front of a gate that was supposedly my hostel.
I was greeted by an older woman, her son, and their 3 dogs.I got checked in and that brought me back to my room. It was a decent walk maybe 1/4 mile to the dorms, over the river, through the woods, past the bar and pool.
Waking up I realized I was in the middle of a jungle. The morning humidity off of the trees was spectacular. Later that day, I hiked along a river with 3 Brits I met the night before. It was a good time, except for Dr. Socks, who is one of the hostel dogs and was needing us to help him the whole time. We also saw some monkeys and stopped at some cool waterfalls. After the hike we got some dinner at the hostel and then watched the sunset from the roof of the dorms, and it was the best sunset I saw on the whole trip.
Day 2 was another fun hiking day, an 11 mile hike in the Colombian summer heat, but 100% worth it. Talking to the hostel owner’s son, he recommended starting the hike at the “hidden” entrance. This is only a half mile from the hostel, but back a bit and not where anyone else starts.
The hike was one of the best I’ve ever been on. The first two miles of the trail took me up a mountain, which blew. The whole time I only saw about 10 other people and 6 of them I assumed were locals, heading to their small villages that scattered the park. Coming down the mountain, I found some howler monkeys and if you haven’t heard them before, the rumors are true, they’re loud. But anyways, you come across the top of the mountain and are presented with the Caribbean ocean right in front of you. Getting down to the beach is then the easy part. It’s still about 7 more miles to go, and once you get on the beach, it’s flat and you get a warm ocean breeze blowing in. About halfway through the hike you find all the people, they come from the second entrance and come to camp and enjoy the beach. Walking against traffic, the hike took about 5 hrs and like I said earlier, 100% worth it.
The next day I was supposed to stay in Santa Marta, but I said fuck it and went straight to Cartagena. The bus was about 4 hrs, but it was air conditioned, and dropped me off at an Airbnb for the night.
That night I met up with the Dutch and Colombian kids I met in Guatape and their Mexican friend who joined them in Cartagena. I met them for sunset at the old wall, and we went to dinner and drank from there. Nothing too fancy, Cartagena reminds me of a mini Miami with an old town. Expensive for Colombia and quite touristy.
The next day I checked into my hostel and just wandered around and did a free walking tour. The walking tour was cool, but the city didn’t seem super special to me. It was hot, that didn’t add to the appeal of the city. That night I again met up with the kids from before and got dinner and drank too much at night.
Day 3 was probably the coolest night in Colombia. I took a 2 hour boat ride to a hostel (Casa en el Agua) in the middle of the ocean and just hung out there and drank and ate fresh fish, caught by locals. I just spent the day drinking cocktails, swimming, and hanging with some Scandinavians. Around 5 that night the hostel had a quick boat tour to this local island/town. It was called Santa Cruz del Islote and it is the most densely populated island in the world. I got back, then it was dinner (fresh fish again), then the people on the boat tour with me, a Mexican girl, Colombian girl, and Swiss guy asked if I wanted to help them split a bottle of tequila…..
Shit, that was a decision. I’m not saying it was bad, but it probably shouldn’t have been done. The latinas spent the whole time calling the Swiss guy and I gringos and said we can’t drink tequila, so we had to prove them wrong… Well the Colombian girl jumped off the 20 ft jumping spot, hit the ladder on the way down and woke up with a bruise down the whole side of her leg, and the Mexican girl threw up all over her room. So I guess us gringos won the prize of a hangover.
The next day was my last full day in Colombia, so after a boat ride back, I just walked around for a bit and just chilled at the hostel. My body was worn down, I was hungover and damn did I need sleep.
I guess this is the end of this Colombian adventure, there was probably more I could have talked about, but I’m new at this, so give me a break.
Overall I’d say, Medellin and Tayrona national park should be a must. Cartagena was nice, Bogota was okay, but only because of Monserrate. Beautiful country, nice people, and in the US it still gets a bad name because of its history. I think everyone should go, just don’t be an idiot, or be an idiot, but you’ll probably have to buy a new phone.
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