Colombia: the Caribbean coast

COLOMBIA: the Caribbean coast (Cartagena, Santa Marta, Tayrona, Palomino)

After being on open water for multiple days, it was weird to have solid ground under our feet again. Although nothing moved, it still felt like we were on a boat, rocking from left to right. This was called Illusion of motion (Sea Legs). Also when walking to an ATM to pull out money, Sven could not look at the screen since it completely shifted when trying to focus. A very weird feeling. We indeed noticed that we have not been on land for quite a while. Luckily, that feeling faded soon again.
Since it was Pam’s birthday that that day, we wanted to do something special with the group from the boat. After the check-in in the hostel, Pam was surprised by the nicest present of the most amazing boyfriend. Together with friends and family, Sven made a super long “Happy Birthday Video” with all the best wishes from everybody– it even made Pam let go of some tears. Mission accomplished. :)
In the evening, we (the group from the boat plus the Crew) met up at Plaza de la Trinidad – a place where young and old comes together, eating cheap but good street food and enjoying some drinks. The atmosphere on the streets was great. Colombians really like to gather together in the streets and around plazas in the evenings. Later that night we also finally made it to a Salsa bar to practice our Latin moves again!

 The next couple of days we took it very easy: recovering from the boat trip, wandering around the old colonial part of the Cartagena and visiting the fortress ‘Castillo de San Felipe de Borajas’, from where we could enjoy a very nice view of both the new and old parts of Cartagena. We also took some time again to do work: work on the blog, sort out pictures and getting rid of BEDBUGS! Yes indeed, bedbugs: Nasty little insects that spread out through hostels and hotels via the backpacks of travelers. We first suspected bedbugs in Costa Rica after Pam noticed typically patterned bites. After a few failed attempts to get rid of them within a month, we were desperate and took desperate measures. It took us a whole day, but eventually it worked out. Funny detail is that Sven didn’t got bitten once, and except from the bites, we never found any evidence of the presence of bedbugs.

After 4 days of acclimatization on land, we made our way north to Santa Marta. During the ride there, we could clearly see a big climate change from humid to very dry landscape. Technically, that trip alone is again worth a couple of lines. But to keep it short: a very slow city bus to get to our actual bus, a lot of hop-on for the first 2 hours and an immense traffic jam which made our journey take about triple the time. Luckily we reserved a hostel beforehand. Since Santa Marta is not a very interesting city, and more known for the surrounding activities, we chose the best hostel – the Dreamer Hostel. A place with a swimming pool, a bar and restaurant included as well as a pool table. The perfect place to meet some new people and just chill out.

The main reason for going to Santa Marta was the 4-5 day hike to ‘Ciudad Perdida’, the Lost City. We only heard good stories about the hike itself (especially the jungle and wildlife around that area), but the actual site is apparently not as amazing as we thought. Also, the price for the hike was even more than expected (QUITE expensive instead of just expensive…). After long discussions and counting advantages and disadvantages, we came to the rational decision to skip the hike.
Instead, we joint on the Party-Bus on Friday night and the day after we went to the Tayrona National Park. Nicola, a girl we met in the hostel, joined us. Unfortunately, we were very unlucky with the timing since exactly this weekend was a national holiday. Since that park is basically THE main National Park in Colombia, you can imagine what we went through. Hundreds of people at the entrance and in the Park itself. Since there is a system of ‘1st come, 1st serve’ for sleeping places, we left extra early this morning to reserve a hammock in Cabo, but no chance. After a 2,5-hour hike through a dry jungle without seeing any animals, we got the info that absolutely no hammocks would be available anymore. The beach itself at that spot was nice, however the weather was not the best and the beach was just way too overcrowded. We walked back the same way for about 30 minutes and found another place, which had enough hammocks available. Pam was very afraid of having back pain sleeping in a hammock, nevertheless is was a nice experience and a quite comfortable night.  Since we were rather disappointed of the whole Tayrona experience, we decided to hike back the next morning after breakfast. We said bye to Nicola, and continued to a little Village called Palomino.
Palomino is known for the view onto a snow-tapped mountain top on super clear days (not the case when we were there), while lying on the beach with more than 30 degrees. There was another Dreamer Hostel here, but we didn’t reserve any bed this time. Although they were fully booked, we found out that the manager was a recently made friend that we met on the Partybus, and he could arrange a special offer for us that night. This hostel felt actually more like a holiday resort than a normal hostel. Fully equipped, right at the beach. We had a really good feeling, just enjoying the facilities and vibe at the hostel, without needing to go anywhere.

We decided to spend 2 nights in Palomino, and afterwards head back to Santa Marta. Although we didn’t do too many interesting activities during this period, we used the Caribbean Coast as a last chance to just enjoy the beaches for a while, relaxing and drinking cocktails. We made a plan for the next part of Colombia with mountains, outdoor activities and visiting the big cities Bogotá and Medellin.