After being on the road for the past 10 months, we’d acquired a good routine to ensure our travel was smooth. Today that routine went out the window.
After a 4 hour bus ride to Santa Marta we were dropped off on the side of the highway at night, in the middle of nowhere with dust blowing in our faces, when we realised that we didn’t have the name or the address for the hostel. It was not a happy moment.
It didn’t help matters that our taxi driver wasn’t friendly and didn’t appreciate our Spanglish (we can’t call it spanish)! Nor was he impressed that we didn’t know where we were going, but after several attempts to find an internet cafe we finally found our hostel.
After being in Cartagena, this certainly felt more like the “real” Colombia and we certainly felt more like “real” backpackers (this was the first hostel we’d stayed in since March). We couldn’t complain though, as it was brand new and best described as having the most mature hostel patrons we’ve ever seen.
We had originally planned to come to Santa Marta to do a 5 day hike through the rainforest to see Ciudad Perdida, described as Colombia’s Machu Pichu. As Richard’s foot was still healing, we changed our plans and our time in Santa Marta was spent in a sloth-like state.
We spent one afternoon in a fishing village called Taganga, where we ate lunch whilst taking in the view of the mangy dogs and the beautiful sunset. We also spent a day at Playa conche, (a beach) where we had delicious coconuts and fresh fish cooked for us whilst we read under our beach tent.
The real highlight of Santa Marta was meeting our new Colombian friends Alba and Carolina (also staying at the hostel) where we got a chance to find out more about the real Colombia through their eyes and experiences.
After a 4 hour bus ride to Santa Marta we were dropped off on the side of the highway at night, in the middle of nowhere with dust blowing in our faces, when we realised that we didn’t have the name or the address for the hostel. It was not a happy moment.
It didn’t help matters that our taxi driver wasn’t friendly and didn’t appreciate our Spanglish (we can’t call it spanish)! Nor was he impressed that we didn’t know where we were going, but after several attempts to find an internet cafe we finally found our hostel.
After being in Cartagena, this certainly felt more like the “real” Colombia and we certainly felt more like “real” backpackers (this was the first hostel we’d stayed in since March). We couldn’t complain though, as it was brand new and best described as having the most mature hostel patrons we’ve ever seen.
We had originally planned to come to Santa Marta to do a 5 day hike through the rainforest to see Ciudad Perdida, described as Colombia’s Machu Pichu. As Richard’s foot was still healing, we changed our plans and our time in Santa Marta was spent in a sloth-like state.
We spent one afternoon in a fishing village called Taganga, where we ate lunch whilst taking in the view of the mangy dogs and the beautiful sunset. We also spent a day at Playa conche, (a beach) where we had delicious coconuts and fresh fish cooked for us whilst we read under our beach tent.
The real highlight of Santa Marta was meeting our new Colombian friends Alba and Carolina (also staying at the hostel) where we got a chance to find out more about the real Colombia through their eyes and experiences.
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