Apr 13, 2009 - The road to Taganga: DIVANGA!

Well we headed out early this morning to catch our final glimpses of Mompos and take our pictures. We had a quick lunch at Dely Bross one last time and then hopped aboard our sweaty, yucky van to Taganga. This was NOT Tito-style. We were seated in the back which some grouchy old couple backing their seats into our legs, while the AC was pittifully low so we continued to sweat like dogs. The spare driver kept putting the AC vents towards him until we had to ask him twice to NOT do that and point them in a straight direction so that everyone,...

Mar 10, 2009 - From Coro to Tanganga - Venezuela to Colombia

Okay okay oh boy here we go this is a good story one for the books one to be remembered and certainly one that i´m glad has coem to an end... After a Cervaza at Casa Tun Tun in Coro at around 11pm at night I retire to bed awaiting a 5:30am wake up call and a very long day of travelling - the longest hardest day as Marcello our tour guide put it. I shower and crawl into bed, but have that wide awake feeling you know you get when you know you need your sleep. Then it started... A little naeusea was first but I just brushed it off as being...

Apr 24, 2008 - taganga colombia

I spent a lovely total of 6 days in Taganga, a small fishing village close to Santa Marta where Dad and i had spent a few days the week before. It was so tranquilo there. I signed up for scuba lessons the day after i got there and figured out that it was going to be no walk in the park. There was 3 hrs of video, a morning of training in the pool and then two 5 hr excursions on the boat that took us to 2 dive spots. Good god i was tired by the end of every one of those days. Not only that, i had to study for my PADI exam which would make me...

Feb 3, 2008 - Santa Marta/Taganga

Hello all: Well we are now in Venezuela, but more on that later. I left off last in Cartagena. First of all I want to digress before telling you about my last days in Colombia. Most of you know I am not a religious person, but here in South America I love to see the churches. They are really amazing. They are so grandiose and beautiful. They are made of wood, stone, cement, brick, etc. Almost all have some stained glass and ornate decorations. I can not believe to work that went into building them. Anyway, after Cartagena we traveled...

Jan 22, 2008 - Finding the Lost City and Cocaine Factory

After some beaches in northern Colombia, Rachel and I were ready for some trekking. Years ago I read a great National Geographic article about the Indians of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, mountains in the northern part of the country, and now I was in position to visit the area. So we signed up for a six day trek to the famous "Ciudad Perdida", or Lost City, in the exact same area as the NG article. Well, to make a long story short, we found the Lost City. We had a fun group ranging from young potheads to an elderly American woman. The...

Jul 22, 2007 - Taganga: Mission accomplished, time to relax by the beach

Forget water, I need a smoothie!! Having got back from the Lost City trek a day early, made no hesitation in heading back to civilization in search of a smoothie, a shower, some food (lots of it), a proper bed and laundry (everything was caked in mud and soaking wet) - all in that order of preference I might add. This materialized as a few days at the beach in Taganga neighbouring Santa Marta which can seriously be mistaken for a mini Tel Aviv as all signs and menus were written in Hebrew as well as Spanish and thus was a favourite hang out...

Jul 13, 2007 - Santa Marta and Taganga

After the 12 hour bus ride to Santa Marta, we were happy to find the nice Casa Familiar Hotel. The first room they showed us was a little rough, but then they showed us "the penthouse" which was the roof with it's own room and garden all to ourselves. The next day we headed out to see a beach. The first beach was Playa Roderera, and it was pure hell. We stayed about 15 minutes, then headed out to the small town of Taganga for the day. At first glance, it didn't look like much. It was a Sunday and all the locals come out to the beaches, so...