Jan 3, 2010 - The Lost City

I arranged an excursion to Ciudad Perdida (The Lost City) from Taganga. This is a 3 day trek through the jungle to a hidden city that is believed to date back to the 11th century. The jungle is so vast and the city is so well hidden that it wasn`t discovered until the 1970`s. It was discovered by treasure hunters/grave robbers who kept it a secret for a few years whilst they stole all the gold from it that was left after the Tayrona people fled when the Spanish invaded. The conditions of the trek were quite tough in that it was really hot...

Dec 30, 2009 - Taganga (Colombia)

The border crossing from Venezuela to Colombia was manic. There was a huge presence of military and police but no order at all. It was a relief to finally arrive in Taganga but a hassle trying to find accommodation late at night on the day before new years eve. But we eventually managed it. I went for my first ever swim in the caribbean on new years eve and saw in the new year on the beach with a mix of locals and travellers. It wasn`t the typical local new years eve celebration that I had hoped to experience, but then I did choose a very...

Nov 26, 2009 - Taganga

After a 4hr bus ride to the city of Santa Marta, we took a short cab ride to the village of Taganga. Taganga is a quiet fishing village on a small bay on the Caribbean and is filled with hostels for backpackers. This is in comparison to Santa Marta which is the main vacation spot for Colombians and is full of giant resorts. We spent a couple of days lounging around at the beach drinking beers and fresh watermelon juice. We then decided that we should book a tour to Ciudad Perdida (Lost City). This is the ruins of a city built by the Tairona...

Oct 12, 2009 - Parque Nacional de Tayrona--aka Paradise

After our relaxing night on the beach of Rodadero we headed back to the hostel, took naps, and headed out on a CHIVA (basically a party bus) that the hostel organizes every week. Its a huge open-aired bus with rows of seats, decorated with gaudy tassels and electric colors, a booming sound system, and of course plenty of ron y coca cola. There were several groups of friends parents in town, so they got a front row seat of what a typical saturday night of travellers debauchery looks like. Dancing on a moving bus after three or four cuba...

Oct 10, 2009 - broken down boats and druglord mansions

A long haul overnight bus from San Gil brought us to Santa Marta, on the northern coast, by early morning a few days ago. It was already sweltering hot at 8am so after checking into our hostel, La Brisa Loca, we went straight into the sea. Water is like a warm bath, barely even refreshing but definitely better than nothing. The beaches right here in the city arent very nice, but its only a short bus ride or boat ride away to many beautiful places. Yesterday one of the hostel employees took us all out on a boat ride out of nearby Tagagna to...

Jul 20, 2009 - leaving for Madrid

It was another long day. We were up at 6:30 to get ready to catch the taxi to the Santa Marta airport for our flight to Bogota. Upon check in the clerk asked us if we had a ticket for Canada booked from Madrid. Of course we don’t have a ticket booked to Canada it is not time to go there yet. We were told it was company policy and you needed a return or forwarding ticket. Oops, this could prove a bit of a problem. The lady told us to check with the airline when we get to Bogota. Upon arrival in Bogota we could not get any information because...

Jul 17, 2009 - Last day and return to Taganga

Another day at the beach, what a rough life! Eat, drink, read. We spent most of our time at the unnamed beach just a short walk, yes an actually walk, past Cabo San Juan. It was quieter. It was here that Elaine contemplated a perfect job. Beach Evaluator. That is a profession that is seriously understaffed. Cory and Elaine did not feel that overall Parque Tayrona deserved the number two spot. Beach is usually indicative of water, which people like to go in. After spending days watching people get tossed around like rag dolls as they...

Jul 16, 2009 - Playa Cabo San Juan

The next morning right on schedule our “taxi” arrived. We arrived at our new campsite and thought that we really should protest something. Tents were everywhere and it looked like a tent city. Don’t most people in tent cities protest something. We could protest their definition of a walk and insist they name it properly. Day two at the beach was not a super hot day, but was sufficient enough to catch some sun. Tents at Cabo San Juan are $50,000 a night, and bathrooms and showers are 500 pesos. It is hard to remember to take money...

Jul 16, 2009 - Santa Marta

A notre retour du parc Tairona, on profite un peu de Santa Marta et ses alentours. C’est ainsi que nous visitons Taganga, un petit village de pecheurs a 20min de la ville. L’endroit est devenu touristique . Les plages, certe jolies, sont comblés de touristes locaux et etrangers. Nous nous baignons dans l’eau claire et paisibe de la mer. Le jour suivant nous nous rendons a un autre endroit, les cascades de Valencia. Au bout d’un sentier a travers la jungle, nous arrivons a une grande parroi rocheuse mais facil a escalader. Il devrait y avoir...

Jul 15, 2009 - Parque Tayrona

Another adventure, everything is packed and we were ready to go. Cory found a list on line that says Parque Tayrona is number 2 on a list of top 10 beaches in the world. Number 9 was a beach in Atitutaki, Cook Islands where Cory and Elaine spent some time on their honeymoon. If number 9 had impressed them, number 2 had to be way better. Maury, a new staff member at Casa de Felippe had sat down and explained the layout at Parque Tayrona, and he recommended the first campsite at Dom Pedro. First we had to jump on a local shuttle bus to...

Jul 11, 2009 - Parc Tairona

De Cartagena nous allons a Santa Marta. Santa Marta est également situé sur la cote, mais la ville est plus petite et moins pittoresque que Cartagena. Nous campons cette nuit sur la plage de la ville mais le sommeil est dur a cause de la chaleur. Il y a près de Santa Marta le Parc National Tairona. C’est un parc côtier partagé entre jungle et plages. Nous y passons en tout six jours. Ce sont six jours de détente, de soleil, de plage, et de ballades dans la jungle. Malgré quelques touristes le parc est relativement tranquille mais son entrée...

Jul 9, 2009 - Day to Day routine

Well it turned out to be a very good thing that Cory and Elaine had their own bathroom as Elaine was having some Pepto Bismal moments, choosing the diarrea option. The wonderful beef must have been too rich for her system. Cory decided to return to Santa Marta because he had forgotten to pick something up yesterday. Elaine chose to stay close to home, relaxing in the hammock reading her book and getting her exercise by running back and forth to the bathroom. Cory returned and was very excited, it didn’t take Elaine and I long to join in...