¡Hola familia y amigos!
We haven't had a post in a few days, but we have been pretty busy globetrottin'.
We made it to the beaches of Santa Marta and Taganga, and spent three days soaking up the sun!
Santa Marta is a tourist destination, and popular with backpackers. We spent a day and night there, and although the beach was nice, we had our eyes set on Taganga, a coastal town about 20min away.
Taganga was awesome! Clear waters, 5min walk to the main beach, and plenty of areas to see. Below is a few pictures of our hostel, which had hammocks with a view of the beach. Our biggest adventure here was a 30-40min hike away from the main beach and into some hidden coves just around the corner. Locals and savvy backpackers had been hiking into the hills with swimwear (like flip-flops and thong bikinis) so Brandt and I figured it clearly wasn't that strenuous.
Our gamble to blindly follow the locals paid off, and we found ourselves in a secluded cove with its own beach and small bar! Needless to say, we spent the day swimming in the warm waters, drinking cold cervezas, and getting mildly sun burnt.
After Santa Marta we decided to check out Barranquilla, a city of about 2 million people and a stop between Santa Marta and Cartegena, our next major stop.
We noticed that the kitchen in our hostel had a water purifier (a rare luxury) and we loaded up empty bottles and Nalgenes. This would turn out to be a mistake.
The trip to Barranquilla was painless, but like always in a new city we had to guess where to stop. Unfortunately we overshot our hotel and had to bus it to a nearby stop. As we were strolling down the street we tried to stop by a hotel for a map of the city. Most major cities have them and we have found interesting sites using them previously.
As we were walking I noticed the type of neighborhood we were in...we booked a place in El Centro (usually means downtown or city center), however this city center looked rough.
As we stepped into a hotel for our map, immediately the office clerks asked for our reservation, and once we stated that we were simply walking the neighborhood they were horrified.
I think the exact words were "This part of the city is very dangerous, and you should not be walking around here."
They insisted on calling us a taxi, and we asked if this was a bad area, what was a safe one for tourists. Naturally this was asked in my broken Spanish and although we ended up with a taxi, we were unable to communicate exactly where we wanted to go...
...so it was back to El Centro to try and find our original hotel reservation before dark. While the search lasted about an hour (we literally passed it on the street about 3 times) we were able to eventually check in, grab food, and turn on the Broncos game safely! Phew!!
Usually our day would end there, but shortly after the Broncos' win, we found ourselves with upset stomachs and proceeded to take turns running into the bathroom for most of the night. It was pretty disgusting.
As we are on our way to Cartagena, we both have added a new rule for our travels.
Always purify the water, regardless of the signs in hostels.
Till next time,
Rob
Rob
