Tayrona is an incredible place set in the jungle covered coast near Santa Marta. It is an hour long bus ride from where we were. Once at the entrance you can either hike for 45 minutes into Arecifes or you can go by horse. We hiked in. The winding jungle trail is beautiful and when you arrive at the site, it is absolutely breathtaking. The beach part in arecifes is off limits to people because of the incredibly strong currents that have taken over 200 lives. The waves were breaking large a few yards from shore. That night I chose to sleep in a hammock. I can´t remember the last time I slept in a hammock. Although it seemed strange at first, I did sleep very well.
The next day we headed out to through the jungle again to a small beach called La Piscina. This part of the beach is swimmable and we jumped right in. After a couple of hours or so, we were off into the jungle again through some more beautiful trail for about another hour. We entertained ourselves by not trying to step on horse shit and trying to remember the discovery channel show´s name where Bear Grill has to survive in the wilderness for a week. I hate it when you know, but can´t remember something. We never figured it out while walking through the jungle.
Finally we arrived in Cabo San Juan de la Guia. This was as beautiful than either of the two previous beaches. I guess what makes it so appealing is how remote it is and what a mission you have to bust to get there. We met a very charismatic and funny French man named Marc. He was a French boxer. Apparently it is a style of boxing similar to kickboxing but only the feet can be used to kick (no shins). He spoke 3 words in Spanish, no English so imagine how communication went between us. Between word negotiation, lots of hand signs and a lot of nodding, we managed to figure out that we would label our picture together, ¨los Cuatro Burros¨.
After some hanging out and a very long walk back. We made it to a bus and were off to Santa Marta for the night. The next day Vic and I were headed back to Cartagena with a quick stop in El Volcan de Lodo, El Totumo and Samantha was going to explore the Lost City. It was sad to see her go. I was really enjoying her company and her Master´s degree in smiling. She is a sweetheart and a very interesting person. But we had places to go and people to meet...
Next stop the muddy pictures of El Totumo
Tuesday, June 30, 2009
Taganga
A 20 minute bus ride from Santa Marta lies a small fishing town named Taganga. This very laid back and slow-paced location is no place for anything other than sandals on your feet. The main strip of beach front street is lined with kiosks and open-air restaurants, bars, markets and dives. This place reminded me a lot of the towns alongside the Carribean side of Costa Rica.
After a while of searching, Vic and I found a cozy place on the end of the main street for a very cheap price. The room was unusually large compared to most other hostels i've been in. It included 2 beds, a fan, table and a VERY small bathroom. We had a joke about the bathroom. It provided the four "S" all at the same time if need be. You could shit, shower, shave and if unlucky, shocked. There was a loose light bulb and fixture adjacent to the shower.
One of the hidden jewels in Taganga is a hidden beach (not secret) that's accesible by a 20 minute walk through a mountain path or you can pay a boat ride there. We took the path. Glad we did because the views were spectacular. And a little monkey almost went off on me. I enjoyed the walk to the beach more than I did the beach itself.
Another one of the standout moments for me in Taganga, was at night. Vic, Samantha (our English buddy) and I went out in search of some night life. It started with some drinks. We went to this upscale place on the beach that we had heard about and it was dead. Personally I feel like it was too much for this environment. We ended up at a little sit-down bar and had some drinks. Met a local legend singer who sang with his dreadlocked son. Those guys could sing. When he found out I was Cuban, he sang a Willy Chirino song (Ya viene Llegando). He sang it even better than Willy. Sing is all these guys did, with nothing more than an old, beat-up guitar. Later on we found a place called "El Garage". That place was jamming. We were lucky enough to get there early and secured a table and chairs. After a short while it was standing room only. Salsa, merengue, even Pitbull vibrated off the speakers. I have to admit, it made me proud to know that the 305 was represented even in a remote part of the world.
No hormiga culonas here. The only culonas were the local women :)
Next stop...Parque Nacional Tayrona.
After a while of searching, Vic and I found a cozy place on the end of the main street for a very cheap price. The room was unusually large compared to most other hostels i've been in. It included 2 beds, a fan, table and a VERY small bathroom. We had a joke about the bathroom. It provided the four "S" all at the same time if need be. You could shit, shower, shave and if unlucky, shocked. There was a loose light bulb and fixture adjacent to the shower.
One of the hidden jewels in Taganga is a hidden beach (not secret) that's accesible by a 20 minute walk through a mountain path or you can pay a boat ride there. We took the path. Glad we did because the views were spectacular. And a little monkey almost went off on me. I enjoyed the walk to the beach more than I did the beach itself.
Another one of the standout moments for me in Taganga, was at night. Vic, Samantha (our English buddy) and I went out in search of some night life. It started with some drinks. We went to this upscale place on the beach that we had heard about and it was dead. Personally I feel like it was too much for this environment. We ended up at a little sit-down bar and had some drinks. Met a local legend singer who sang with his dreadlocked son. Those guys could sing. When he found out I was Cuban, he sang a Willy Chirino song (Ya viene Llegando). He sang it even better than Willy. Sing is all these guys did, with nothing more than an old, beat-up guitar. Later on we found a place called "El Garage". That place was jamming. We were lucky enough to get there early and secured a table and chairs. After a short while it was standing room only. Salsa, merengue, even Pitbull vibrated off the speakers. I have to admit, it made me proud to know that the 305 was represented even in a remote part of the world.
No hormiga culonas here. The only culonas were the local women :)
Next stop...Parque Nacional Tayrona.
Friday, June 26, 2009
Cartagena and Santa Marta
The flight over was faster than I thought and after a small airline bottle of wine and a quick nap, I awoke in Cartagena. First thing I noticed as I looked out of the plane window was the military presence that lined both sides of the runway a scattered intervals. I hoped that was a good thing. After a quick check through immigration and a 10,000 pesos taxi ride to overtown Cartagena I arrived at the hostel Vic and I agreed on. As I was checking in, Victor walked through the door. It was great to see him in his rugged-Indiana Jones Latino- like presence. We headed over to a different hostel a few blocks away. After settling in to our four bed room with 2 other people, we hit the town and headed straight for a bar and caught up.
Cartagena is a beautiful city lined with colonial architecture and vividly colored walls and balconies. It looks soo much like parts of Habana only better maintained. The muralla that surrounds the city is an incredibly well built and impressive fortress. As I stared down from the wall sitting on a canon, I remembered ¨El Malecon¨ in Cuba. The rest of the day and night we spent taste testing every national brand of Colombian beer we ran into and exploring this beautiful city.
Our room mates included a 36 year old guy from California who is also a teacher and was on another one of his many travels. South America was the tail end of this trip. He started out in eastern Europe and trekked many countries along the way. The other room mate was a younger good looking woman from Spain who was travelling in Colombia alone. I have to admit that there is something romantically admirable about all those that travel the world in this way, but there is an additional respect for these women who do it alone. They are pretty ballsy and courageous to hop from city to city and country to country in almost complete uncertainty about where their paths may lead.
Santa Marta is the next stop for us in this trip. It is a beach town nestled in the northern coast. A five hour bus ride and a few stops later, we arrived. We walked for a while and found a place to stay that two europian backpackers recommended. Five bucks a night, two beds, our own fan and we each have a nail on the wall to hang our towels. You can´t beat that! It is a very basic arrangement with a shared bathroom that is sort of outdoors. It has a small restaurant/bar at the bottom where we hung out last night and met some more interesting people. One couple from montana who have driven through all of Central America and are driving down all the way to the end of South America in a car they bought for $400. There was a beautiful young British girl who is traveling alone and will go back to study anthropology in England. Later on we explored and drank some more beer and finished a bottle of Aguardiente. We found a little local club and hung out for a while where I actually danced for a while. It has been a long time since I shook my ass on the dance floor, strangely liberating.
Santa Marta has a long stretch of boardwalked beach beautifully decorated giant sized indigenous statues are placed along the way. It is lively and entertaing both in the day and night. Yesterday I dove into the ocean in my underwear and felt a little akward, especially when my underwear ended up somewhere below my knees. After I got out I didn´t feel too bad, because there was some guy who had decided to take an afternoon jog along the beach in his underwear. At least mine had a tropical theme and as long as the front didn´t open up, I could get away with fooling people into thinking it was a bathing suit.
Don´t know what´s next, but Vic and I decided a while back that we had to find the famous Hormiga Culona. It is a species of giant ants that are cooked and eaten in a certain part of Colombia. I´m not leaving this country without taking a bite out of that ass!
Juan Valdez continues to evade me. There was a siting of one of his garments in Cartagena, but other than that...nothing.
Cartagena is a beautiful city lined with colonial architecture and vividly colored walls and balconies. It looks soo much like parts of Habana only better maintained. The muralla that surrounds the city is an incredibly well built and impressive fortress. As I stared down from the wall sitting on a canon, I remembered ¨El Malecon¨ in Cuba. The rest of the day and night we spent taste testing every national brand of Colombian beer we ran into and exploring this beautiful city.
Our room mates included a 36 year old guy from California who is also a teacher and was on another one of his many travels. South America was the tail end of this trip. He started out in eastern Europe and trekked many countries along the way. The other room mate was a younger good looking woman from Spain who was travelling in Colombia alone. I have to admit that there is something romantically admirable about all those that travel the world in this way, but there is an additional respect for these women who do it alone. They are pretty ballsy and courageous to hop from city to city and country to country in almost complete uncertainty about where their paths may lead.
Santa Marta is the next stop for us in this trip. It is a beach town nestled in the northern coast. A five hour bus ride and a few stops later, we arrived. We walked for a while and found a place to stay that two europian backpackers recommended. Five bucks a night, two beds, our own fan and we each have a nail on the wall to hang our towels. You can´t beat that! It is a very basic arrangement with a shared bathroom that is sort of outdoors. It has a small restaurant/bar at the bottom where we hung out last night and met some more interesting people. One couple from montana who have driven through all of Central America and are driving down all the way to the end of South America in a car they bought for $400. There was a beautiful young British girl who is traveling alone and will go back to study anthropology in England. Later on we explored and drank some more beer and finished a bottle of Aguardiente. We found a little local club and hung out for a while where I actually danced for a while. It has been a long time since I shook my ass on the dance floor, strangely liberating.
Santa Marta has a long stretch of boardwalked beach beautifully decorated giant sized indigenous statues are placed along the way. It is lively and entertaing both in the day and night. Yesterday I dove into the ocean in my underwear and felt a little akward, especially when my underwear ended up somewhere below my knees. After I got out I didn´t feel too bad, because there was some guy who had decided to take an afternoon jog along the beach in his underwear. At least mine had a tropical theme and as long as the front didn´t open up, I could get away with fooling people into thinking it was a bathing suit.
Don´t know what´s next, but Vic and I decided a while back that we had to find the famous Hormiga Culona. It is a species of giant ants that are cooked and eaten in a certain part of Colombia. I´m not leaving this country without taking a bite out of that ass!
Juan Valdez continues to evade me. There was a siting of one of his garments in Cartagena, but other than that...nothing.
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Headed out, One-way...
Well I finally bought my one-way plane ticket and will be leaving next week to Colombia. Not sure yet when I will return, but I figure 2 weeks or so, unless I get the urge to hop on over to Peru and see Machu Picchu. I doubt it, because I want to be back by July 11th to see Brock Lesnar hammer Frank Mir in the UFC. I will be meeting up (Dr.) Victor (Alcalde) in Cartagena. No itinerary and I know nothing of Colombia except that I should be careful not to wander into the jungle alone and ask people in camouflage with AK-47's for directions. This is my first blog ever and I will do my best to update and put up some pics. I'm sure Vic will give a lot of good tips, since I got this idea from him. I'm excited to see Colombia for myself and dispell all the chicken-shit myths, rumors and warnings about such a beautiful country and people that has always called upon my curiosity. If you don't hear from me in a month, start getting some car washes together to pay my ransom :)
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