Yes, finally I've arrived in the hot climate zones! I just forgot to take into account that it is the rainy season as well. Full of enthusiasm and ignoring the rain showers I headed from Santa Marta into Parque Tayrona, a nature reserve at the Colombian Caribbean sea. Since there are no roads to the beaches and the walkways consisted mainly of knee-deep mud, I decided to take a horse. After 1 1/2 hrs ride I looked just as if I had bathed in mud (my horse certainly had), but at least I had arrived at the famous beach Cabo San Juan de la Guia, where you can sleep in hammocks overlooking the sea on the top of a little island.
It would have been very nice except for all the garbage that was swept on the beaches after the rain and the thunderstorms at night, which kept me freezing in my luxurious hammock (after all, this hammock on top of the island was more expensive than any hotel room I had before on this trip), so after only 2 days I fled the site and took the fast boat to Taganga, a supposedly picturesque fishing village near Santa Marta. Only this time it looked as if it had been hit by a reverse Tsunami - the streets and the beach had been literally washed away by the heavy rains and all that was left was rubble and garbage.
Not impressed I moved on the Cartagena - first I was told that the road was closed because of floods and there was no way to get there, but then after changing buses in Shakira's home town (very ugly Barranquilla) I miraculously arrived in Cartagena.
The historic center is what Cartagena is all about and it is pretty wherever you turn. I also started looking for a boat to cross over to Panama and found a captain from Barcelona whose boat was up next for departure. Since the sea was very rough after the thunderstorms we had to wait for a few days so I killed time by visiting the nearby volcano El Totumo, whose main attraction is not its height (which is only 29 m above sea level) but the fact that you can throw yourself into the (supposedly healthy) mud it still spits out and experience zero gravity. Great fun!
Spending the weekend in town called for party and I found an able guide in Angelo, who brought me to an Austrian-owned bar (highly recommendable: Harry's Tropical Cafe in Getsemani) and to other hotspots of Cartagena nightlife. With a slight hangover I boarded the boat Lyka the next day and we waved good-bye to Colombia. Thanks to anti-seasickness pills I had a rather relaxed night (as opposed to other passengers including our cook, whose been on boats for 10 years!)
After 2 days of a bumpy ride we arrived at the Archipelago of San Blas - what a magnificent reward, the most beautiful, picture-postcard like islands I've ever seen! We stayed around for 3 days, counting starfish, buying lobsters and crabs from the local Kuna people for almost nothing and roasting them on the BBQ, getting coconuts from palm-trees, snorkelling around corals and a sunken boat and rowing our little dinghy to the tiny paradisiacal islands.
I don't think I will see anything alike again on this trip. Now I am in Panama City not sure how to divide the rest of my time, I think next I will hit some decent surf beaches in Costa Rica and Nicaragua and finally get to practice!
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| Colombia - Panama |
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