We were all surprised how modern, rich and built up Cartegena is. I guess you have some sort of false expectations due to media for a country and am usually wrong about that. It also feels so safe. A lot of other cities you wouldn't walk around random areas at night or sit in the park but tonight from 7 in the evening we were walking and talking and hanging out in different areas until 3 in the morning. We decided to have a night off the drink so went to this square where there was jazz been played and a load of amazing street vendors where we could go and pick our food out. Sat around there talking for about 5 hours watching fire throwers and listening to the music and then decided to head home to bed. But then on the street bumped into two nice German girls who decided they wanted to walk around for a while. Another thing how I love about travelling is how you can bump into random people and just get on with them so well so quickly. Decided to go for some more food, then sat in the park and wandering around different parts of the city. And there are people everywhere and always friendly and up for a chat. Not many other cities you'd feel safe enough sitting in the park at night.
We spent a good five nights or so in Cartegena and then all decided to move onto Taganga on the Caribbean coast. A few of the others decided to get the tourist bus, some were driving or cycling and of course I decided on the local bus. And what a long and random journey it was. Because of the language barrier I didn't have a clue what was going on half the time. Thought I was been really ripped off by the guy selling tickets but in the end not sure think he might have actually helped me out. We had multiple stops, stopped by a crash in the middle of the road, broken wheel and even the ticket collector guy ended up in a random fight with some very annoying customer that ended up spilling out onto the street. That was quite interesting cause he pushed him off the bus when he was trying to jump on, ripped his own shirt off and just started fighting in the middle of the street. Everyone was shocked so wasn't like this was the norm. I also thought it was over me cause the guy causing the trouble had tried to sell me tickets originally and think he'd tried to get me to pay for him and the ticket guy was sticking up for me. Very hard to tell though. I eventually arrived though and the others had gotten us this really cool apartment for six of us. Kitchen balcony hammocks, BBQ, Internet etc. Ocean views. There was no real plan on how long to stay here but for some reason we got stuck for 8 nights.
We didnt even really do much. Just a lot of going out. Taganga is a beach resort where a lot of rich Colombians come to. Santa Marta is the big city near by. But because its wet season the beach is not great at all so we only made it there one of the days. As a group we all met up at our apartment every night, cooked some meals including this massive BBQ and then partied the night away. One of the nights we got split into three different groups of two people all went to separate places and had totally random nights out and still didn't get home till after sunrise. A few of the people were doing the Lost City or Ciudad Perdida trek which is a five day trek through the jungle. I wasn't too interested in this due to the amount of rain and mud I would have had to endure along the way.
Instead me and two others decided to head to Park Tayrona for a night. One of the guys I'm hanging out with, Victor is driving his motorbike from Canada to Argentina and has loads of gadgets and camping gear. At one stage he survived out in the jungle of Belize for two months. So we brought some camping gear to the park, hiked through two sweaty hours of mud and heat and arrived at this beach. Place turned out to be a total rip off. Charging us crazy amounts to enter the park, to camp etc. So we just grabbed some hammocks and slept out on them. The scenery around was absolutely amazing. Palm trees, mountains, huge rocks and cliffs. Only problem the water again wasn't at its best cause of wet season and the rain flow into the ocean. At the end of our second day one of the girls said shed bring the stuff back on the boat for us and myself and Victor did the two hour hike back to grab a bus. We took a different scenic route this time and was just beautiful walking along these deserted beaches and then on through the jungle. So much mud in there so was easiest just to go barefoot and as we were getting to the end the sounds of the jungle were starting to liven up and it was beginning to get dark. Then had to wait for ages for this bus that never came. Was such a mission in the end but well worth it. Eventually we found out there were no more buses and a really friendly taxi driver drove us back for half nothing. When we got to Taganga we were starving and found this local guy selling these massive homemade pizzas at his house. They were so good. Got chatting to him for ages and as he worked and talked he had a constant smile on his face. Kids running around with our cameras taking loads of pictures. He had a really good chat with Victor cause he himself and driven from Columbia to Argentina 20 years ago.
We kinda figured after all this time hanging out doing nothing most of the time it was time to move on so a very very freezing night bus south to Bucaramanga was in order. So cold in fact that I had three layers of clothes on and a sleeping bag. But was still one of the best buses Ive been on. Proper chairs that nearly fold into a bed. Way better than first class in a plane.
Colombia impresses me more and more every single day and we all keep saying it. Also it seems a lot more exotic than where we've been before. Before we took it for granted but lately all of us as a group just keep saying we cant believe we are here. Stereotypes of Colombia from movies and media are totally different. Its a very modern rich and built up place from what we can see. That's not to say there isn't poverty also but just comparing it to other places. Its the first country we've been through where we are no longer the rich gringo with a bulging wallet but just a normal poor backpacker amongst a lot of very wealthy people. The tourist board of Colombias slogan is el riesgo es que te quieras quedar. This pretty much means the only risk is wanting to stay and its so true. This is an interesting video of it http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQ31bPPiN2c&sns=fb Also with regards to drugs here its very different to other countries. Obviously they exist like in all places but they are not in your face been offered like everywhere else. Other places you can walk down the street and be offered drugs by a number of people. Here its rare. Chatting to a guy in the hostel he said its very much a taboo, that if people take drugs they hide the fact that they do it unlike in a lot of western countries I know. People are more into drinking, partying, eating and dancing. Now of course that's just my opinion and the people Ive met.
Photos up at Cartegena Photos
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