SANTA MARTA - TAGANGA - Colombia's Caribbean Coast - 11th & 12th August

10th August -
Got to San Gil (from beautiful Barichara) around around 2 pm, and decided to take any bus to Bucaramanga, a large City in Colombia - possibly the third largest. Caught a small bus which took us over some very winding roads over the Andes, with extremely long drops and spectacular mountain ranges.

In Bucaramanga, we hung around the bus terminus until our night bus to Santa Marta, which was at 9pm. In hind sight we wished we had dashed off to Giron, a town 10 minutes away just for a quick look. Its a heritage site with its cobbled streets, horse carts and 350 year old colonial architecture. Nevertheless, we were not bored in Bucaramanga watching people of all types flow past. Maurice the young bus attendant at the Brasilia bus company kiosk made it his personal quest not to go home until he saw us on the bus at 9pm. His shift finished at 6pm. All around us we continually see Colombian courtesy and their zest for life. I do not think we have once heard a voice raised in anger or heard a moan about anything.


The bus trip at night was an experience. Almost everyone on the bus fell asleep instantly - the comfortable seats reclined almost completely. The air conditioning must have been set on "freeze" and it was a good job we had our jackets with us. "Saving private Ryan" in Spanish...with spanish subtitles (??) played loudly over the video system on the bus for half the night. Still we did feel rested when we go to Santa Marta, the next morning at 7am.

11th August - Both the landscape and the ethnicity seemed to have changed from the Andean towns to the Caribbean Coast. It was certainly flatter, hot & humid in Santa Marta and the African roots of the people here were very obvious. Many assumed Letay was Colombian because she blended in well here. People reminded us of Cuba in looks and laid back attitude. We decided to move further toward the Tayrona National Park, where the hills and forest meet the Caribbean sea and with lovely horseshoe bay beaches.

We picked the closest bay - Taganga, a sleepy fishing village in one such bay with certainly less tourists and lots of dogs every where who also had this laid back attitude. The backpacker place (Casa Blanca) we stayed at was very basic but brilliant as it was literally right on the beach - with waves breaking at the door step. Ismael, the "everything" (receptioninst, houskeeper, laundryman, guide, friend) made sure we got a room right over the sea.


Letay absolutely loved the place especially the hammock in the balcony.




Strangely, apart from us and 2-3 others, the rest of the backpackers were all Isreali who do not (want to) interact with anyone, or even make eye contact.

Santa Marta, founded by Rodrigo de Bastidas in 1525, was developed as a centre for collecting the vast gold takings from the various Spanish campaigns inland, where they attacked indigenous communities, of which the Tayronas were the dominant and most developed group. There were about 300 settlements on the slopes of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, all once linked by stone paved roads.

The Ciudad Perdida (lost city) discovered in 1975 is thought to be the Tayronian Capital being the largest. There are 5 day treks to the Ciudad Perdida from Santa Marta but not one to attempt with a six year old because of the river crossings involved. Nevertheless, Letay's immagination was all fired up by "Pirates of the Caribbean" and she could imagine the Spanish bringing in Inca gold and Pirates attacking Santa Marta for the gold ......and then harbouring in Taganga bay drinking rum.

Santa Marta was also the place from which Jimenez de Quesada set off in 1536 inward and founded Bogota two years later. I suppose it is most importantly remembered in present day Colombia as the place where Simon Bolivar died in 1830, after bringing independence to six Latin American countries.

No great conquests for us here though. This was certainly the most laid back period so far, with no museums or treks, just the heat & humidity, we just swam in clear waters, ate brilliant Pargo (Snapper) & Arroz Con Camerones (something that Letay ate with absolutely no fuss) and drank juices of exotic tropical fruit, some of which have no name in English being indeginious to Colombia - like Lulo, Guyavana, Feijoa, Curuba. Everyone seemed to drink fruit juice in this heat and it was so cheap (75 cents).
On the first night we met Rolando, a local musician and Liviana, a young Italian lady who taught Spanish in Milan.










12th August - What was to be a quiet day turned out to be quite an experience. Letay and Rossini went swimming right out of bed at 6:30am, and we went out with Liviana for breakfast. We then planned to all trek to a neighbouring bay, over the mountains with a young man, Alfredo Cantildo from Taganga, Liviana had met only the day before. He was a musician and had his guitar with him at all times. Two young Colombain girls from the Cinema School at the Santa Marta University also came along.

Rather than trek over the mountain, Alfredo took us semi-climbing, along the craggy rocky coastline, something Letay surprisingly enjoyed very much, especially with the waves breaking right at our feet. We did not stop at the Playa Grande, where most locals gathered, coming there by local fishing boat. Alfredo tooks us a few bays further, where his relatives fished. It was certainly an experience meeting these old salty weather worn men, who fished, played dominoes, and cooked up some rice and fish quickly for us along with Agua De Panela (Raw Cane Sugar & Lemon Drink). One very old man wanted to know which tribe Deepa belonged to, when he heard she too was Indian.




We went further to another bay, snorkled, and ate fresh fried fish at a small shack-kitchen one of Alfredo's cousins had set up. Alfredo then sang some of the most fantastic Colombian music with excelent guitar playing. He has a very charismatic and honest style about him. He opens himself up completely with no inhibitions and is very likable. He sang some Silvio Rodrigues (Cuban) songs that Letay loves, although he didn't know her favourite "Olivia". Rather than take a boat back to Taganga, Letay was more than eager to go over the rocks back too - very surprising.


We had all planned to meet after dinner for a few drinks again. Dinner for us was at a small place on Taganga beach "Las Velas Tropical". I mention this because it was here that we had the most fabulous seafood dish so far - their Cazuela de Mariscos (Seafood Caserole) was magnificient !!!! If anyone is ever on this beach, and loves seafood - this is a must !!!!



After dinner, we met Alfredo, Liviana, Ismael the receptionist, and Zafira a Canadian girl who had just arrived.
This was the most facinating part of the day for us. We drank local Rum by the beach, whilst Alfredo took us on a musical journey. He started singing songs from Mexico, then songs from other Central American countries, then moving through Colombian regions, Peru, Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, explaining the styles and lyrics of each - changing his own style with each too, sometimes making his guitar sound like an Andean harp.

It was one very enriching cultural experience. He started at around 9pm and we only stopped at around 2am in the morning. We will certainly keep in touch with each other and made a note that he would be one great performer to try to bring to the cultrural group in Perth (KULCHA), or for an Art Festival. Alfredo has promised to send us a copy of his CD to be released locally later this year.

Went to bed knowing that Letay would be up at 6am, in four hours and would want to go swimming again...........and that we also had to try and make our way to Cartagena later in the morning. Letay would certainly miss the security of the relaxed routine in Taganga.