Well, we`re finally here....the Caribbean! We couldn`t make it to Cartagena, as it is the beginning of Semana Santa (Holy Week) over here, so everyone´s on holiers. So, instead, we headed to Santa Marta, across the bay. We took a 10.00pm bus from Medallin, which was comfortable enough - mainly due to my finally having learned the lesson to take my sleeping bag onboard! At about 10.00am we changed buses to a very much more bedraggled version of our bus, stuffy and hot and very very dirty! My seat was broken, so I spent the entire journey on the knees of the woman behind me.......
Anyway, as the bus wound away from Baranquilla - where we had swapped vehicles - the Caribbean came into sight for the first time in the sunlight! Impossibly blue, and very inviting looking, it was everything I hoped for! We arrived in blistering sunshine to Santa Marta - so far so good! - and found a hostel quickly enough...Hotel Mirimar, near the shore. A converted old building, it was pretty horrible and dirty, but clean enough and cheap enough to tempt us! At 10000 pesos (about 3.50 euro), it fit the bill, despite a cockroach running straight over my foot as I used the loo.....
Rather than stay in the sweltering heat in a town, we took a taxi out to the nearby Taganga village, where the beaches were supposed to be better, and took a long swim in the cool blue/green waters. How good it felt after such a long journey! The bay around Taganga was gorgeous, and keeps a nice breeze flowing through the area. We ate in the hostel that night, as the trip the night before had tired us out. Next day we upped sticks to Tagana, the lads to Casa Blanca at one end of the bay, and myself and Alan to the cheaper Hotel Delphin at the other end....cheaper because if we want to have a shower, brush our teet, or even flush a toilet, we have to go downstairs and ask at the desk for the water to be turned on in our room........
As soon as we were settled in our respective residences, we went to a scuba school and rented snorkelling gear for the rest of the day - 15000 for flippers, mask and snorkle (about 5.25 euro - the same price as our room per night). We then walked down to the shore, where any of the fishermen will take you around the headland to the Playa Grande over the other side, which is supposed to be better for snorkelling. We nabbed a boat for 5000 pesos return (about 1.90 euro), and headed off to our destination. Around the headland it`s slightly wider, and the bay stretches along fishing areas as well as swimming beaches. We snorkelled for a few hours, but boats passed very close and scared of a few of the bigger fish - in fact, I surfaced at one stage to see Alan ahead of me snorkelling away in the water, as a boat drew nearer his head. I started shouting at him but, of course, he couldn`t hear me. The boat-driver did, however, and spotted Alan, and cut his engines. The boat drifted towards him, though, and Alan surfaced just in time to push himself away from the prow of the boat and avoid getting clunked!! After all that watching fish, we decided to chow down on a beautiful fish dinner in a beach-side restaurant - which was absolutely delicious! The nicest fish - and so fresh - that I have tasted in a long time. The fishermen all traipse along the shores carrying fish and selling them to restaurants, so the meals are extremely cheap, and extremely fresh! Lovely! As it was Paddy`s Day, we took a couple of drinks down to the beach to watch the waves and listen to the sounds of relaxation - though I wasn`t drinking. First Paddy`s Day for a long time that I didn`t drink, but believe me when I say that snorkelling in the Caribbean all day more than makes up for it......
Today we got up early and had breakfast in the sunshine, then hired the snorkles again and headed off around the headland to the left of Taganga, and it was immensely better! We were far from boats and people, and the waters were filled with canyons of rock and gardens of sea urchins and seaweeds....colours I had never seen before in plants, and urchins the size of footballs calmly waving in the current! And the fish were unbelievable - from yellow and black striped ones, to pink with black eyes, to bright blue, to green with silver heads, to neon yellow, to pure black.....every colour you could think of swam by us as we gazed enraptured at the underwater world we are so often exempt from. Wow! We spent literally hours in the water, and are only taking a break now in the hottest part of the day before heading back in later. It is seriously addictive stuff!
The rest of the lads are doing the Lost City trek tomorrow, but myself and Alan are going to head to Cartagena instead, and up to Playa Blanca on the islands. We have booked our tickets to Cuba - flying from Caracas to Havana, 20 April to 9 May - so we`re both very excited, and a little strapped for cash!! We`ve decided that we might do the PADI course in scuba diving, as there is an island off Cuba with some of the best drop-offs in the Caribbean, beauitful coral reefs, and about 60 shipwrecks off the coast, so we`d love to scuba dive through all of that! Taganga is one of the cheapest places in the world to do the PADI course, and Ed has been talking of doing it the entire time we`ve been travelling - myself and Alan are going to do a `fun dive` before committing to the course, to make sure we like it, but judging by how much fun we have had with the snorkles, it`s definitely on the cards!
After that, the plan is to hit Parque Tayrona, which has beautiful white-sand beaches, and we can rent hammocks in little beach-side huts along the coast. After that, the west coast of Venezuela before flying over to gorgeous Cuba! Money bedamned.......I`ll be coming home up to my neck in debt, but every second of work back home will be worth it, because this is the trip of a lifetime!!
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