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Map Issues

Sorry folks, I have been having some problems with my map over the past fews. All should be resolved soon. But, to keep you in the loop I am currently in Chicago.

Ronald ha salido de Sur America!/Ronald has left South America!

It is sad, but true. The South American chapter of my current travel stint is over. Though, I would be surprised if I am not back there soon!

I have just arrived to a very wet Miami Beach, before braving the very cold North. But, I still have a couple of stories yet to recount from my Colombian coastal trip. So stay tuned!

Santa Marta - The Beaches
(Santa Marta Photos)

I have already mentioned that the beach in the city of Santa Marta is not ideal unless one was really desperate to build castles on the narrow strip of sand or go for a dip. But, I guess I do have high standards when it comes to sand and water quality, at least in how near I will let them get to touching my skin. This, however, does not stop the hoards of visitors and locals from having a bathe. Hotels in the city promote themselves by saying how close they are to this 'beach'.

There are some slightly better beach options that are relatively close to Santa Marta, and I spent my last day experiencing them for myself. Most holiday goers will he to Rodadero Beach, just 4km south of downtown Santa Marta. Remember all those honking buses that trawl the waterfront for customers? Just stand on the curb of the Carrera 1 (the waterfront avenue) and within seconds one will stop, instinctively knowing that you want to go to Rodadero. That is unless a taxi gets to you first and tries to persuade you of the advantages of his transport verses the bus. There are nothing wrong with most of these taxis, other than their advanced age, but the bus will cost you a quarter of a taxi fare.

Rodadero looks like it has only been developed over the past 25 years or so. All of the buildings are high-rise apartment blocks. Santa Marta has much more character than Rodadero, and that is saying something. Nevertheless there are several expensive hotels and resorts here and the beach is definite bigger than Santa Marta's. And being a Sunday there were not many patches of sand visible.

I made my way along the beach, across a canal using a foot bridge that really should be condemned to the north end where a collection of small motor launches were moored. I had read in my guide about a very nice sounding beach called Playa Blanca, which is only accessible by boat. There is also a small aquarium on the way. Of the dozens of launches I chose a sea worthy one (but what do I know) with some sun protection called the "Rastaferia". The fare was CO$15,000 (US$6.75) for the round-trip. Shop around as the fares vary between boats. And since you are buying a round-trip it is important that you remember your boat. You cannot hop on just any old boat for the return leg. I impressed to see that all the boats appeared to have plenty of life jackets.

The Rastaferia dropped us all off at the aquarium, which on further inspection did not seem worth the CO$12,000 (US$5.50). So I found the improvised path that takes you around the rocks to Playa Blanca. I had to take off my shoes and roll up my shorts to cross various pools. If this was low tide, I could see that the path would be a little more treacherous during a high tide!

Playa Blanca was nice beach and I had fortunately arrived before the crowds. The beach itself is quite narrow and sloped away slightly into the water. The beach is lined with tents which can be hired for the day and there are several restaurants. I walked to the far end with the idea that I was not going to stay. But I gave into to one of the tent guys and hired myself one. It came with four wooden beach chairs, three of which remained vacant for the duration of my lease. But then I did have the Sunday paper, El Tiempo, and the Caribbean Sea for company. And of course, there was the never ending stream of food and drink vendors.

After a couple of hours I had exhausted the newspaper and it was getting uncomfortably hot. So I looked out for the Rastaferia and headed back to Rodadero.

That afternoon I decided to head to Taganga, a small fishing village on the other side of Santa Marta, northeast. After dismissing a couple more taxis I found the Taganga bus (in reality it was more of a van). The trip is probably about 15 minutes, about the same as going to Rodadero. And like the road to Rodadero you have to climb of the headland to reach Taganga. But, once over you get a great view of the little village and its bay. I did not think that the driver would have stopped for a photo, so I did not ask.

The first thing I noticed about Taganga was the number of dive shops. This humble village is probably Colombia's premier scuba diving centre. Taganga is a rough grid of dirt streets, hemmed in by the surrounding hills and the bay. The various craft of the fishing fleet covers much of the beach or sits just off of it (don't get tripped by all of the mooring ropes as you walk the beach!). On this Sunday afternoon the beach was busy and the beach-side, open air restaurants were doing a good business. There were a few people in the water, though I would not have gone in. But, the southwestern end of the beach was full of bodies trying to absorb that last few rays of the day.





Taganga has one hostel that I have heard good things about and has been recommended, La Casa de Felipe. If I ever return I would try to get a bed there if I could.

After my reconnoitering of the beaches in and around Santa Marta I would by far and away recommend Tayrona. I saw just some of its many wonderful beaches. Next I would bring a tent and some mates along or hire a hammock and stay a couple of nights (I have first hand information that the hammocks can get a little chilly at night).
I got back to Santa Marta just in time to catch my last Santa Marta sunset.

Santa Marta - Parque Tayrona
(Santa Marta Photos)

The principal reason for visiting Santa Marta would be for its proximity to the wonderful Parque Nacional Tayrona, and, perhaps more specifically, the beaches of Tayrona. The park is less than an hour from Santa Marta. Probably the best way to get there is via public transport. Buses go back and forth fairly frequently, dropping you off at the main gate, which is actually at the eastern end of the park. There is the same discriminatory pricing policy (as found in Argentina) in place to enter many of Colombia's national parks. For Tayrona, it was in the region of US$20. From the gate it is a small hike along a road to the beginning of the park's various trails.

Now, in retrospect this is what I should have done. However, I chose to take a tour led by an older gentleman who was nicknamed "Abuelo" (grandad) by the mostly Colombian group. The transport was in a Chiva (a bus with long, transversely arranged benches and open sides, no aisle - also used as 'party buses' as they can be seen circling Bogotá with music blaring and intoxicated passengers bouncing up and down). There was nothing wrong with the tour, but I could have saved some money going it alone. I did meet several nice Colombian families who took me in and gave me juice, and a ride in a chiva is always fun. So I was not complaining.

There often seems to be some doubt or confusion as to whether the park is open due to security issues. This may have been the case a couple of years ago when the guerrilla forces were in the area, but the impression I got is that things are pretty safe now, as safe as they can be in Colombia.

To get from the park's small car park to the beach requires an hour to hour and a half hike through dense jungle along a well trodden path. Meanwhile you are constantly being passed by people on horseback and mules carrying to the various beach-side settlements. The mules, often going in pairs, seem to run on auto-pilot. There are several paths that lead to various beaches. Signage along the trail, when it appears, is pretty good. Though, you cannot depend on it.

Our trail led us to Arrecifes, one of the main Tayrona beaches. Here there is a large campsite, and you can also rent hammock space and a hammock. I guess some people bring their own hammocks. There are also basic cabañas if you are not into really roughing it. Other facilities include a restaurant. The beach itself is fairly large. However, the water is perilous. You pass a many signs saying that swimming is prohibited due to the strong currents and undertow. Many have lost their lives here, strong swimmers included.

We continued west along the beach and then in land slightly to join up with another trail. After about 45 minutes or so we finally arrived at our final destination and lunch spot - Cabo San Juan de Guia. Cabo is probably the most popular of the camping sites and beaches in Tayrona. The site is a little smaller than Arrecifes, but the water is calm and safe for swimming. The site boasts a restaurant and shop as well as basic shower and toilet facilities. 20 or so hammocks are lined up in a row under a thatched roof shelter immediately next to the restaurant. There were also a couple of travelers with the typical 'dread-locked and pierced' aspect selling the standard range of arts and crafts such as bracelets, earrings, t-shirts etc - no doubt to fund their gypsy lifestyle.

The restaurant has quite a varied menu, though slightly pricey menu with dishes that were almost twice as expensive as those I found in Santa Marta. I put my lunch order in and went for a swim. Cabo has two small crescent shaped beaches. As I walked along to beach in search of somewhere to 'safe' to leave my pack I could not help but notice the number of cigarette ends stubbed out in the sand. How is it some smokers can be so disrespectful. I would have expected this on the beaches of Santa Marta, but not here.

I did have a very relaxing time wallowing in the calm, clear waters of Cabo. And aside from my short dive in Santa Marta, this was the only opportunity I took to test Colombia's Caribbean waters. This was probably the closet I will ever get to the Caribbean.

At about 3:30pm our guide, Abuelo, rounded us up and pointed us toward the trail. I thought I heard him say something about keeping left. I started out following the nice family who gave me the tamarindo juice. However, after stopping to take a couple of photos, I found myself on my own, not that this bothered me. I made the best of this solitary moment. Though, it was not long before the young Swiss couple from Zurich passed me as I was attempted to photograph an 'ant highway' which crossed the path. I had been making every effort to step across these industrious insects when I came across them.


I caught up with the the Swiss who had stopped at a fork in the trail. There was no sign, of course. Do we go left or right? It was not long before someone else, equally confused, came up behind us. Abuelo had said stay left, hadn't he? So the decision was made to take the left fork and the four of us continued on together. It was not long before I started to feel that this was not the way we had come. Where as the route we had taken to Cabo took us further in land, this was clearly the coastal trail. But, no matter, we continued. The trail took us passed a couple of attractive and secluded little beaches. At every beach I made inquires with the oyster sellers as to whether we were heading in the right direction. We were, however, the others did not appear to be all that convinced. The Swiss couple spoke only rudimentary Spanish and the girl, a hair stylist from Bogotá, spoke virtually no English. This could be an interesting group to get lost with in the Jungle!

It was not long before we rejoined the original trail that led us back to the beach at Arrecifes. At the Arrecifes camp site we found most of the others, and it turned out that we had gone right way. It was their intention that we see some of the other beaches. The hairstylist looked relieved and this only improved her confidence in me.

Santa Marta - The strong currents around El Morro and the dying wish of a Liberator.
(Santa Marta Photos)

I spent that first day in Santa Marta getting my bearings and recovering from my less than comfortable overnight bus ride. I also managed to plan some activities. The city itself does not offer much to the visitor, however, it is not a bad place to base yourself.

At a New Year's Eve party near Bogotá a met an amiable Cuban gentleman who has a son who does (scuba) dives in Santa Marta. So of course I called up Alejandro as soon as I arrived. As it turned out his dive shop was right next door to the Casa Familiar, my hotel. What a convenient coincidence!

The shop's battered Land Rover was loaded with our tanks and gear and we set off. We then drove all of two blocks to the part of Santa Marta's beach which is next to the port. After unloading all of the gear Alejandro wanted to park the green and cream coloured Landie in the beach's parking lot. But, after much pushing and persuasion it would not start, and so it was left on the concrete ramp.


Our chosen dive site was the Isla El Morro, big rock just off of Santa Marta. And so Alejandro, known as Cubano, Mono, our captain and I put putted off in the launch toward the rock. After dropping anchor we kitted up. It had been two years since I last went scuba diving (Whitsunday Islands, Australia), and so I was just a tad apprehensive. It was also the first time I had entered the water by sitting on the edge of the boat, facing inward, and falling in back first.

The aquatic flora and fauna was stunning. There were plenty of tropical fish of florescent blues, greens and yellows. We came across something resembling and eel that was cream coloured with yellow spots. I will have to find out exactly what it was. However, the visibility was not great, perhaps as much as 15 meters at best. The current was strong which, at times, making the dive more hard work than fun. But, we got to a depth of about 55ft (17m), and after 35 minutes I had used up 2500psi of air (about 175bar - my gauges read in US measures, I am used to metric). I thought about doing a second dive, but the body was not feeling up to it.

That afternoon, I caught one of the many buses passing by the beach that honks at every pedestrian trying to get passengers. You cannot stand still on a street corner for more than a moment without a bus, taxi or motor cycle taxi hooting their horn at you trying to get your attention. This gets very trying after a while, particularly if all you want to do is cross the street! But, this time I actually needed one of them. I headed to the dusty outskirts of the city to the Quinta de San Pedro Alejandrino.


A quinta is like country house surrounded by some land. However, the Quinta de San Pedro Alejandrino holds great significance for Colombia as it was where its liberator, Simón Bolívar, died of tuberculosis on 17 December 1830 at 47 years of age. After winning its independence from Spain, Colombia was facing a new crisis. During his last years, as Colombia's first president, Bolívar fought hard to keep this country from splintering apart, as often seems to happen after a country gains its independence. His dying wish was that the integrity of this young nation was maintained.

The Quinta was like an oasis in the poor, dry suburbs of Santa Marta. Its gardens are pretty well watered and maintained. The compound is divided into two parts: the main house and gardens and a large monument built for the centenary of Bolívar's death. The almost penniless Bolívar was originally invited by the Quinta's owner. The most striking feature of the Quinta is the number of huge trees, their branches reaching out in all directions. A museum was built with the monument with a number of exhibition spaces. It is a very peaceful place. You almost forget how close you are to the bustling little city of Santa Marta.