even though i was a bit sceptical because of taganga's reputation as a backpacker hidehout i had to take a look. and i must say, i was very very impressed. the scenery is stunning! i took the packed local mini bus for the 30 minutes ride to the neighbouring bay and coming down into taganga was one of the best colombian sights so far: you can see the whole bay, the fishing boats and the huts of the fishing village scattered around: really nice!

the town definitely has its charme but the traveller / locals ratio is a bit off. there's tons of hostels and hotels. and it seems like taganga is a colony of israel: the israeli travellers have quite a presence all over colombia but in taganga, they are everywhere!

the beach is quite good but the water looked a bit dodgy next to all the boats! i quickly got a nice sunburn to show off in switzerland! however, i do not recommend trying the steak in one of the restaurants at the beach: it had all the qualitites of a shoe sole but none of meat.

and, of course, i met the irish/british traveling gang again! no surprise really, the colombian beaten track is quite concentrated :)

but surprise, i actually saw a swiss couple there! couldn't be bothered to speak to them though as i generally try to stay away from the swiss abroad :) but still, i was impressed a little.

nevertheless i was happy to stay in santa marta and just take the short bus trip to hang around the beach for a while as most of the nightlife is in santa marta itself.

"Casa de Felipe" lies on a hill overlooking the small laid-back village of Taganga, a sub-urb of greater Sta.Marta. This hostel was one of my favourites in whole South America. The rooms are really nice, clean and comfortable. Hammocks make you chill out in the morning with cigarette and coffee or whatever. Youve got plenty of space to spread out, meet people and have some party together. I stayed first in a 5 bed dorm room(no bunks) with a balcony(my favourite), a 4-bed-bunk dorm and later in a double room. Through the hostel i booked the "Lost City"-Trek which goes over Sta.Marta. From there as well its only a short bus-ride to the Tayrona National Park, which is so beautyful that me and my buds got stuck there for three days(then your visitors permit expires, bring hammock to use these 3 days well!).

La casa de felipe in Taganga is a nice Hotel inside. but the area where the hotel is located it is not very nice. Taganga is not a safe place. While I was sleeping someone climbed through the balcony and stole my ipod, cell phone and camera. The balcony have grill bars for security. In my case was my fault because I didn't close them. because I was in a Third floor. I couldn't believe someone climb this high. if you go to Taganga, just watch all your belongings. if you go to the beach too. After this I left to Rodadero. where is more safe. and the beach is cleaner. The owner of the hotel charged me half of the price, after the incidence. It was fair.

Hoy partimos hacia playa grande, salimos caminando desde Taganga hasta llegar al final de la playa y comenzamos a subir la montaña por un sendero que nos llevaria hasta la playa.

El paisaje se agreste ya que de este lado de la sierra llueve muy poco, muchos cactus. Cuando llegamos a la sima nos encontramos con una vista impresionante de la bahia de Taganga y hacia el otro lado una bahia mucho mas pequeña llamada playa grande.

Descendimos y llegamos a la playa temprano por la mañana, nos encontramos con un monton de pequeñas tiendas llamados estaderos, donde luego al mediodia se preparan comidas todas a base de pescado.

El agua de esta playa es muy limpia y transparante y se ven muchos pecesitos ideal para practicar snorquel, una pequeña contra es la gran cantidad de moscas que revolotean, es increible que aparecieran aqui ya que en Taganga no hay ni una sola.

De a poco empezaron a llegar lanchas con los lugareños que vienen a preparar la comida para el medio dia. A mi me sorprendio que ubiese tantos, si no habia mucha gente. Pero cerca del mediodia empezaron a llegar lanchas repletas de turistas que realizan su paseo en bota y llegan hasta aqui para pasar el almuerzo.

Nosotros almorzamos pescado con arroz y patacones (platano verde cortado e tiras y frito), una comida muy tipica de esta zona, a la vez muy economica.

Nos quedamos hasta el atardecer y emprendimos nuestro regreso al pueblo de Taganga. Esta era nuestra ultima noche en el lugar, ya que mañana partiriamos hacia Cartagena.

Un dia de buceo recreativo, para disfrutar todo lo aprendido durante el curso.

Primer buceo por la mañana, fuimos a un lugar llamado Paso del Angel, se llama asi por que hay unas pequeñas cuevas por donde pasamos. Despues de una hora de relax en una playa desabitada realizamos nuestro segundo buceo, en un lugar llamado el Cantil, este nombre es por que baja la montaña entrando en el mar.

Un dia muy relajado, ya que cuando se termina de bucear, uno se siente realmente tranquilo. Con el buceo encontre una forma muy divertida de olvidarme de lo que pasa en la vida real. Descubriendo un mundo totalmente distinto con criaturas que uno nunca se podria imaginar.

Volvimos a Taganga por la tarde, con mucho hambre, asi que comimos bien y luego a distendernos a la playa.

El dia anterior completamos nuestro curso teorico de buceo y ya enviamos la solicitud del carnet por internet, mientras tanto nos dan un carnet privisorio que certifica que ya somos Advance Open Water.

Parque Tayrona.

Temprano por la mañana tomamos la buseta como las llaman aqui,  hacia Santa Marta, nos habian explicado como llegar hasta el mercado desde donde salen los buses que nos dejarian a la entrada del parque. Previamente compramos agua y algo para comer durante el dia.

Llegamos a la entrada del parque como a las 09.00 am y ya hacia mucho calor. Increiblemente durante el trayecto el paisaje cambio abruptamente de una area semiarida donde se encuentra Taganga a una area de selva tupida y humeda como es el Parque Tayrona. La cordillera que los separa sirve de barrera para que las nubes no pasen y asi descargan gran cantidad de agua en un lado y del otro es muy dificil que llueva.

Cuando llegamos a la cabina de entrada donde estan los guardaparques nos encontramos con que la entrada es el doble mas cara para los extranjeros. Esto no me parece muy justo, ademas la entrada resulto ser muy cara, pero ys estabamos alli asi que entramos. Nos recogio un jeep donde subimos todos amontonados, este nos alcanzo hasta donde comienza el parque a unos 5 kilometros y para nuestra sorpresa, este transporte no estaba incluido con la entrada asi que tuvimos que pagar sin poder reclamar. En este sitio se pueden alquilar caballos y tambien hay lugar para quedarse a dormir, previamente hay que tener reservaciones.

Comenzamos nuestra caminata dentro del parque, hay senderos bien demarcados por lo que es muy dificil de perderce. El entorno es fabuloso, de selva y naturaleza. Caminamos 3,5 km hasta que llegamos a la playa, el lugar se llama Arrecifes, hay algunas comodidades para acampar. En la playa un cartel nos indica que esta prohibido bañarse en esa zona por que hay muchas corrientes y el mar ya se trago a varias personas el cartel indicaba a mas de 200. Por supuesto que con semejante estadistica nosotros no ibamos a ser los siguientes.

Seguimos caminando costeando el mar, en parte por playa y en partes por la selva durante 20 minutos, y llegamos a una playa desierta y alli si pudimos disfrutar del mar y descansar un rato hasta nuestro regreso. Aqui se disfruta mucho del entorno natural sin que la mano del hombre ahun no ha llegado.

Regresamos desandando el camino que habiamos hecho por la mañana, esta vez nos parecio mucho mas largo, pero la verdad es que estabamos ya muy cansados y a la hora del regreso hacia mucho mas calor.

Regresamos a Taganga ya de noche y la verdad que muy cansados pero satisfechos por los lugares que visitamos.

Nos levantamos temprano ya que hoy empezamos nuestro curso de buceo. El desayuno bien livianito para no tener ningun inconveniente bajo el agua.

En el centro de buceo nos equipamos y repasamos un poco la teoria, ya que hacia un año que no buceamos y estabamos un poco nerviosos. Nuestro instructor nos prepara para la primera inmersion.

Entramos al mar y el primer buceo es profundo a 30 metros, en un lugar llamado Punta Aguja, por primera vez bajamos tan profundo y no tuvimos ningun problema para compensar. Es realmente increible como se ven los colores tan abajo, en realidad se pierden los colores a medida que vas mas profundo, una de las practicas era ver que fruta tenia el instructor y no lo supimos hasta que salimos a la superficie ya que abajo se veia totalmente distinta. Tambien vimos los efectos de la narcosis.

Luego de un relax en la superficie, realizamos nuestro segundo buceo, este ya menos profundo donde repasamos los conceptos de flotabilidad, esto es muy importante para todos los buzos. Cuando ibamos saliendo del agua y subiendo al bote a Cristina se le desprende el cinturon y se cae al fondo del mar, por suerte en otra inmersion uno de los instructores lo recupera y asi safamos de tener un gasto extra.

Regresamos a Taganga y nos fuimos a descansar y por la tarde un rato de relax en la playa hasta la noche.

Hoy nos despertamos bien temprano 05.00 am para ir a bucear a las 06.00 am, esto es por que debemos aprovechar las horas de la mañana para ir al lugar de buceo, un barco hundido, ya que mas tarde la corriente enturbia mucho el agua y hay poca visibilidad.

Primer buceo de la mañana, viajamos un rato largo en bote ya que el lugar de buceo estaba un poco alejado de Taganga, mas precisamente frente a Santa Marta. Bajamos a 27 metros al ancuentro del barco hundido, no habia muy buena visivilidad y ya teniamos un poco de corriente, pero pudimos hacer algunas fotos. Al ascenso hizimos la parada de seguridad obligatoria a los 5 metros durante 3 minutos, esto estaba marcado con un tanque de aire.

Salimos a la superficie y realizamos el intervalo en una isla donde se encuentra un faro, lugar controlado por la guardia costera de Colombia. Con el permiso respectivo vajamos a la isla y luego del descanzo realizamos el teorico de nuestro proximo buceo, navegacion subacuatica. Aprendimos la utilizacion del compas y a orientarnos bajo el agua, claro que esto en la superficie es muy facil pero debajo del agua es un poco mas complicado de realizar.

Bajamos a nuestro segundo buceo, frente de la isla donde descanzamos, y nos encontramos con mucha corriente, y muy poca visibilidad. Yo realice los ejercicios todos bien, pero cuando los realiza Cristina, muy concentrada en la brujula no se dio cuenta que la fuerte corriente la arrastro y al tener poca visibilidad desaparecio de mi vista. En ese momento el instructor estaba distraido sacando algunas fotos. Yo y el instructor esperamos un rato sin poder visaualizar a Cristina y subimos a la superficie. Los manuales dicen que cuando se pierde alguien hay que buscar durante 2 o 3 minutos y luego salir a la superficie. Esperamos un rato largo sin novedades y yo me empece a sentir nervioso ya que Cristina no aparecia. Elcapitan de la lancha tampoco podia ver nada desde su lugar y como a los 5 minutos, tiempo que para mi fueron eternos, aparece en la superficie Cristina, alejada como 200 metros de nosotros, la corriente la habia arrastrado y demoro mucho en salir. Con esto termino nuestra jornada de buceo un poco axidentada y regresamos a Taganga.

Por la noche nos quedaba el ultimo buceo para completar el curso, buceo nocturno. Salimos a la entrada del sol buscando el lugar de buceo, sentiamos un poco de miedo ya que en la oscuridad es muy facil perderse y ademas la sensacion de no saber con que bicho te podes encontrar. Bajamos con nuestras linternas y la verdad que es muy distinto la vision de los corales, ya que con luz artificial se ven los verdaderos colores de estos. Tambien los peces son distintos ya que aparecen otras especies que de dia no se ven. Es mas facil ver langostas, pulpos, cangrejos, etc. En un determinado momento nuestro instructor nos pide que apaguemos nuestras linternas y lo increible fue ver millones de lucesitas como chispitas encendidas, eso son microorganismos que cuando los iluminamos quedan como encendidos entonces cuando apagamos nuestras luces quedan como con lus propia. Terminamos nuestro buceo y ocurre otro percance, a mi se me cae la mascara, pero el instructor rapidamente desciende y la encuentra. Terminamos nuestro curso practico y al otro dia nos quedaba completar algunas preguntas para finalizar el teorico. Vovimos a nuestro hotel con una experiencia nueva.

A las 08.00 am llegamos a la terminal de autobuses de Santa Marta una pequeña terminal un poco desordenada, averiguamos por transporte hacia Taganga nuestro destino final y teniamos que esperar un tiempo prolongado asi tomamos un taxi ya que no era mucha la diferencia de dinero y ademas estabamos muy cansados por el largo viaje.

Taganga es un pequeño pueblo de pescadores muy tranquilo a pocos kilometros de Santa Marta y no esta invadido por turista ni hay esos grandes complejos hotelaros que invaden las playas y le quitan todo lo natural del lugar. Me sorprendio no ver movimiento alguno a pesar de ser ya media mañana. Luego nos comentan que hasta aqui llegan los turistas de Colombia, especialmente para semana santa o para fin de año cuando tienen sus vaciones los colombianos.

Nuestro principal motivo de llegarnos hasta alli era por que queriamos hacer un curso de buceo Advanced Open Water de Padi ya que el año anterior habiamos echo el curso Open Water Dive de Padi en Cordoba. En este lugar estan las mayorias de los centros de buceo de Colombia ya que en sus aguas se puede practicar este deporte en muy buenas condiciones y hay mucha vida submarina.

Cuando llegamos al pueblo fuimos a buscar hospedaje, llegamos a La Casa de Felipe en el cual yo habia hecho una reserva por mail, pero cuando llegamos nos encontramos que no habia lugar, este nos recomendo otro que resulto ser mas practico por que estaba a la vuelta de la escuela donde luego hariamos el curso de buceo. Asi llegamos hasta hostal Pelican un lugar muy economico, habitacion doble con baño privado y ventilador de techo a 30000 pesos. No es un lujo pero para descansar sirve, sin contar que tuvimos un pequeño percance con la cama que se nos derrumbo.

Luego de acomodarnos nos fuimos a Poseidon la escuela de buceo donde fuimos a inscribirnos en el curso de Advance Open Water, nos hicieron un buen descuento ya que era temporada baja. Aparte incluimos un par de buceos recreativos en el paquete.

El sol calentaba de sobremanera, estamos en el caribe colombiano asi que por la tarde fuimos a disfrutar un poco de la playa de Taganga, que es pequeñita, pero el entorno es de pelicula, rodeado de montañas es una bahia muy tranquila, ademas no llegan muchos turistas hasta alli ya que las comodidades son muy basicas, lo contrario de Santa Marta donde estan las grandes cadenas de hoteles, pero teniendo en cuenta que es el mismo mar a mi me va mejor la tranquilidad que el lujo.

Las primeras inmersiones en el mar, es un poco fria el agua por que en esta zona entra una corriente que baja un poco la temperatura del agua pero muy limpia lo que hace que las condiciones sean inmejorables para el desarrollo de la vida marina, ademas muy cerca se encuentra el parque nacional Tayrona, lo que permite que la zona no estee muy afectada por el hombre. Disfrutamos mucho de la tranquilidad del lugar y el entorno era inmejorable.

 A la noche a cenar con el mar de fondo y un paseo por la costanera a la luz de la luna, un lugar paradisiaco. Aqui vienen muchos mochileros, hay un ambiente muy bohemio y nadie te molesta, solo unos pocos artesanos vendiendo sus productos pero sin molestar en demasia, todo lo contrario de Cartagena, un tema muy irritante para mi gusto.

The journey from Merida Taganga was not so fun.  The cab driver in Merida was clearly drunk and continued to swig his bottle as he swerved and yelled his way to the terminal.  The buscamas were all sold so we had to settle for a night bus with no recliners.  I had also just acquired a serious case of bum wee which made the toiletless journey extremely unconfortable.  The second bus that took us to the border was pretty horrible.  When we got on it was quite empty but the man working the door yelling at potential clients to join the journey was successful in cramming the old machine until the rivets began to pop.  The seats were bolted to the floor with uneven spacing.  Mine seat was so close to the one ahead I could not even sit with my legs diagonally.  I had to crap my knees under the seat ahead.

The northern border crossing from Venezuela into Columbia was as dodge as busy.  I can not say that it was the worst border crossing I have gone through because the Ecuador Peru crossing has a solid hold on that for me for obvious reasons.  This crossing had a similar feel which made me quite uncomfortable.  Military men with automatic weapons were everywhere.  Some cars got searched to the extent that they were opening and smelling shampoo bottles, others that held out a bill on the way carried on uncontested.  A few people were carried away to rooms for questioning who did not had proper identification.  The line of vehicles was enormous but not as impressive as the mounds of trash on the sides of the road.  The locals have no respect for lines and constant budding caused waiting times to be long.  But in the end we the fantastic four made it through the border uncontested with all belongings.  Money changers are available to get rid of left over Bolivars that no international bank will accept. Tiago bargained for a good deal for a nicer bus to Santa Marta.  From there we took a short windowless cab ride in the rain to our final destination.

Taganga is a small fishing village on the Caribbean coast with some ok beaches.  We were all quick to notice that the Columbian people were much friendlier than Venezuelans who earn their stereotype as being the grumpiest lot on the continent.  The couple of days relaxing on the beach with a very chilled out vibe was welcomed buy all of us.  We ate fish which was caught in front of our eyes with fishing nets.  The community orientated fishing was nice to see.  All locals within running distance would help out pulling in the nets in every couple of hours.  The juices were also notably fantastic here.  My favorite was a sweet tomatoish looking fruit that grows on trees.

I was sad to split ways with the other three.  We had a lot of laughs especially with the snow man himself, Robert Frost who I traveled with for almost a month.  They were doing the rapidly increasingly popular trek to the lost city which is nearby. The national park that is close was supposed to be amazing but with less than a week left on the continent and Cartagena still on the itinerary I opted to pass.

Was a fantastic trek, your group will make it for you though. The scenery was beautiful, although coming from New Zealand meant you may not find it as breathtaking as other people. Lots of local people whom we passed on the way, didn´t see a lot in the actual villages we past which was a shame. The Lost City itself is small, but listening to the history is amazing. We had a great guide called Wilson, and excellent chef which meant we all looked forward to the meals and oreos!

Nothing but excellent. Loved it so much we kept staying in fact. We had a double room with ensuite for $30,000 pesos per night. Basically it was like a motel room and clean. Staff were great and very helpful. A good breakfast from 7.30am until 10.30am for $5,000 pesos per person which is eggs, 4 bits of toast with marmalade, tea or coffee and fresh juice. Loved those brekkies. A nice chilled atmoshere with heaps of hammocks. A must.

So we were packed and ready to go with the bare minimum that we would need. We were told by some Poms we had met in San Gil to only bring one change of clothes for the day because they would get wet anyway and at times the trail was gruelling so the less to carry the better. We took their advice and looking back we probably good have bought another t-shirt at least in the end, but all worked out!

DAY ONE

Typical to South American time, we were told to be ready at 9am, but weren´t picked up until 10am. The ride there was an adventure in itself to say the least! We went into Santa Marta where we picked up some of the others who we would be travelling with for the next 6 days. Among them were us 2 Kiwis, another Kiwi and her Swedish partner, 2 Poms, 1 Romanian, 1 Spanard, 1 Australian, 1 American, 1 French (Frenchy AKA Thomas) and 2 Israilis.

The heat here is intense. It is 36C by 10am and we had to wait for god knows what before we got into the ¨fun bus¨ - a wide, colourful Land Cruiser. We had to stop twice to fill the small tank up, and then we heard this ¨Sssssssssssssssss¨as one of the tyre´s went down and we had to stop to change the tyre. Once this was done, we got a bit down the road until we had to stop for wht I think was the tyre to be repaired while we all got a fresh juice. It was about 12 noon I think by then, and we had only gone about 35km so far! We were told ¨Vamos!¨ and off we went.

The ride got us sweating a bit. Think a muddy 4WD track and you are sitting in this wide vehicle so lots of tilting going on and there was a cliff and a wall. Praying for our lives we eventually got into a small town at about 2pm. Had some lunch and then we set off just as it started to drizzle a bit (much to everyone´s delight as it was so hot)! Today was a killer. That and I was bitten to hell by fire ants. These little buggers hurt. I was just waiting for everyone to pass so I could go the toilet and then had this sharp pains up my leg, looked down and my boot and leg were covered in these little bastards! 

Today had a lot of steep areas of muddy clay, passing farms and cows. Really beautiful though. Today took about 4hrs until we reached our camp where we had a delicious dinner and hit the sack in our hammocks.

DAY TWO

Awoke after a suprisingly good sleep, today was pretty good, lots of mud. Passed many indigenous villages. Although didn´t see a lot of the people as apparently there was a meeting going on. Did see a small child and her mother. They wear lots of beads usually and a white, cream dress with long hair.

Once we got to our second camp it started to rain and Wilson (our guide) told us to have a swim in the river now as it will rise soon. And rise it did! Couldn´t believe it actually, it was pretty rough, and the vegetation on either side of the river got a pounding.

DAY THREE

Finally, today we would get to the Lost City of the Tayrona´s! We had seen a lot of the indigenous people that live here, but not many photos of them as we thought it was a bit rude to keep photographing them, not that they seem to mind but don´t want to turn them into some side attraction either. Have given out some lollipops we had bought to the kids and they defintely seem to know what they are!

Today was one of the worst days in regards to terrain. We first had to climb around near the river which had gone down since last night but lots of wee slips and having to clamber over slippery rocks which we could´ve easily slipped into if we had no help from the guides! We also had to all get into a cableway one at a time to cross the river. Pretty freaky! We were starved by the time we got to one of the river crossings and has some lunch. We could spy the start of the steps to the Lost City and were all pretty exciting. Wilson swam to the other side and set up a rope so we could hold it. And of course, someone had to have a wee swim and while I was going across (Fallon) my foot slipped over one of the damn rocks and I ended up holding on for dear life while our guide Wilson apparently in panis according to Nathan looked at him to get over there to get me on my feet. It was a nice swim anyway! The river was pretty damn swift thats for sure! Got to the steps and the were a killer! Slippery, damp, mossy and pretty narrow and steep (the Tayrona´s must have been very small people)! Finally made it up to the Lost City and it was pretty cool. Just as I had expected from seeing lots of photos. It is a small area, but as Wilson explained, what is cleared is only 30% of the actual area, with stone steps joining other circles and several trails even leading to the beach. They can not clear these as the indigenous people do not want to attract grave robbers as this had happened with the area we had seen when it was cleared, as the Tayrona´s buried their relatives underneath their houses with gold and other artifacts (which we had seen at the Museo de Oro in Bogota). They do not want the gold and artifacts to be removed as they see this as a person and it should not be touched.

How wonderful though to think of the actual massive size of the ruins and all that gold in the ground! Amazing!

That night we also got to see a scorpian which Wilson found in one of the toilets. Scarey! Didn´t even know they had them in the rainforest!

DAY FOUR & FIVE

This was pretty much the same as the first 2 days as we came back the same way. Saw a lot more indigenous people this time, they all seem to be curious of us and all have tiny dogs! The forth day also saw a LOT of rain, where the trail turned into a small river which was pretty cool.

Back at Casa de Felipe for 2 nights now before we head off to Tayrona National Park.

We arrived on the overnight bus from San Gil this morning and tucked straight into breakfast at our hostel ´La Casa de Felipe´. Fantastic breakfast of scrambled eggs, toast, tea, juice, and all for $5,000 COP each.

Our room is fantastic, more like a hotel and only $30,000 COP per night, which is about $25 NZD. Great atmosphere, I could stay here for a very long time!! A really nice setting with lots of hammocks!

Santa Marta itself isn´t the most nicest place. Really dirty and dusty and pretty much makes you want to get on a bus and leave. Although after a wee siesta we hoped on a local bus into Santa Marta and wondered around. The actual beach part is quite nice, it just seems to be everywhere else that is plain ugly. We also booked our Lost City trek tour for Wednesday. The price is seems to be set everywhere now at $460,000 COP so we went with it. It was a must and the only reason we came through Santa Marta so we have to do it! Really excited! We had just withdrew money for it - nearly 1 million COP, and some raggety teenager came up behind Nathan as we left the ATM and said something and tried to pull on his shirt. I just said ¨No! No por favor, NO!¨ - terrified of being robbed!! It was all good though in the end.

Bought some cards and started playing in the afternoon for about 4hrs! Don´t know if we mentioned it but Frenchie AKA Thomas who we travelled up with from San Gil is also staying here, also doing the tour on the same days but with a different group and then going to Tayrona the same time as us. Bizarre, he´s good value though and we hung out last night with him and got talking with a guy from Sydney and an English girl.