OK, what is it with the waking up early? I’m on vacation! Once again, another early morning but this time it was REALLY hot. One reason I wanted the top section of the room was because there was a fan there. However, apparently in the middle of the night, all the power in the camp went out. So everyone was waking up early, hot, and complaining. With nothing really to do and it being too hot to sleep, we figured we’d get an early start to the day and just go hang on the beach. Everyone met for breakfast. I had some money leftover still and made my decision wisely on what to spend it on. I had a huge plate of fruit, some very strong coffee, and arepas with lots of butter (of course). Soooo gooood! I seriously need to learn how to make those things!
Today we were going to venture farther up the coastline to “the Pascina” and then even further up to Cabo beach. Both we heard were much better for swimming and snorkeling. Luke, Kacey and I decided we would head back into town later that day and not spend another evening at Tayrona. We kinda had our hearts set on the volcanic mud bath going back towards Cartagena and so it was a matter of balancing out our travels so we could fit that in and still not feel rushed the day before we were to leave to go home. Besides, I was running low on cash so there wasn’t much left I could have done at the park, and at this point I think I was getting a little restless just not really doing anything and not having much money to do what was there.
We explored the two new beaches, laid out in the sun, swam and snorkeled, took lots more pictures and had a light lunch before trying to figure out how we were going to get back to Toganga. We had two options – boat or cab. Taking a cab would mean we’d have to backpack it all the way back down the coastline, through the donkey pooh again, and then negotiate a fair price for a cab to bring us back to town. Since that seemed like more of a hassle, we decided to check into the boat option which would leave right there from the beach. Luke did his Spanish magic and about 2 hours later, we were off. It was sad saying bye to the Dos Miguels. It seems my travels with Mike are always towards the end of his travel leg so at least I would be seeing him again in a few weeks. I had a great adventure with both of them and definitely would have many fond memories to last me a lifetime. We hugged, did a group photo, and then off we went to catch our boat.
The boat ride was a little longer than an hour, and the sea was very choppy. We we’re in a metal fishing boat with 8 other people feeling like fleeing immigrants trying to make it to the promise land. I’ve been reading “The Life of Pi” on this trip (funny because so was Luke and another guy I met – must be a good travel book to read), and all I could think about was how he survived at sea after his cruise ship had sunk. I have to admit, it was a little creepy. I tried looking for sharks and other threatening sea life in the event that we capsized over, but all I saw was a flying fish, which actually was pretty cool! Then it started raining, got even choppier, and I realized staying dry and safe was problem not going to be an option at this point. There was a girl on the boat too that was starting to get sick. Luckily I wasn’t getting sea sick or anything but just seeing someone else get sick wasn’t my idea of a fun ride. All this lasted about 20min, and we arrived in Taganga cold, wet, and very hungry.
So now we’re in Tagana – hungry, no money and no place to stay… as of yet. We went to Casa Blanca, got our bags, then found a place that accepted credit cards and ordered some food. We didn’t plan on staying there for the night but thought lets at least relax a little with something to eat and drink and then go into Santa Marta and look for a place to sleep. Luke and Kacey were stuck on getting a nice hotel, so that’s what we looked for. In our travel book came a few recommendations and we hit the first one. It was nice, had 5 beds, and was about $30 a person. But at least it was a REAL bed, a REAL shower, and had REAL air conditioning on the Marina and pretty cute outside. I would have paid more! It seems like all my adventure trips always end up at the end with a more luxurious hotel like place and I’m glad – it helps me adjust back into reality!
We decided to look for an ATM and ventured down some side street that were not what I would call, uh.. SAFE?! There appeared to be what looked like prostitutes, rowdy clubs, and quite a few drunken people. We found a bank and I was about to barricade myself in there. I wasn’t sure I wanted to walk back out there with lots of money in my pocket. We went back to the main street and found a place called Ricky’s which seemed to have anything and everything to choose from when it came to cuisine. When you’re hungry, I’d much rather have limited options to choose from instead of 900 options to choose from – everything looked good! Even the wine was good! But after a long day, I was anxious to get back to the hotel room and just crash. Santa Marta wasn’t much of a party kinda town, and I wanted to take advantage of air and bed as much as I could.
