Wednesday, September 16

Today was a travel day though we spent a little more time exploring San Gil and the plaza before we left. We had hoped to go up to the waterfall before we left but either the man at the bus station gave us inaccurate info or we misunderstood him but we though we needed to leave by 10am or so if we were to make the connections we wanted. We caught the bus to Parque Nacional Chicamocha and arrived about an hour and a half later. The road into the park is breathtaking: narrow, winding and following the edge of one of the most spectacular canyons I have ever seen.

The entrance to the park is a little Disneyland-like but the end result is worth it. We had all our luggage with us and were very grateful for the Colombian effort to provide ramps for the handicapped. There is a spectacular monument dedicated to the Santanders, Columbian revolutionaries and the Guane Indians, who sparked the grass roots movement which ultimately resulted in the defeat of the Spanish Conquistadors. We will include some pictures in the blog.

We had lunch and wandered around the complex and heard an excellent speech on the Santanders and their role in the fighting the Spanish Conquistadors, in English. We then took the tram down the mountain, across the canyon floor and up the even steeper mountains on the other side. We continued our bus rides, arriving in Bucaramunga early enough to have dinner before our 8:30pm bus ride to Santa Marta. We decided to eat there at the terminal and were amazed by a very good dinner of chicken with mushrooms and cheese.

Te bus left pretty much right on time and we snuggled in for our 9 hour ride to Santa Marta on the Caribbean Coast. The drivers keep the bus so cold that heavy jackets and blankets are required.

Thursday September 17

A very cold overnight ride put us in Santa Marta at 5am. We had originally planned to take a later bus at 10:30pm which would have arrived in Santa Marta at 8:30 but it was apparently cancelled. Santa Marta is a huge city and not very attractive and we wanted to leave as soon as possible. We got a taxi to take us over the hill to Taganga, a beautiful little seaside village set in the next bay. However, when we arrived at 6am, absolutely nothing was open so we went back to Santa Marta for breakfast at a restaurant known by the driver (and probably run by his cousin).

After breakfast, we returned to Taganga and, after checking out several places, found the Hostel Divanga which was very nice but a ways up the hill from the rest of town and the beach (translate into involuntary exercise). We had a very nice room with a private bath for COP$80 breakfast included. Just outside our room was a swimming pool which we initially questioned but found it was a good way of rinsing off the salt water at the end of the day.

First order of business, after a good cup of coffee and a chance to catch up on lost sleep, was to walk down to the travel agency to book our flight from Cartagena to Bogota on Sunday. We got a good rate, only $100USD each but the flights on Sunday were all booked and we had to book for Saturday, late night. Unfortunately that cut down our stay on the coast so we booked at 12:30pm bus out for the next day which we thought would allow us to stop a couple of hours at Volcan De Lodo which has warm mud you can relax in.

We hiked across the hill to the next beach and snorkeled that afternoon. There were no reefs but lots of fish hiding in and among the rocks by the shore. We hiked back as evening fell and walked up the hill to our hostel where we had a wonderful dinner.