Cartagena, Taganga, Tayrona, Cali.

Okay, so I am not blogging as much as I want to or should be, sorry about that. Anyway just FYI, at this point I am writing for myself so I won’t forget some of the finer points of this trip. If you have any comments to improve the blog or questions, please let me know. I probably won’t be posting many photos on here, but they will be on facebook when I have a chance, I will share the public links here. Enough housekeeping, down to business.

It’s day 13 now and a lot has happened. While in Cartagena we visited the famous Bocagrande Beach, complete with resorts, vendors, shopping and an amazing place to watch the sunset. There I had one of the best burgers of all time from a fast food joint on the beach! I don’t know what was in the meat, but there was bacon, cheeses, sauces and all sorts of things between the buns to make me sick, but I didn’t so I think the probiotics are working. On a Brenda note, all is well in the GI department, no horror stories to report as of yet.

We have been sampling the local spirits, namely beers. We have drank Aguila, Poker, Colombian Club, Pilsen and Duff. Yes, the Duff beer from The Simpsons, nothing to write home about there, but all of the beers are light and tasty. So far Pilsen takes the cake, I think it’s the same Pilsen we drank in Costa Rica. The food has been interesting, I have eaten a lot of pizza and pasta because Italian is VERY popular. However, something struck Josh’s stomach and it kept us in Cartagena an extra day because the four hour bus ride would have been pretty uncomfortable. However, the next day we were on a bus to Taganga to set out for our trip to Tayrona National Park on the coast.

I was still cleaning volcano mud from my ears and it coincided with the dirty streets of Taganga. Well not dirty, just dirt streets. It was a lot like an Oregon coast town...kind of run down, but still thriving with tourist activity. The recommended hostel was kind of dumpy so I won’t even name it on here. We only stayed one night and moved to the highly recommended Casa de Felipe. Shortly after arriving in Taganga we were approached on the beach by a man with a binder offering us a boat trip that included fishing, snorkeling, harpoon fishing, visiting beaches and lunch. We of course took the bait and committed the cardinal sin of going with a non recommended guide service...and boy did it pay off!

The morning after our night at the unnamed hostel we showed up on the beach with some sunblock, beer and $45 USD each to set off on a boat with two poles and two setups for harpoon fishing. It was just the two of us and our guide, Capitan Juan (say it cop-ee-tan). We went trolling on our way out of the bay and around an island, then yo-yo fishing near some rocks before being alerted by one of El Capitan’s friend that the police were coming. So we pulled in our lines and red-lined the motor to sneak into a cove. Little did Josh and I know that what we were doing might be illegal, but it was a successful run from the cops. Since open water fishing was out of the question for a while we got out the snorkels and got a 30 second crash course (in Spanish) about harpoon fishing then we were in the water like kids in a candy store!

Underwater we saw that we were hunting for fish that looked like Dory from Finding Nemo...Capitan Juan said to shoot at anything. I also want to add that he didn't speak a word of English. We took the morning’s catch of tuna and something like snapper to his friend’s house for lunch. His friend’s house is a large cabaña on a cliff over looking a private cove. Josh and I sat in hammocks while lunch was cooked and then we drank beers with El Capitan over lunch. We found out that his friend is a plastic surgeon in Medellin that specializes in fake breasts...apparently it’s a good business in Colombian and I have to agree. I am sure we have seen some of his handiwork. After lunch we did some more harpoon fishing and made sure we were heavily sunburned before heading back to town.

After a good night’s sleep in the better hostel, the next plan was to make our exit strategy from Taganga to our next main destination of Cali. First we had one more side trip to Tayrona National Park, AKA paradise! We used a few methods of public transportation to make it to the trail head, but once there we had an hour long trek to the beach that was muddy, but would make the Costa Rica jungle crew jealous. We got to the beach and were in awe, it was like looking at a post card. Then we traveled to the beach we planed to stay at called El Cabo. There we rented a few hammocks on a rock overlooking the water. That night we watched a lightning storm for hours and didn’t hear a single thunder clap. I love the tropics! We also played an Israeli card game Yaniv with two Dutch girls. One of them took a large flap of skin off her foot that afternoon so we got to exercise some first aid skills to start conversation.

Saturday we trekked from the beach back to the parking lot. It was very hard to do, not so much the hike, but leaving the beach. I really want to get married just so I can have a honeymoon there, it was truly paradise. We returned to our hostel to retrieve our packs and hopped on a four hour bus back to Cartagena hoping to stay at the same hostel as before. It’s funny how plans can change so fast...The four hour trip turned into six on two different buses and the bus would not drop us off at any of the hostels in town, just the city center. Once we got off the bus an intense rainstorm started, when I say intense it is the kind of storm that a rookie weather reporter would be in to prove a point. We waited under a two foot ledge with our packs for almost an hour as the driving rain and wind pounded the city. The thunder claps set off car alarms, bank alarms and made our jaws drop.

After the rain we decided to walk to the hostel with our soaked gear. Easier said than done. Cartagena is an old city so its drainage is not the best. We took the long route walking in ankle deep water to avoid the knee deep water. Finally we got to the hostel to find it overrun with a cheerleading group...no beds. So we went to another hostel I won’t care to insult by mentioning its name, there were a few vacant beds, a creepy receptionist, even creepier bunk mates and a computer that could barely help us book a hostel for the next day’s accommodations. Needless to say we were up early for our flight Sunday morning to Bogota and onto Cali and didn’t mind.

After a very easy day of travel and a few hours of sleep on the planes we were refreshed when we hit the streets of Cali. A short bus ride and a quick taxi dropped us at Casa Blanca Hostel. We are in the north part of the city, it feels a bit like Capitol Hill; close to the city center but insulated from the noise, business and complications. We walked to lunch and got an amazing Colombian meal of meats we couldn’t identify while watching Jurassic Park.

Day 2 in Cali: Not starting out as rough (hungover) as I had anticipated. Being in one of the party capitals of Colombia we expected Halloween to be huge, and it was. We walked one of the main strips into the city and it was overrun with baby costumes, devils, zombies, the usual Halloween sort, but nothing too original. The tradition of scantly clad women carries on down here for the festivities. Around 11 we went to a club in the party district. This street looked like it had just sprung up clubs everywhere, even the cabs had a hard time navigating around all the people in the streets and that says a lot for Colombian taxi drivers. We finally made it into a club that we agreed had an affordable cover (about $5 USD) only to find out that inside a beer cost over $7! So after a bit of sober dancing to electronic music we left and came back to the hostel for a beer before bed. Around 3 the city was still buzzing, but we weren’t.

Today we were woken multiple times by loud motorcycles, slamming doors and the last straw for me was the tile work being done across the street with a grinder. Time to make some breakfast and start the day...my one goal is to buy a new watch since trying to dive with mine was unsuccessful, the saltwater killed it.