Now this is what Im talking about! This is what I have been craving for a couple of weeks now - proper beach weather on a proper beach! After being kinda glad to leave Cartagena behind, a supposedly short journey to Santa Marta took up most of the day on Thursday, but by the time we were descending into Taganga bay, a quaint little fishing village, I knew here was the perfect place to round of the trip with a bit of Carribbean laidbackness! Does it really get any better than sunbathing on the Carribbean coast everyday, taking a rest every 3 hours or so to watch the world cup and drink some beer?!? Well that is prettty much what we have been doing - getting up at 7am to either catch the first game or catch some early morning rays before the seriously baking midday heat kicked in. And if it all just gets a bit too much (or it starts raining!), we just head back to the hostel and swing in a hammock for a bit. On Monday we headed out to National Park Tayrone for a couple of days of solitude and the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen (so annoyed my camera isnt working!). Perfect white sand lining bays dotted with huge boulders in the sea, all with a backdrop of dense jungle - I really felt like Guybrush Threepwood (lets see who knows that!!) walking along paths through the jungle to reach different bays and then along the beaches!? There was just something brilliant about taking a shower beneath huge palm trees and swinging in your hammock at night whilst gazing over the moonlit sea.? One of the best things was being able to lie on the beach without being hassled every two minutes to buy this that and the other - it was totally peaceful! Tuesday afternoon was one of the most random, but also one of the best, of my trip! Quite keen on watching the Brazil game, we went to the only place along the beaches with a TV, only to find that they had a problem with the generator! So, they gave us directions to what we assumed would be another campsite or something, along a path leading further into the jungle.? Arriving at our destination, is was clear that this was no campsite or anything like, but rather someones house!? Strolling through the front garden, we could hear the commentary and approached this house, as six children all gazed at us through the "wall"! To be honest, I didnt have a clue what to do, it was just all so bizarre, and at the back of my mind I was wondering if any minute now a crazed farmer would start wielding a machete at us or something!? After finally mumbling something about watching the football, the kids invited us in and just couldnt do enough for us, even sitting on the floor so that we could have the chairs! They were just all so friendly and seemed quite fascinated by us, and even when the Mum walked in she just didnt bat an eyelid, almost as if it was an everyday event to have two complete strangers sat amongst her kids watching television. When we tried to leave at half time cos we were starving, they were more than a bit disappointed and so the Mum offered to cook us some lunch, for half the price that we would have had to have paid back on the beach - so we watched the second half there as well, as more and more people just kept turning up and staring at us wondering how the hell we were! By the end of the game there must have been 13 people crowded round this little black and white TV - brilliant! Back in Taganga, most days have been the same - sun, beer and football! Oh and on the two days England have played, boredom. The only real exception was on Thursday when I went to the cop shop to get a police report for my insurance, and I realised just how far a little bit of Spanish can go! After going to two wrong places first, and speaking to people of varying degrees of helpfulness, we finally rocked up at the right place - though I was sure a small little hut like that could got give me the official document I needed, especially seen as there were actually prisoners behind a grill iron gate there whistling and shouting at us, holding out there hands as if for us to give them the key - it was like a seen out of Pirates of the Carribbean!! We treated Friday night as the last night of our trip, as there was no way we are gonna have a hangover on a 20 hour bus journey accross the Colombian-Venezuelian border! So we headed out with a couple of guys from our dorm into Santa Marta. I thought the Jonny charm had worked one final time, but after an hour and half of serious dancing (hard work in 28 degree heat!) and getting a sweat on, I was informed that the girl had a boyfriend who was arriving momentarily! Tease - and she was the one that came up to me! Around 230am we came back to Taganga and went to a house party, staying ther until around 530 - by which time we could almost have headed straight down to the beach it was that light! And that pretty much was the last fun of the trip. Sunday starts the mammoth 44 hour trip home by bus, taxi and plane, and probably other means as well. Seen as it still strictly part of my trip, I will try and enjoy it! Jonny