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Our New Years Eve flights went according to plan and we arrived at our hostel in Cartagena at around 4.30 pm on New Years Eve to find Sara waiting for us! We barely had enough time to eat and shower before we headed out for NYE celebrations. Sara had already made plans for us to see the new year in at a beach party 50 km away from Cartagena. We had arranged a bus to take us there and one to collect us at midday the following day. The party was good fun, although it was in the middle of nowhere about 5 km off the main road. We ended up getting hammered and sleeping curled up together in a hammock on the beach. Within a couple of hours of waking up on New Years Day Michelle started being violently sick and then crying non stop and our bus didnt turn up until 4pm that day (I wasnt happy and boy did the girl who organised our transport hear about it). When we arrived back, Sara and I went for dinner and ate pasta made by a man who smoke for the duration of the cooking and was picking at tuna from a tin. NICE. Cartagena was really beautiful though and we spent some time within the walled city.
A few days later, along with Sara, we headed up the coast towards Santa Marta and decided to stay in a small fishing village called Tagang which was packed with Colombians on holiday. We had a nice few days in the village with a couple of spectacular sunsets.
After our friend Staceys suggestion (yes thanks Stacey, dont gloat too much) we decided to travel an hour or so up to Tayrona National Park which had some of the most amazing beaches we had ever seen. We took an "organised jeep" there which ended up being an old battered taxi whose boot had to be held down with a piece of string!! Once it had dropped us off we had a gruelling 2 hour walk through dense jungle to get there. We managed to rent hammocks and party all night until 4.00 a.m. We tried snorkelling but the sea was very rough and didnt see much. On the last morning we woke up and were COVERED in bites that took a week to get better and we still arent sure what it was that attacked us.
After Tayrona we headed back and stayed in Santa Marta for a few days before flying off the Peru for our Inca Trail. Michelle was ill again one night so she didnt leave the hotel room for 3 whole days!! Santa Marta was packed with yet more people on holiday and we just happened to find a hotel right in the middle of the red light district. Needless to say, we didnt particularly like it there.
On Jan 10th we left on a plane. Destination: Cusco, Peru.
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