18.09.-23.09. 11

Taganga-NP Tayrona

On Sunday afternoon, 18.09.11, when I arrived at the beautiful Hostal "La Casa de Felipe" I nearly melted as it seemed even hotter than in CARTAGENA. I guess it must have been 35 degrees and very humid. So after I have checked in I went straight down to the beach…..BUT I was very disappointed when I saw the crowds of Columbians and the dirty beach. Anyhow, I jumped into the water just to cool down…and as I couldn't find a shady place to lie down I walked along the waterfront until I found a very nice restaurant where I had lunch.

Back at the hostel I met "Elli" from Melbourne who convinced me to go for a beer into town and later on we went for dinner at a restaurant close to the beach.

The next day, Monday 19.09.11, I had to take the local bus to SANTA MARTA in order to get some money as the ATM in Taganga was out of order for already a week. When I came back from Santa Marta I changed into my swim gear, walked down to the beach where I took a boat to the nearby beach "Playa Grande". I really enjoyed the nice and quiet beach and the clean, warm water for three hours. And while I was sunbathing, a Columbian guy came up and insisted to give me a free massage with real Coconut oil. Well…..and as I never say NO for a "free massage", I received a half an hour fantastic massage including the bottle of Coconut oil. For sure he wanted to go out for dinner with me but I told him that I am busy……and if you believe it or not, he left me alone!

Back at the hostel I met "Wolf" a German guy who moved into my dormitory. I told him that I wanted to leave for the "NP Tayrona" on Tuesday morning and asked him if he would like to join me. And as all the other travellers told him how beautiful the Park and the beaches are he agreed to come with me.

So we both left Taganga on Tuesday, 20.09.11 at about 10am and took the bus to Santa Marta. In Santa Marta we went to the ATM, bought some fruit, veggies and bread and took the next bus straight to the "National Park Tayrona".

When we finally got there at 3pm, we paid the entrance fee at the ranger station and took the bus to "Canaveral". From there we walked for about an hour through a thick Jungle which was quite adventures as the way was mainly covered in deep mud.

Wow….it was so great when we saw the first beach at "Arecifes". It was a very long, sandy beach but unfortunately too dangerous to swim there because of the strong current. We checked out two different "Campgrounds" regarding their conditions and the prices as a lot of travellers told us that the places are mostly overpriced for what you get.

At the end we decided to stay at the second place which was called "El Paraiso" as they offered us a big tent with a thick mattress for 20.000 GOP (8 Euro) and it seemed like a nice and quiet place right next to the beach.

After we had a quick, cold drink and paid for our first night we walked straight over to the nearby beach "La Aranilla". Wow….what a lovely, white sandy beach and the water was crystal clear and so warm. We snorkelled there and stayed there for quite a while until it got dark at 6pm.

While we had dinner at the "El Paraiso" restaurant we met Juliane and Marcel from Dresden. We bought a cask of wine and exchanged our travel stories which were quite interesting as the two had already travelled for nearly two years.

On Wednesday morning, 21.09.11 after we had breakfast with Juliane and Marcel, Wolf and me took off to our first beach "La Piscina". This beach was even bigger and had some great spots for snorkelling. So Wolf and I stayed there for about 2 hours until we took off to the next beach "Cabo de San Juan" which was apparently the nicest beach. Even the 45 Minute walk through the thick forest was beautiful and we saw monkeys, craps, Tucans etc.

The two beaches at "Cabo San Juan" where truly beautiful but we were shocked by the amount of tourists who stayed at the campground and both of us were happy that we decided to stay at "El Paraiso" where it was much quieter and cleaner.

After I took millions of photos and we sunbathed at the beach for a while the weather changed. Suddenly a thunderstorm and lightening came up and therefore we left the beach at 5pm. While we were walking back to "Arecife" we were a bit concerned about our tent as we didn't close it…..but when we arrived back at "El Paraiso" the owner of the campground had moved the tent under a bamboo house and everything was dry and safe.

At dinner we met Carina from Frankfurt who was telling us about her "internship" in Bogota. And as we were all exhausted from the day and the heat we went to our tent and hammocks at 9pm.

The next morning, Wolf and I woke up very early. While Wolf was reading his book I walked over to the beach "La Aranilla" where I went for a morning swim. When I was walking back to the campground I saw a huge crocodile lying on a rock at a little lake next to the beach. I quickly walked back to tell Carina and Wolf and for sure to pick up my camera. Luckily the crocodile was still there when we returned and it was posing for our pictures.

After breakfast Carina, Wolf and I packed our backpacks and walked back to "Canaveral". The walk seemed much longer but probably because it was very humid and we were struggling because of the midday heat. At the car park a Columbian guy with his Jeep offered us a lift back to the entrance. Cool….so we didn't have to wait for a bus.

At the entrance we said Good Bye to Carina and Wolf and I took the next passing bus back to Santa Marta and then another bus to Taganga where we checked back into the Hostal "Casa de Felipe".

In the afternoon Wolf and I walked over to the German owned Diving school "Poseidon" where we both signed up for introduction course. Even though that we didn't bring our swim gear with us we started the course straight away and 10 Minutes later we were doing our first "dive" in the pool.

The next day, 23.09.11 we walked down to the Diving School at 8am. Although I had a bit of a cold, I decided to give it a try. So we left with a full boat of 8 tourists and 4 diving instructors and stopped at a bay close to the "National Park Tayrona".

I was so glad when my ears "popped" at my first dive. And as well I was very, very happy that I decided to do two dives after I haven't dived for nearly 11 years.

In the afternoon I packed my back pack, wrote a few emails, uploaded my diving photos and got ready for my next journey to "San Gil" further north. Doro, a German girl from Berlin who I met at the hostel was heading for the same destination and therefore we took the night bus from SANTA MARTA to BUCARAMANGA at 8.30pm on Friday, 23.09.11.