Santa Marta, Colombia, Part 1

Well, we bungled that one. After an easy border crossing into Colombia and a lovely, cushy 'directo' bus to Santa Marta, we made our first big travel mistake. Somehow, either because I was asleep (remember 'cushy'?), or talking to Alden, or just deaf, we missed the Santa Marta stops and overshot the place by two hours (!), ending up in an industrial wasteland called Barranquilla. (It's mid-way between Santa Marta and Cartagena, where we plan to go in a few days.)

 

Oops. The bus ride back to Santa Marta cost us 10,000 pesos each and blew another two hours. We're in Santa Marta now and it's lovely, at least at night. It's a beach town and our hostel (Casa Familiar) is two short blocks from la playa. After all day in a taxi and on a bus, eating little more than crackers, food was the first priority here. Alden had a chicken plate, I had a hamburger and fries, we split a crepe stuffed with cheese and spinach and then an ice-cream popsicle to top it all off. (Our eyes were bigger than our stomachs, as it turned out.)

 

We're going to explore the city tomorrow and perhaps make a day trip to a nearby national park that's supposed to be quite stunning.

 

I think I'm gonig to like Colombia a lot.