Colombia - The Caribbean Coast

Cartagena is beautiful colonial city on the Caribbean coast of Colombia which is a UNESCO world heritage site. It has an old town full of colonial architecture, narrow streets and plazas, and then there's another part of town with huge modern sky-rise apartments and flash hotels. We spent a leisurely few days wandering around and exploring different parts of the city. It was so hot that one day we were craving a swimming pool. We stumbled across the Hilton Hotel in Cartagena in our search and boldly strolled in past security pretending to be hotel guests. In the depths of the hotel we found a lagoon of pools which we cheekily used for free but decided against using the swim-up-bar to avoid getting rumbled! While staying in Cartagena we took a very fun day trip to El Totumo mud volcano. Its basically a big natural mud bath which you jump into and cover yourself in mud (see pic below) For a small amount of cash, there´s a guy to take your camera and photos, another to give you a massage in the mud, and then a bunch of ladies in the local lake who helped wash you down afterwards (and order you to whip off your swim clothes in the process!).

From Cartagena we headed east to Santa Marta where we only stayed one night and wasn't a highlight. There is a beach there but both the sea and the sand isn't clean and was packed full of colombian holiday makers. That night we spent ages trying to find somewhere to eat some decent food before giving up and jumping in a taxi. We then asked the taxista to take us to one of our favourite restaurant colombian chains who promised he would but then mucked us around by dropping us off somewhere that didn't! The next morning we then woke up early to eat breakfast while watching the world cup second round game between England vs Germany, only to watch the germans totally outclass us!! All in all Santa Marta doesn't hold good memories !!

Taganga was our next stop only 15 mins away in a taxi from Santa Marta but felt like a world away. Its a very relaxed fishing village well visited by backpackers, with a couple of beaches. Again the beaches again weren't top quality and very busy with colombian holiday makers but it was nice to chill out there for a bit.

Next stop was the Tayrona national park. Its a beautiful part of the world; a long stretch of coastline with amazing beaches surrounded by Jungle. The bus dropped us off at the entrance where its a fair trek to the first beach and accommodation options. Most options are either a hammock or a tent... or for real luxury a cabina. We ended up continuing to trek for the next few hours until we got to Cabo San Juan one of the nicest beaches. After a really long hot sweaty trek with all our bags we decided to lord it up and stay in a cabina. The cabina was in the 'mirador' - a hut perched at the top of a rock with privileged views over the beach and out to sea. Tayrona is really beautiful and perfect to spend a couple of days relaxing.

Next stop was the Guajira Peninsula at the very north of South America and close to the Venezuelan border. Its a contrasting place to the rest of Colombia with a very arid desert landscape. Theres no tarmac once you are on the peninsula so travel is slow going off-road through sandy dirt tracks. While visiting a salt extraction facility we stumbled across a beauty queen show. One of the ladies had a 'costume malfunction' which i unwittingly got on camera and felt compelled to add to by blog! The beaches on the peninsula were a world away from the other popular north coast destinations like Cartagena, Santa Marta and Taganga. We stayed on an amazing beach one of the nights in hammocks, sleeping in the open only a few metres from the sea .

At the end of the north coast adventure both Dani and I started to feel unwell. Dani had a fever which I soon developed on the day we returned to Medellin. I seemed to have had a worst time with it and spent the next 4 days or so with a fever and a significant time in bed , followed by several more days feeling like a 90-year old man! Nights were the worst as I was overcome with an itcheness all over my body yet no bites or anything to show for it. I also had a delightful spotty rash on my arse and back of my legs. After several days of fever I was on the verge of visiting the doctor when it subsided and I started to feel better. I therefore didnt end up seeing a doctor (typical bloke!) but self-diagnosed myself with having had the tropical disease Dengue Fever! We are both fully recovered now though!