To Santa Marta!
Wednesday, August 30th - so we decided to go to the town of Santa Marta, which would have normally involved taking the boat back to Cartagena amd then a taxi to the bus stop, bus to Santa Marta, taxi to hotel, presumably.
But when talking to the hotel staff they said they could arrange all the way to Santa Marta for 1,100,000 pesos ($275), yeah okay, cuts out all those stages. Amd otherwise we'd have been traveling late since the regular boat to cartagena would only leave at 3pm, get there at 4, we'd be lucky to get to Santa Marta by 8, amd I'm still leery of traveling after dark here. Colombia has come a long way but I've heard comparatively recent stories of whole busses being robbed after dark.
So we had a leisurely morning, had breakfast, went swimming, declined the crab man (who this time came by in a one person canoe), amd at 10:45 departed as the only passengers on a boat to Baru.
Baru is a peninsula of the mainland amd closest part of the mainland to the Rosario Islands. It only took ten minutes to reach land, then we entered a tunnel like channel in the mangroves that wound back amd forth through the tangle. We passed several similarly sized outbound boats.
It was around this time we learned by text of the coup in Gabon. Jesus there's a spate of coups in Africa lately. I was blaming Wagner but Wagner was snuffed out just the other day so who knows.
Anyway we came out of the mangrove tunnel into a little bay amd the docks of the town of Baru, looking like the very picture of a sleepy backwater with lots of small boats in various states of disrepair pulled up to the bank. We nosed up to the main dock. It was so shallow you literally couldn't get a boat bigger than these little things in. Here our driver was waiting for us in his surprisingly decent looking white sedan car. We transferred our stuff amd were on our way again.
The town of Baru was really run down for what's reputed to be a tourist destination, but i suppose tourists just go straight to the resorts amd hotels amd never see the town. There's a small town in the center of Rosario Island, i wonder if it looks like this too, while surrounded by the elegant hotels we saw.
The roads were compacted sand, some unusable, trash lay around, the houses had thick bars on their windows amd gates, though some were painted cheerful vibrant colors amd a bougainvillea overhung the street prettily here amd there.
Once we left town it was mainly mangroves on either side of the road, though for awhile we were driving just along the sea (amd mangroves on the other).
We slowed for some figures in the road, one leaning on a shovel, it turned out to be teenage girls filling potholes, amd the driver handed them some change as we passed. I'd seen a similar phenomena in Africa in the past, road repair volunteers working for tips, though it had always been men.
After awhile we got into more built up areas amd by amd by we were driving through cartagena (about an hour after leaving Baru, just after noon now). Stopped at an ATM to get the cash to pay this fellow amd continued on north of town.
I noted even on the major highway, which we were on now, one would see the occasional horse drawn cart.
Landscape outside of cartagena continued at first to be thick coastal scrub but gradually changed to savanna on low rolling hills.
Our driver seemed nice. Cristina amd he seemed to have some good conversations.
After about two more hours we were approaching the city of Barranquilla amd our driver asked if we wanted to have lunch on the boardwalk there or just hurry through. Si lunch on boardwalk por favor.
He took us to this place that was like a food court on the boardwalk beside the river, but don't you be picturing your local mall food court, i think it was the cutest most well decorated food court I've ever seen. It's name was Caiman del Rio amd it as decorated with hundreds of cute winged caimans all along the ceiling. Amd what was mysterious to me was that usually a food court is attached to a mall or other populous area, this seemed to be in an industrial area, not even a heavily peopled industrial area, with no obvious source of people wandering in for food (yes it was on the boardwalk along the river but nothing else was) but inside were over a dozen nice looking eateries amd plenty of customers. It was vibrant. It was really quite a mystery.
Anyway we ate at a place that specialized in tacos, amd brought one taco amd a coke to our driver.
Then we continued on our way. Crossed a bridge over the river (river Magdalena). On the pedestrian part of the bridge there appeared to be some people shooting a video involving two persons in furry amd/or dinosaur suits.
Passed through one of many toll booths shortly thereafter, but at this one i noted the toll booth attendant had allowed a young (9-10?) girl to stand literally just beside the window begging/trying to sell some packaged cookies. Our driver handed her some change.
After Barranquilla the road had wetlands on ether side of it for quite awhile. Finally we arrived in the town on the far side, which appeared to mostly consist of small cinderblock shanties with corrugated metal roofs, amd immense amounts of trash in the unpaved streets amd squares. Several soccer games going in soccer fields in the town though, apparently it was soccer o clock (5pm?)
A young man came to clean our windows at a stop light. I'm so used to waving away people that do that that it came as a surprise to me that our driver rolled down the window amd handed him some money. I suppose it can be a useful service.
After this town (Cienaga) some tall mountains actually loomed up ahead. As twilight was setting in we arrived in Santa Marta nestled in a valley by the sea. At a stop light some young men (17-20) started break dancing in front of the cars during the red light amd quickly went out to collect tips before it turned green. Our driver handed them some money as did a few other cars i believe.
Finally around 18:00 we arrived at our hotel. It seems quite nice, elegant and spacious amd for only $30 something a night.
Our driver put us in contact with someone who arranges tours here, so we're kind of being handed off from our previous hotel to our driver to this new tour person. Anyway it's just past midnight amd tomorrow is another day (I don't go in for this hogwash that it's already tomorrow since it's past midnight, it's not tomorrow till i fall asleep amd wake up)
But when talking to the hotel staff they said they could arrange all the way to Santa Marta for 1,100,000 pesos ($275), yeah okay, cuts out all those stages. Amd otherwise we'd have been traveling late since the regular boat to cartagena would only leave at 3pm, get there at 4, we'd be lucky to get to Santa Marta by 8, amd I'm still leery of traveling after dark here. Colombia has come a long way but I've heard comparatively recent stories of whole busses being robbed after dark.
So we had a leisurely morning, had breakfast, went swimming, declined the crab man (who this time came by in a one person canoe), amd at 10:45 departed as the only passengers on a boat to Baru.
Baru is a peninsula of the mainland amd closest part of the mainland to the Rosario Islands. It only took ten minutes to reach land, then we entered a tunnel like channel in the mangroves that wound back amd forth through the tangle. We passed several similarly sized outbound boats.
It was around this time we learned by text of the coup in Gabon. Jesus there's a spate of coups in Africa lately. I was blaming Wagner but Wagner was snuffed out just the other day so who knows.
Anyway we came out of the mangrove tunnel into a little bay amd the docks of the town of Baru, looking like the very picture of a sleepy backwater with lots of small boats in various states of disrepair pulled up to the bank. We nosed up to the main dock. It was so shallow you literally couldn't get a boat bigger than these little things in. Here our driver was waiting for us in his surprisingly decent looking white sedan car. We transferred our stuff amd were on our way again.
The town of Baru was really run down for what's reputed to be a tourist destination, but i suppose tourists just go straight to the resorts amd hotels amd never see the town. There's a small town in the center of Rosario Island, i wonder if it looks like this too, while surrounded by the elegant hotels we saw.
The roads were compacted sand, some unusable, trash lay around, the houses had thick bars on their windows amd gates, though some were painted cheerful vibrant colors amd a bougainvillea overhung the street prettily here amd there.
Once we left town it was mainly mangroves on either side of the road, though for awhile we were driving just along the sea (amd mangroves on the other).
We slowed for some figures in the road, one leaning on a shovel, it turned out to be teenage girls filling potholes, amd the driver handed them some change as we passed. I'd seen a similar phenomena in Africa in the past, road repair volunteers working for tips, though it had always been men.
After awhile we got into more built up areas amd by amd by we were driving through cartagena (about an hour after leaving Baru, just after noon now). Stopped at an ATM to get the cash to pay this fellow amd continued on north of town.
I noted even on the major highway, which we were on now, one would see the occasional horse drawn cart.
Landscape outside of cartagena continued at first to be thick coastal scrub but gradually changed to savanna on low rolling hills.
Our driver seemed nice. Cristina amd he seemed to have some good conversations.
After about two more hours we were approaching the city of Barranquilla amd our driver asked if we wanted to have lunch on the boardwalk there or just hurry through. Si lunch on boardwalk por favor.
He took us to this place that was like a food court on the boardwalk beside the river, but don't you be picturing your local mall food court, i think it was the cutest most well decorated food court I've ever seen. It's name was Caiman del Rio amd it as decorated with hundreds of cute winged caimans all along the ceiling. Amd what was mysterious to me was that usually a food court is attached to a mall or other populous area, this seemed to be in an industrial area, not even a heavily peopled industrial area, with no obvious source of people wandering in for food (yes it was on the boardwalk along the river but nothing else was) but inside were over a dozen nice looking eateries amd plenty of customers. It was vibrant. It was really quite a mystery.
Anyway we ate at a place that specialized in tacos, amd brought one taco amd a coke to our driver.
Then we continued on our way. Crossed a bridge over the river (river Magdalena). On the pedestrian part of the bridge there appeared to be some people shooting a video involving two persons in furry amd/or dinosaur suits.
Passed through one of many toll booths shortly thereafter, but at this one i noted the toll booth attendant had allowed a young (9-10?) girl to stand literally just beside the window begging/trying to sell some packaged cookies. Our driver handed her some change.
After Barranquilla the road had wetlands on ether side of it for quite awhile. Finally we arrived in the town on the far side, which appeared to mostly consist of small cinderblock shanties with corrugated metal roofs, amd immense amounts of trash in the unpaved streets amd squares. Several soccer games going in soccer fields in the town though, apparently it was soccer o clock (5pm?)
A young man came to clean our windows at a stop light. I'm so used to waving away people that do that that it came as a surprise to me that our driver rolled down the window amd handed him some money. I suppose it can be a useful service.
After this town (Cienaga) some tall mountains actually loomed up ahead. As twilight was setting in we arrived in Santa Marta nestled in a valley by the sea. At a stop light some young men (17-20) started break dancing in front of the cars during the red light amd quickly went out to collect tips before it turned green. Our driver handed them some money as did a few other cars i believe.
Finally around 18:00 we arrived at our hotel. It seems quite nice, elegant and spacious amd for only $30 something a night.
Our driver put us in contact with someone who arranges tours here, so we're kind of being handed off from our previous hotel to our driver to this new tour person. Anyway it's just past midnight amd tomorrow is another day (I don't go in for this hogwash that it's already tomorrow since it's past midnight, it's not tomorrow till i fall asleep amd wake up)