Colombia, Pt. II- The Final Chapter…..
Colombia, Pt. II- The Final Chapter…..
Cartagena continued, from “Colombia, Pt. I- Once we arrived in Cartagena’s city center, Mia and I found our hotel and proceeded to explore the city. Cartagena’s ‘city center’ is walled in , as a result you enter the city and follow it in circular pattern. Cartagena reminds me of New Orleans (french quarter- bourbon street)….many of the buildings are colorful and have balcony’s (and it is just as humid as New Orleans). Basically, on our first day, Mia and I explored the ‘walled’ city, had dinner and went out for drinks.
On our day of arrival, Mia and I purchased tickets for the next day to take a boat to ‘Playa Blanca,’ which is about a hour from Cartagena. The next morning we woke up at 7ish to make our 8:30 boat excursion. However, on our walk over to the pier to board our boat….we noticed many, many, many people in line for the same excursion. Mia and I were a bit taken back by this, we had not realized how popular the islands were. With every turn of our head there were people in front of us, behind us, on our right and on our left (the majority Colombian tourist). Also, upon entering the pier we had to pay additional fees to board the boat (on top of the fee for the boat ticket). Once we paid the additional fees we joined the queue with everyone else. But, from the point of entry to the time we waited in line, Mia and I began to re-think the boat trip …….we looked at each other as sweat dripped from our forehead, down our noses to our lips (from the humidity)…….and said ‘do we really want to do this’? “Do we really want to get on a large boat, playing really,really loud music, with many, many people and be dropped off on an Island with all these people”? So, with that we had a plan…..while I waited in line, Mia went up to an employee and began the conversation with ‘my friend has menstrual cramps’ (this was our plan to try and get our thirty dollars, plus fees back) and she continued to explain why I really, really, could not make the boat trip, due to pain. At which time, I withdrew from the queue and took my place next to Mia and the employee……where Mia and I stood for over two hours (patience really is a virtue in Latin America…..you can accomplish almost anything with patience….which was key in this situation), with my hands grasping my right side (sometimes my left side…when I forgot what side i started with :), appearing in pain…..and it eventually paid off, because we received our full amount plus fees back!
Once we left Cartagena, we went to Parque Nacional Natural Tayrona in Colombia. Parque Tayrona lays on the caribbean, very close to the Venezuelan border. The parque is only accessible by foot, once you leave the point of entry. The parque consists of three beaches and additional beaches off the ‘beaten’ path. The trail that leads to the first of the three beaches takes about fifty minutes to walk……more if you decide to carry a twenty-seven pound backpack, like I decided to do!! Not the smartest idea…..actually it’s in my top five for ’stupid ideas’ during my South American trip!
Once we FINALLY (after much sweating and whining!) reached the first beach we had the option of renting a tent or a hammock….we opted for a tent, to avoid being eaten by mosquitoes during the night (trust me there were a ton…..they swarmed around our exposed body parts like bees). We only stayed at the first beach the first night, because the current was much too strong to swim in. The next morning we negotiated with the restaurant owners to leave our backpacks with them, so we could make the twenty minute hike to the third beach in the parque.
We eventually made it to the third beach (cabo), sans backpack…..which was an ‘island oasis,’ with very few tourist (on the second night on the beach there was about ten of us - it was our own island, hence ‘island oasis’) it was surrounded by palm trees and white, white sand. We spent the next few nights at cabo beach, where we slept in a hammock….which was the most un-comfortable ‘bed’ I have ever slept in in my life! Not to mention i paid thirteen dollars to sleep in it! However, our view from our hammock, more than made up for it. The hammock was located high up on rocks in a cabana, which overlooked the Caribbean ocean….it was breathtaking!
We eventually left Tayrona parque and went to Taganga, Colombia, which is a little village about thirty miles north-west of Tayrona parque. I stayed three days in Taganga, Colombia and then returned by plane (YES a plane…..thank you stimulus package for providing me with money to pay for my plane ticket to Quito, Ecuador….which only took two hours, opposed to two days).
July 16th, 2008 at 9:43 am
Anguish! Wish I was in taganga / tayrona now mate. Oh gosh.