I left San Gil after 8 days or so of Tejo-playing, karaoke-singing, and general shenanigan-making with a fun little group of Poms, Irish, Welsh, and an Israeli or two. Most of my time there was taken up by waiting for the river to be raftable. Incessant rainfall ruins all plans! Happily, I was holed up in one of the best hostels I've stayed in all trip. Amazing how much a servicable oven can brighten my day... I hadn't BAKED anything in well over a year. Well... not baked... well, you know.
Cartagena 
was... nuts. I decided to skip on the celebrated Medellin in favor of being in Cartagena for the Independence Day festivals. Marvelous decision for my long-term plans. Terrible decision for my wallet and liver. This is Joel after less than an hour on the streets. Tut Tut. We partied HARD from Thursday through Saturday. Somehow Caz, Lee and I found ourselves dancing in the rain, covered head to toe in foam while a large group of Colombians clapped their hands in unison and chanted "Hey- Hey- Hey!" As much as I was determined to dislike Cartagena (just because EVERYONE raves about how great it is), it actually lived up to all the hype. Gorgeous colonial buildings, incredible historical significance, a sweet party scene, and 5,000 COP
menu del dìas. I'm in heaven! It also helps to be with people you like, and this crew--- this one right here, was the first I'd had since my beloved Swedes that knew how to get down. Special tribute to Kathryn and Simon for partying from 7pm until their flight to Leticia at 6am- straight. You do travelling an honor by being out here, you two. You really do.
was... nuts. I decided to skip on the celebrated Medellin in favor of being in Cartagena for the Independence Day festivals. Marvelous decision for my long-term plans. Terrible decision for my wallet and liver. This is Joel after less than an hour on the streets. Tut Tut. We partied HARD from Thursday through Saturday. Somehow Caz, Lee and I found ourselves dancing in the rain, covered head to toe in foam while a large group of Colombians clapped their hands in unison and chanted "Hey- Hey- Hey!" As much as I was determined to dislike Cartagena (just because EVERYONE raves about how great it is), it actually lived up to all the hype. Gorgeous colonial buildings, incredible historical significance, a sweet party scene, and 5,000 COP
menu del dìas. I'm in heaven! It also helps to be with people you like, and this crew--- this one right here, was the first I'd had since my beloved Swedes that knew how to get down. Special tribute to Kathryn and Simon for partying from 7pm until their flight to Leticia at 6am- straight. You do travelling an honor by being out here, you two. You really do.I pissed off to Tolú and Coveñas for a few days to detox and see a bit of the less travelled Caribbean coast, and was well rewarded with sunshine, pristine beaches, and a slushie man who was hell bent on learning 1-10 in English in exchange for bottomless slushies. However, as much as I loved the slushie and the man, in a mere couple days, I was back to Cartagena, back into the company of Rob and Richie, and back on the road to beautif
ul Taganga, an (extremely touristy, though) lovely little travel gem to the east of Santa Marta. Here we met up with Caz once more and went out for a few messy nights at the beachfront Sensations. Can't say we did much else. From there, it was on to Parque Tayrona (excellent) and then Palomino (excellent, though windy). Holy shit, I'm flying through this post. NOT much to say about any of those places except that they were beautiful and fun and I ate lots and lots of VERY cheap seafood. In Palomino, Jayme and I came across a fishing boat just in from the ocean. Spying a bottom filled with freshly caught shrimp, we asked if we could make a purchase. The shrimp wasn't for sale (some crap about having to bring it in to the owners of the boat), but the fishermen offered us a bag containing 4 rock lobsters. 15,000 COP. 7 U
SD. We bought. We ate. We passed out. The next day had me hobbling into town and returning with half a kilo of fresh prawns and 3 fish. That, along with some empanadas, cereal, fruit, yoghurt, pasta, tomatoes, garlic, onions, a 5 litre bag of water, lime, and some other odds and ends cost us 7 USD a piece. Also, in exchange for being a lazy git and laying in a hammock while I walked into town with a punctured foot ALONE to bring back food, Jayme took on all the responsibilities of cooking. Red Snapper wrapped in banana leaf... garlic shrimp pasta... oh good lord. It was also here that I learned how to scale a fish. Look at me scale!
ul Taganga, an (extremely touristy, though) lovely little travel gem to the east of Santa Marta. Here we met up with Caz once more and went out for a few messy nights at the beachfront Sensations. Can't say we did much else. From there, it was on to Parque Tayrona (excellent) and then Palomino (excellent, though windy). Holy shit, I'm flying through this post. NOT much to say about any of those places except that they were beautiful and fun and I ate lots and lots of VERY cheap seafood. In Palomino, Jayme and I came across a fishing boat just in from the ocean. Spying a bottom filled with freshly caught shrimp, we asked if we could make a purchase. The shrimp wasn't for sale (some crap about having to bring it in to the owners of the boat), but the fishermen offered us a bag containing 4 rock lobsters. 15,000 COP. 7 U
SD. We bought. We ate. We passed out. The next day had me hobbling into town and returning with half a kilo of fresh prawns and 3 fish. That, along with some empanadas, cereal, fruit, yoghurt, pasta, tomatoes, garlic, onions, a 5 litre bag of water, lime, and some other odds and ends cost us 7 USD a piece. Also, in exchange for being a lazy git and laying in a hammock while I walked into town with a punctured foot ALONE to bring back food, Jayme took on all the responsibilities of cooking. Red Snapper wrapped in banana leaf... garlic shrimp pasta... oh good lord. It was also here that I learned how to scale a fish. Look at me scale!Anyway, I'm back in Taganga now, getting my PADI certification and enjoying the sunshine before parting ways with my UK-born company. I think I'll do a separate post about diving, because it's the first thing I've come across in well over a year that I've completely fallen in love with... it really shouldn't be smashed in with anything else. Strange how I've saved it for the second-to-last country on this trip, when I could have done it in the second-to-first. Anyway, I'll get on with that in the next.
You were traveling with a pack of Pomeranians (Poms)?
ReplyDelete