January 8, 2024
Our time in Santa Marta has been going rather quickly, that is to say, we have been quite busy trying to take in all of the sights and sounds of the region before we move on to Cartagena. I will try to back up a bit and cover off some more details from the past ten days or so.
First off as the regular readers know, Megan and Emile left us on December 29th. I did find some photos taken just as they departed the boat. Thanks for joining us Megan and Emile!
Of course there were the fireworks for New Year’s eve. That was possibly the wildest fireworks display I have ever seen. Our boat was just a few hundred feet from the ‘official’ fireworks being set off by the city or the hotel (not sure which), but the private displays were constant for hours and added dramatically to the spectacle. I will add in just about two minutes of the spectacle here.
We had planned to leave bright and early on New Year’s Day, but the weather was better on the 2nd and so delayed until Tuesday. An early morning visit to Immigration and Customs on the boat and then it was off for an easy overnight run to Santa Marta, Colombia.
The sea state, the weather, the waves have all been fantastic during the run West. We didn’t see any waves over five feet until we hit Tayrona Colombia (the turn south to Santa Marta), and typical waves were closer to three feet. We had constant winds between 7 and 12 knots until that turn and a current added about a half knot to our speed. It was an easy time to be sure and these are the days that you wish for when you are travelling the seas.
When we arrived in Santa Marta, we were early and they had no room for us, so we anchored in the bay overnight and had our first taste of the Santa Marta night life, but from the boat. Exciting would be a good way to describe it. It’s loud.
Here in Santa Marta we have been cramming in experiences far faster than we normally do. The marina (Marina Santa Marta) is acting as our agent with customs and immigration, including a temporary importation of Home Free into Colombia.
While the marina takes care of all the details we have taken a walking trip through ‘historical Santa Marta’ which can be translated to a two hour walk around the port area with the guide showing you some of his favourite vendors. Well worth the time of course, but the overselling is remarkable. đŸ™‚ We were able to get some awesome photos as well during this little jaunt.
Next up was a day trip to Minca for ‘the coffee tour’ and the photos are already up in a different post. While the coffee information was interesting I was there for the birds and views. (Really, the coffee bits boil down to two things: 1 – putting your coffee beans in a frying pan for 5 minutes takes them from Americano to Espresso. 2 – put the fresh beans in water. If they float, they are grade 2… but don’t really do this because that is before drying for 10 days and roasting, so it’s too late, you already have whatever quality you’ve got.) Also we got a lesson about some of the wild creatures inhabiting this area (I could spend months here), the wonders of Bamboo and finally how to make chocolate (we actually made chocolate while we were there.)
Still, I was far more interested in the birds, but the bird tour requires a 4:30am start, and my interest was considerably less intense once that detail was included in the analysis.
The nightlife here is very loud, busy, exciting and well, loud; did I mention that already? We have gone out for dinner a few times and the food is good and inexpensive and while the streets are packed (packed!) with people there is always something interesting to see. Here is a short video of some dancers in the streets.
I have been able to ride my bike here as well, and already have about 150km of distance in, which is not great, but I have also climbed about 1500m in that time as well, so its a bit harder than Aruba and I am getting old and well, I love it just the same. Traffic here is very chaotic, but it reminds me of riding in Piraeus. It’s crazy and chaotic, but it makes complete sense with almost universally sensible people doing things in mostly a safe manner, and all while ignoring the signs that are designed to keep everyone safe.
If I had more time, I would write for days about the things I see on the bike in all the places I ride, but the stories are so diverse and they come at a mile a minute and I don’t want to slow down. (There is that tree in the middle of the road in Aruba which is kinda cool, and the garbage on the roads here, and the donkeys here, and then there was the procreating dogs that showed a rather higher level of sentient behaviour and so caught my attention. Yesterday I watched the aftermath of a motorcycle hitting a bike rider. I am totally unsure how that happened and the motorcycle driver took the worst of it, but everyone walked away.)
These are just the one off items and of course the views are to die for when they hit you and they come fast and furious in these new, strange countries.
Today was a bit ‘slower’. I went for a ‘short’ 50km bike ride into Tayrona National Park. While I did a short climb (about seven minutes) on Thursday, today’s effort was much longer at about 15 km of uphill and a serious headwind as well. It worked out to almost an hour of climbing and was quite difficult after spending so much time on flat roads in Bonaire, Curacao and Aruba. (Did I mention the dog who had a fresh kill/chicken she was taking back to puppies? You see the most amazing things really. And there was the couple on the motorbike pulling a trailer full of fruit to the market and as we went up and down the hills we kept passing each other. I was faster downhill and they were faster uphill. They found it hilarious and we shared a laugh but couldn’t understand each other’s language.)
After recovering from the bike ride, we decided to visit the Simon Bolivar Museum which was an interesting way to spend a couple of hours. I knew little about Bolivar before arriving here, but now I see why they love him so much. He was a profligate lover who had no known children. Cool. Okay and he achieved independence from the Spanish and tried to unite the countries of South America into a United States of South America.
Tomorrow a tour to Tayrona park.