Santa Marta, Minca & Tayrona National Park

From Cartagena, we took a shuttle bus to a beach-side city around 4 hours away, Santa Marta. Although it definitely didn't have the same charm as Cartagena, Santa Marta served as a great base to explore the surrounding areas and had enough going to keep us occupied in between!

After a few days in Santa Marta, we decided to escape the heat and head an hour inland to a tiny eco-town called Minca. We stayed in a hostel right by the river and had a lazy first day enjoying the peaceful surrounds. On our second day, (Elise's birthday!) we met one of the locals (Joe) who offered tours of the town and took up his offer of a day of swimming in waterfalls and tubing down the river! Joe smartly outsources the hard work to the local teenagers so off we headed up the river with our 17 year old guide, Fabio. We didn't realise that the "walk" up the river involved many sections of being chest deep in water and scaling a waterfall, but it was an adventure nonetheless. After around an hour, we were swimming in one of the beautiful natural pools of the waterfall which made the crazy river walk seem worth it in the end. As we started to head back down the river, the sky turned grey and suddenly we were scampering up the muddy hillside, barefoot in the pouring rain. We eventually made it back to meet our other 17 year old guide by the river who had our tubes ready to go. The tubing was great fun, albeit a little extreme with the heavy downpour creating some huge rapids. We arrived back where we started it all at a small restaurant and had a bite to eat before changing and enjoying a walk around town with Joe to see some of the nearby coffee plantations, nature trails and even an area full of hummingbirds. Minca was such a nice escape from the city and the perfect place to celebrate a birthday!

  
After a couple of nights back in town, we jumped on a small bus to the entrance of Tayrona National Park and started the hike to one of the camping sites where we planned to spend the night. Tayrona is unique in that it's a beautiful area where the jungle meets the sea and you have to work a little to see the best parts. After a picturesque hike through the jungle, passing monkeys & white sand beaches, we arrived at El Cabo where we rented hammocks for 2 nights. It was so peaceful to be able to sleep with the sound of waves, fresh air and unfortunately the buzzing of mosquitoes (the mosquito nets definitely came in handy!) The hammocks were surprisingly comfortable and each morning we only had to take 20 steps to get to the beach - not a bad place to spend a few days! We took the easy / fun speedboat option to get back to town to avoid another hike back in the humidity. 

Incredible sunset on our last night in Santa Marta

Cartagena

When we arrived in Cartagena (after a super fun night sleeping at Bogota airport), we knew we would love our time there as soon as we pulled up to our hotel. It was one of the most charming, buzzing and interesting places we have come across on our travels, with a unique Caribbean vibe and colourful architecture.

The streets of the older part of the city were filled with fruit & food vendors, horse-drawn carriages and performers so naturally we spent many hours just wondering through the streets just soaking up the atmosphere.

 

We stayed a short walk from the walled part of the city in a district called Getsemani which was full of character (& characters) and thankfully a little cheaper and less touristy than the main area of the city. Our accomodation was a bit of a splurge but well worth the money and we got plenty of use out of the beautiful pool during the hot, humid days. At our hotel we met a fun group of Americans who we went out with most nights to the local salsa clubs, bars and restaurants.

One of the funniest and most memorable afternoons we've had was a visit to the nearby Totumo mud volcano, where you can take a dip in the thick, bubbling, volcanic mud. It was such a strange sensation, made even stranger by the random Colombians who massage you upon entry. However, things got even stranger afterwards when we received a nude wash-down from the local Colombian ladies in the lake. Thank God for murky water!

On our last full day in Cartagena, we took the boat to a beautiful beach called Playa Blanca. Apart from being hassled all day by people trying to sell us everything under the sun, we still managed to have a relaxing day enjoying the beautiful, clear water.