Carribean Coast of Colombia

Arrived safe and sound in Santa Marta 2 nights ago, (stayed the first night at a friend of the guy who drove us here, so accommodating, we had a maid cook us breakfast the next morning, and now we are in a small town on the beach called Taganga, near Santa Marta (5kms), on the north coast of Colombia, on the Carribean sea! It is a small lfishing village. We are ready for the sun, sea and sand and of course seafood, and Ian is off diving tomorrow. Saw Rebecca this morning and she is off to learn how to scube dive for a couple of nights, so will see her then. Will be staying at the same hostel. We are on the top floor overlooking the sea, and have a hammock outside our door. Only paying 36 pesos, which is GBP4.50 each. It is basic but clean and nice, and the food at the attached restaurant is lovely. A number of Australians here, and most people have ended up staying a lot longer than first planned. Last night we met an 81 year old woman from Canada, who has been living in Mexico for 31 years, and she is travelling around on her own, independantly! She was talking about taking overnight buses and all. She was leaving today so gave us her specific Colombia guide book, which was great because we have one for all of Sth America, it can be abit light on information. We keep meeting all these old people travelling who hardly look their actual age. My theory is that this is because they are still travelling loads! Just stayed for 3 nights in Tayrona National Park (still on the north coast). It is set on the jungle covered coast, with some sandy beaches, set in deep bays. Slept in hammocks, which were only GBP1.50 each a night. Very relaxing. Sunbathed, swam and read. Also walked inland and uphill to Pueblito, which is an archaelogical remain of a pre-Hispanic town, where you can see the foundations of houses and stone paths. One of the largest pre-Colombian towns discovered in the Americas is Cuidad Perdida - The Lost City. It was built by the Tayrona Indians on the northern slopes of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. During the Conquest, the Spaniards wiped out the Tayronas and their settlements disappeared without a trace under lush tropical vegetation. It was not discovered until 4 centuries later, until 1975. It is at an altitude of between 950 mtrs and 1300 mtrs, and there are 150 terraces, most of which served as foundations for the houses. After much consideration we decided not to take the 6 day hike to see the Lost City, merely because it took that long, and we wanted to be able to explore as much as Colombia as we could in 7 weeks. Some of you may remember the kidnapping of 15 tourists from this trek 2 years ago, where a young British lad ended up escaping, and then some time later, they were all released. Apparently now the trek is considered safe. Ian had some trouble with his teeth whilst scuba diving, so he ended up having heaps of work over 4 days, including some root canals, in our next coastal town of Cartagena. We stayed in the walled part of the old town, and spent many nights at the San Pedro restaurant, spending more than we should, but one of these times was for Katies (UK) Birthday, who we had met in Taganga. We visited the Museo Fortification and learnt about the town being a strong hold for treasures, the development of the walled city, and about the pirates who successfully and unsuccessfully penetrated the city walls. One of these pirates was the Englishman Sir Francis Drake, on orders from the Queen. So does this make him a pirate, because this is certainly not what he is remembered for! We spent 5 nights on Playa Blanca(beach), in hammocks again, which was actually better than staying in the city. It is really remote and basic, only reachable via boat (or bus, boat and motorbike - which is how we got there initially). Highly recommended. We stayed at a backpackers called Wittenburgs, run by a French man. Ate lots of fish and fried bananas, and swam, sunbathed and read. It was great!