Things I Miss

California Burritos

In-N-Out

A Good Mattress

Good Customer Service

Good Napkins

Fatt Matts Rib Shack

Fidels

Cell Phone

The Gym

26 hours of Travel Was Saving $300 Worth It?

My cousin once explained to me how horrible traveling over 24 hours was and I had never planned on doing it so I didn’t think twice about it.  Well it happened, I was stuck traveling for almost 26 hours on the same damn continent.  I think as an American I take for granted how interconnected our flights are and the same probably goes for Europeans.  It’s pretty simple to get anywhere you want without super long delays and it’s cheap (well cheaper).  My flight started in Santa Marta at 3pm pretty much just walked on the plane that’s how small this airport was.  There was literally no security at this airport; I walked on the plane with a large amount of liquids and a Swiss army knife in my bag.  I guess the Taliban doesn’t care about Colombia.  I got to Bogota an hour later and had to wait 8 hours till my flight to Sao Paulo at 11:59pm.  I got to Sao Paulo at 8am, which I had to sit in the smallest waiting area till 4pm for my flight to Montevideo, Uruguay.  If you are an American you have to have a Brazilian visa before leaving the country in order to visit, you cannot get one there.  So I was stuck in my terminal sitting with one sandwich shop for hours.  The only reason I didn’t fly straight into Buenos Aires is due to the fee they put on Americans of $140 if you fly into the country it doesn’t exist for land or sea travel into the country.  By flying into Uruguay I save that and also get to see another country on my trip.  The downside is I would’ve only had an 8 hour trip if I had simply flew direct to Argentina instead of this full day of travel.  I’m still trying to gage if it was worth saving the money.

 

I miss too many flights

            Stupid me decided to have my flight booked out of Cartagena to Bogota, which is 3.5 hour shuttle ride from Santa Marta where I was.  The flight was at 5 pm but all the shuttles were booked till 1230, which would’ve left me probably missing my flight.  So luckily “Shakira” my nickname for the front desk girl told me you were allowed to actually cancel your flight and get a credit.  It only cost $30 to cancel/change the flight to 5 days later thus giving me more time with my new found family and extra days of summer instead of my original plan to have my 5 last days in Bogota which is cold year round due to the elevation.

El Santo

 

            My first night in Santa Marta some Australians invited me out to dinner to El Santo.  The acid tripping Irishmen recommended it, so I was hesitant at first to eat there.  However El Santo proved to be one of the best restaurants I have been to in my life.  An Argentine steakhouse in Colombia located a few blocks from the seafront in the old town.  A very simplistic menu but everything was amazing.  I ate here 5 days of the two weeks I was in Santa Marta.  A 450mg steak with mashed potatoes and ratatouille was only $12.  The meal I ate would easily be priced well over $40 if it were served in America.

New Town New Skinny Dipping Story (Santa Marta/Taganga)

Oldest Cathedral In South America

            Santa Marta was not exactly the most beautiful city, but it had its charms.  Close to Tayrona, cheap food and less humidity than Cartagena.  The nightlife however was leaps and bounds better than Cartagena.  This was mostly due to the ridiculous amount of backpackers who venture there in order to do the lost city trek or go to Taryona.  Every night people would be out till 5-8am.  The night would always start out with everyone pregaming at the hostel then going to one of two clubs in the fishing village 10 minutes away in Taganga.  El Mirador or Sensations were the two huge discotecas in the village of Taganga.  Everyone dancing the night away till around 4am then an after party would commence at the Israeli hostel till sunlight.  One of the nights Luke had the grand idea of getting everyone from our hostel to skinny dip after El Mirador closed in the Caribbean ocean in Taganga.  What we all failed to realize is that the police station was only 100 yards away.  So as 15 of us are in the ocean Luke is standing naked on the beach trying to convince Taylor the last one to lady up and do it.  Next thing you know 5 cops are walking up one with a giant log, which he tosses at a drunken naked Luke.  Luke immediately sprints to the ocean.  The cops then tell everyone that if we get out now we wont get in trouble.  So everyone gets out of the ocean and gets dressed.  However Ollie the hilarious English ginger kid whom Ashley coined the nickname “Big Fucking Ginge” wonders over to a group of Colombians thinking they took his clothes as a joke.  As they all sit laughing at him, everyone yells to Ollie his clothes are with us.

Near Death By Horse, Tayrona National Park And An Irishman On Acid

4th of July

Tayrona National Park is a popular park along the Caribbean coast near Santa Marta and Taganga in Colombia.  Housing some of the most beautiful beaches in the world, unscathed by construction and posh hotels or resorts.  You have the choice of renting a hammock or tent on the beach for the night or as many as you please.  The hammocks are about $7 a night and the tents are $12.  There are a total of seven beaches the further you hike the more gorgeous and secluded they get, as it’s impossible to get there by any type of land based vehicle.  There is the possibility of getting dropped/picked off by boat but its expensive and you miss out on the incredible beach/jungle hike.  The hike takes about 3-4 hours depending on your ability.  Entering the park we decided to take the horses as it had rained recently and the trail could be as much as 2 feet deep of mud at some parts.  Well lets just say this was my first and probably last experience riding any type of animal where you are near cliffs that plunge 40+ feet into a jungle ravine at numerous points toward my destination.  There were 4 of us riding the horses and I guess these horses all wanted to be number 1.   That did not work so well with my horse as he attempted not once but upwards of 7 times to pass on a very slippery ledge where I saw my life flash before my eyes periodically for the 2 hours it took for the to get to the beach.  It was not just my horse either Flip kept trying to control his horse and when Dennis’ horse tried to pass it got pissed off and kicked, hitting Dennis.  After that we tried our best to stay away from Flip’s rouge abusive horse.   Upon making it to the beach I was excited to not be smashed in a jungle ravine on huge boulders.  There is only one restaurant so they were able to charge whatever they wanted and had specific hours.  I suggest when going to Park Tayrona you bring plenty of snacks.  The next two days were spent exploring the jungle and beaches deeper up the coast of the jungle.  It took us around 3 hours but Dennis and I randomly found the nude beach which just so happened to have around seven 6 foot model looking Brazilians sunbathing and dancing.  We’ll it was obvious we set up somewhat close to them clearly like another group of guys our age did.  The riptides at park Tayrona are really bad so unless you are an amazing swimmer I would not recommend going out to deep as one almost pulled Dennis out when he was body boarding.  At night there is only one lighted area and its where the restaurant is so we sat around and socialized with some English kids, another lone American and an out of control Irishman.  It made sense why he was so out of control when we were told he was on an acid trip.  So for about an hour we watched him have his own dance party and brush his teeth at the same time, it was quite entertaining.  We decided to do the hike back instead of attempt another near death experience by horse.  It was an amazing hike going through wildlife reserves, 7 different beaches and lastly going through the jungle like Mowgli.  Overall I would say Tayrona National Park was the most beautiful place I have ever been on earth and I definitely need to get back there.