We arrived in Taganga yesterday after a 20 hour bus ride from Bogota to Santa Marta.
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This is a good time to describe what bus rides are like down here. The buses themselves are very nice. Ours was a new Mercedes with seats that recline to almost completely horizontal and give you plenty fo leg room. The buses we have been on all show movies as well. The ride, however, is not as comfortable as that would lead you to believe. The roads are narrow and, in the mountains, often drop off precipitously thousands of feet just off the side of the road. The first five hours of our ride out of Bogota was like like driving a Greyhound up and down Four Mile Canyon in Boulder or the Hana Road in Maui. And there are frequent areas where the road is completely washed out and the bus is literally four-wheeling, albeit extremely slowly. Leslie slept though most of the night, but those that know me won't be surprised to learn I didn't sleep at all (I slept 12 hours last night though in Taganga). The roads were not the most uncomfortable part of the trip, however. We had heard stories about the AC on the buses and thought we were well prepared with long underwear, wool socks, etc. But let me tell you, the stories are not exaggerated. It was colder than an Arizona department store on that bus and we wished we had brought a blanket. There are two drivers on these long bus rides and both extremely nice and incredible drivers. One of the drivers brought his girlfriend with him (Leslie says she wouldn't come with me if I had a job driving a bus across the country; well maybe if I would comp her). The overnight bus rides are a great way to travel though, as you barely lose a day and don't have to pay rent for the night.
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There was a woman from Edmonton on our bus that was also headed to Taganga and so we shared a quick cab ride from Santa Marta to Taganga. Taganga reminds us of Mazunte, Mexico although a bit quieter. You can tell this quiet beach town is about to explode, however. We talked to a local last night named Luis who said tourism is steadily picking up and he was excited that people from the U.S. are starting to come to Colombia more. You can tell they take pride in their country and want to show it off and want to make sure you feel safe and enjoy your time here. Luis even gave Leslie a Colombian flag bracelet. Leslie is now officially branded as a tourist, though I don't think we would've flown under the radar regardless. We are staying at a hostel right on the beach and our room and its balcony look out over the water. It is beautiful, but at $25USD per night, we are going to see if there is a comparable private room a bit cheaper (believe it or not). The SCUBA diving here is mostly PADI certified and extremely cheap ($25/tank with lunch and all gear rental), so we are going to spend some time diving while we are here. As you might expect the fish is very fresh and there are a lot of tiny restaurants that prepare it well. We had an amazing huge fish dinner last night that was $10USD for both of us including two beers each.
We haven't even been here 24 hours, but we love it already and are planning to stay a bit longer than we initially anticipated, so we'll be here for a week at least. We no longer have an underwater camera case for diving pictures, but we'll post more pictures of Taganga throughout the week before we head to Cartagena. As always, check the Picasa album for all our pictures. We'll upload as often as we can! Taganga definitely feels like our true Luna de Miel!
Great recap guys, keep it coming. I made your sunset photo my desktop background : ) xoxo Meri
ReplyDeletehey guys! Looks like all is well.
ReplyDeletesomeone turning 30??! great way to spend your birthdays!
xoxo andrea