Saturday, 10th and Sunday, 11th August. Now at Beach Life and Beach Club in Palomino, Colombia.

Saturday, Santa Marta

We didn’t do a blog yesterday, as our fifth day in Santa Marta was developing into a routine with little of interest to report.

As Dennis had decided his wardrobe wasn’t up to scratch, we went to the more modern, retail area of town. Now in possession of a Bata pair of dark brown, leather sandals and a new shirt, he’s happy. 

Brand new ‘old’ jeans

Mexican restaurant

Dinner last night was in a Mexican restaurant. The young lady who served us, spoke very good English and went to great lengths to translate the menu for us. After burritos and quesadillas we wandered around the heaving streets with music thumping and finished up on the Malecon. 

Sand art.

We sat and people watched. Fascinating. Families with babies in prams, families supporting elderly parents, groups of teenagers and sales people. You could buy beers, ice creams, water, coffee, balloons, fruit and all sorts.

Leaving Santa Marta – Sunday.

This morning we left Santa Marta and travelled to Palomino. A bit of a experience it turned out to be. The hotel called a taxi for us and we asked the driver to take us to the Central Bus Terminal. This is quite far out of town. He asked where we were going and I told him Palomino. He said we could get a bus from the Central Market, which was closer. He took us there, right to a waiting bus. 

While Dennis was paying the driver, one of the bus attendants grabbed our bag and took it to the boot of the bus. We jumped on and sat at the back, immediately behind the back door. The windows were all blacked out and were the only source of ventilation. This was a public bus, so no air conditioning.

Getting out of Santa Marta was slow going. It’s a sprawling city and traffic was quite busy. Also lots of stopping and starting to pick up and drop off passengers. At first the air from the open back door was welcome. Even if it nearly blew my hair off. However, the weather changed and heavy rain developed.

We drove through Tayrona National Park. Eventually another bus attendant, there were several, came along and collected the fare. 13,000 pesos each, about £2.50 or NZD5.00. As we progressed the weather got worse. Windows and doors had to be shut because of the heavy rain, but they weren’t very waterproof, so we got a bit damp. Young back packers got on and off, together with local people as we made frequent stops in the National Park.

We were about 20kms from Palomino, by which time passengers had thinned out. The rain had got heavier though. The most enormous flash of lightening, followed immediately by an ear shattering crash frightened the living daylights out of us. Hitting the top, front of the bus, it discharged round the metal and into the tyres. Our driver hadn’t been hanging around and this made no difference to our progress. 

Arriving in Palomino in the rain.

Once we arrived in Palomino we alighted in the deluge and Dennis went to the rear of the bus to get our bag. He’d just opened the boot, when the bus pulled away. Running down the road desperately trying to pull the bag over the lip of the boot, I was afraid he was going to get dragged down the road. Fortunately the bag popped out but the bus went on down the road oblivious to the boot lid still being up! We dived under the nearest cover to shelter for a while.

After about 10 minutes we managed to flag down a tuk-tuk, with plastic sides. The driver kindly negotiated the vehicle right under where we were sheltering to save us getting drowned. We set off down a side road, now a river. Lots of cafes, shops and restaurants lining the route and people paddling in water above their ankles.

The hotel is beachfront and I think we are probably the oldest guests, by a good number of years. It’s apparently a party hotel. I chose it, though, because it has air conditioning, most places here only have a fan. They have given us a room at the back, supposedly it’s quieter. As I write, it’s late afternoon and the music is clearly audible. This doesn’t bode well. 

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