Left Medellin on an overnight bus to Santa Marta. Headed straight for Taganga, which is penned as a little fishing village outside Santa Marta. It is nice place to live as a beach bum for a a week or two (or a month or three for some people!) So I have been hanging out here for a while. Relaxed? Well kinda, my first few days, I thought I’d crack up from the doing nothingness of it all, even though i was staying in the nicest place with hammocks everywhere.

Decided to do a bit of diving, why not and I thought it would ease me into re-lax-a-tion a bit better 🙂 The diving here is pretty good as you go to sites which are part of Tayrona National Park. Was a little nervous as I haven’t been diving since December but it all went swimmingly (pardon the pun!!) Pretty nice down there………..

 

……….as it should be, I am in the caribbean parish now!! Still managed to be freezing by the time I got out though! Saw some nice corals, sponge(s?), crayfish (mind those claws now!!) a weird brown eel with white spots and loadsa fishies of course.

Piles of stuff to see so after a post mortem and a snack we ventured down again. The water here is beautiful, and although the visibility was just at about 15 metres, I reckon given the right conditions, you could see forever. Met a scotty called Marty in Taganga and he was my dive buddy that day……..

 

……..and we hit it off. Decided to head off to Tayrona National Park. Headed out to La Garaje the night before, great old spot, a favourite here on a wednesday and I really enjoyed it. 

 

It ended up being a pretty heavy night which finished off on the beach in the wee small hours. Extreme devastation the following morning after little or no sleep, was hoping Marty would bail and we’d head for Tayrona the following day. No such luxury, he turned up at my hostel (early) and ready to rock. After a bit of faff, we headed to Santa Marta where we faffed even more trying to find the post office. I was in a little world of my own so didn’t really notice time passing. After all was in order at the post office – incidentally in South America (well Peru and Columbia anyway) you get finger printed if you don’t have your passport…..

 

i kid you not!! So EVENTUALLY we reached the park entrance and begin the trek to the beach. Nothing taxing, just a 45 minute or so very pretty walk…….

 

……..to the first beach. People rave about Tayrona and it was so built up I was afraid it wouldn’t live up to it. Well it’s just that people rave about Taganga and it is lovely but not without it’s flaws. The beach can be kinda mank in places. Anyhoo when we reached this sign……..

 

…….we knew this was going to be all kindsa goooooood. The beaches here are amazing. (photo overload forewarning) They kind of have this pre-historic look about them, with great big boulders……

………..and you feel like you’re the first person to discover them.  The boulders kinda remind me of Abel Tasman in New Zealand, we saw lots of split apple rocks around the place……

The first couple of beaches are fab to look at but probably more suited to surfers, not a fraidy-cat like me. Stroll down a little further and you find waters more suited to swimming and snorkelling with beach that had palm trees for shading under……

Had a great couple of days. Slept in a hammock up on this hill behind me……..

…………….doesn’t it look like a holiday brochure!! Lazy days on the beach, dodging death by falling coconuts but they tasted good, thanks to Marty……

….and just generally wandering to find the next beach. You find yourself completely alone on these beach and it really is just amazing 🙂

Took a bumpy(!) boat back to Taganga and it was another place I was so, so sad to leave. There’s something so unspoilt and dramatic about it but mostly it’s just the most beautiful place I’ve ever seen. This is undoubtedly my favourite spot so far, magnificant, overwhelming, awesome. 

Even the odd military helicopter flying overhead doesn’t spoil the mood, it simply adds to the notion that you’ve entered Eden on borrowed time. Well all good things must come to an end 🙁

More photos on http://www.flickr.com/photos/lindybear/sets/72157617365244546/  http://www.flickr.com/photos/lindybear/sets/72157617406442188/  http://www.flickr.com/photos/lindybear/sets/72157617365307312/