Homeward bound! Part 1 of 2(Bogota again)

So back to Bogota and decided to leave our big bags holidaying across the town and we stayed in the city centre. We went to see a few collections of art including a wonderful Botero exhibition. We also had a fun day out in a huge mall in the suburbs where we shopped for clothes that fitted us, ate noodles, went to the cinema AND played ten pin bowling ( yes Sue came home the champ!).

We collected our bags and packed them for the journey. Old clothes out and new ones in. Lovely to get rid of some of them. Even better to have nice new colours to wear...its the simple things you miss. SO after a bit of squeezing and a taxi to the airport we got on our first plane east. Well actually it was south, to Lima, a second flight taking us on to Sao Paulo which was at least in the right direction.

Taganga & more beaches!

We took a bus from Cartegena on North to Barnaquilla and then down the coast slightly, to Santa Marta. It being late in the evening, we took a taxi the short distance over the hills to Taganga. With no bookings we asked the driver to take us to a hostal and we checked in not realising that Brid & James, having also travelled north were our next door neighbours. Taganga is a small town which although it has a strong tourist population it doesn't have a bank machine. The main strip is along the sea front and is dotted with restaurants (some of which are Israeli, complete with Hebrew only menus) , dive centres and juice bars. We did not however come to see Taganga. We wanted to travel to the nearby national park, spend some time diving and swinging on hammocks and 'chilling to the max' before our return to Dublin. By the coast and away from the built up surroundings of Santa Marta, the temperature was much more comfortable, but the shade was still the only place to be between 12 and 2. The drinking of beer seems to be a big theme in Taganga and as we walked the strip in the morning 'en route' for a juice and a tinto ( extra sweet and scalding hot, very strong coffee, which seems to keep the whole of Colombia going in the heat) the locals would already be out chatting and swigging a cold beer or two. By following the coast line north out of town it was possible to walk over the hills and visit numerous big and small beaches. As a holiday spot, most of the beaches had people on them, splashing in the water, lounging in the sun(foreigners only) and being served by many ice cream, nougat, tinto and soft drinks sellers.
Joe & I had signed up to 3 days of diving in the national park. We travelled by boat for about an hour to a small beach where we slept in hammocks and spent our days diving in the surrounding bay. We also returned to this beach by oursleves where we rented a small house for a few days. No diving this time but morning fruit salads followed by a swim and a hammock swing. Joe chased fish while snorkelling and I got lost in a Ruth Rendall 'whodunnit' novel. Further down the beach there were a few people with the dive centre and another unoccupied small house. Pelicans and vultures visited the beach and we were entertained most evenings by wonderful lightening storms, striking in the mountains nearby to Santa Marta. Altogether a very pleasant way to spend a week. When the time came we left the wilderness of the beach and headed back to Bogota, through Santa Marta once again by bus. The Colombians really need to do their homework when it comes to buses. Unlike Peru, we got no blankets, pillows or snacks, the bus temperature was unbearable, due to excessive air conditioning,rather than altitude and although I do prefer Salsa to Peruvian wailing accompanied by pan pipes, the volume was enough to make our eardrums over flex! I know Columbians like to party but at 4am when your swinging around corners on an all too narrow main road and and the tunes are pumping out I a'int in the mood to party!