Santa Marta is a party town. That was quite evident from our first night there when we were kept awake until 2am by music in our hostel! But that’s also inevitable with most hostels! This was also our main base to then go off to the Lost City trek, Tayrona and Minca.
I found Santa Marta fascinating as it was extremely loud, noisy and busy especially down one of the main roads, Carrera 5, which Dan described at one point as ‘hell on earth’. Understandably, as it was the Christmas season everyone was out buying presents and food which I’m sure made it even busier than normal. The epicentre for this consumer hell was the main Supermarket, which we literally lost days, and missed friends and families birthdays, whist we waited in line at the checkout.
The main restaurant and bar area by the Plaza de los Novios (a gorgeous little square, so called because of its romantic atmosphere) was great. Everywhere did 2 x 1 cocktails and we tried some great restaurants – El Bistrot where we had amazing steak and a lovely fish dish, SMR Burgers for yes, a burger, and Muzzeria where we had interesting local dishes cooked in bowls and in bread.
Every night there were buskers and breakdancers out performing, trying to earn a living as well as your normal hawkers selling jewellery, hats and cigars. We watched the breakdancers warming up and practising and they were simply fantastic!
Minca was quite the opposite. A small, quiet mountain town mainly made up of hostels and coffee plantations. As we stepped off the bus you could sense the tranquillity and there was very little noise of any kind.
We embarked on the 1 hour uphill trek to our hostel and in typical Rachel and Dan fashion, got lost! Eventually we arrived having walked through a gorgeous indigenous hamlet to find our lovely, peaceful hostel/farm, Mundo Nuevo. They are trying to be sustainable and produce all their own organic food. Breakfast, lunch and dinner were at set times and everyone ate the same meal if they wanted it. Everything was vegetarian or vegan and it was super tasty. Hammocks hung around the place and our little room had an outside shower and toilet with views across the stunning valley! The views were stunning and most people were using the time to relax, read, write and chat or hike to nearby waterfalls or coffee farms. We only had one night here and thoroughly wished we had had more.
We set off the next day after having had a slight panic that we might not get a bus back to Cartagena as it was Christmas Eve! The helpful staff confirmed that there were still buses running but we needed to be in Santa Marta early in case they were full. So off we set on our planned trek to a waterfall – 1.5 hours, up and down and at one point past what looked like a Sunday School with kids and adults in Santa hats playing musical chairs! It was clear everyone was in the Christmas party mood as even the isolated houses across the mountains we passed had music blaring out! Not what you expect when trekking along a path in thick vegetation.
Eventually we reached Pozo Azul, a lovely little waterfall and natural pool where we cooled off before heading back to Minca. On the way back we passed a little girl selling homemade items and I bought some coco butter lotion and homemade Nutella!! Much to Dan’s disgust I didn’t barter and in hindsight probably paid way too much for the two little items! But it’s all part of the experience as I told him!!
Eventually we made it back to Santa Marta and to our delight managed to get on a coach to Cartagena within 15 mins. The journey was long (6 hours) but the scenery was great and as we approached Cartagena in the dark, more and more houses had Christmas lights up and music playing, so on Christmas Eve in Colombia it actually felt quite Christmassy!
Tiredbuthappytravels 