Colombia - Part 1

We flew into the coastal Colombian city of Cartagena at the end of May. We only stayed here two days as we were coming back for a week a little later on (so we will post more about Cartagena later), before moving on to Santa Marta.

One thing that needs to be said about Cartagena here though, is that an ancient barbershop was the scene of Declan's horrific de-bearding. It involved clippers, a cut-throat razor, and lots of pain. Although it seemed to be pretty amusing for the 6 other old Colombian guys that were in there waiting for their shaves.

 Santa Marta is a grubby, drab, port city of over a million people. To make matters worse for our impression of the place, the weather was terrible - very overcast when we arrived, before bucketing down for the entire time we were there. There really isn't much to say about Santa Marta other than the following:

• It was the city where Simon Bolivar died;
• There are shitloads of prostitutes; 
• There is lots of rubbish; and
• Crime here is rampant.

Thankfully we got out of there fairly quickly.

Beach in Taganga, Colombia

Our next destination was the nearby fishing village of Taganga. The only things different to Santa Marta are that Simon Bolivar did not die here, and there are less prostitutes. Other than that, things are pretty much on a par with Santa Marta. The beach has to be one of the dirties beaches we have ever seen, and the crime in Taganga is not only rampant, it is extremely violent. There have been many reports of people being robbed by several machete wielding guys while out for a walk. And this is not just limited to nights - these robberies were happening in broad daylight as well. As a result of this, we were pretty limited in where we could go in and around the town. Regardless, there wasn't a whole lot to do in the town besides a cheap scuba diving course, and I didn't fancy leaving Emma on her own for four full days while I went away and did this.


Our next destination in Colombia felt like it was a world away from Santa Marta and Taganga. No rubbish, no crime, and some of the most beautiful scenery we've come across on this trip.