Cartagena, Minca, Santa Marta and Tayrona National Park

I know the title sounds like a lot, but we managed to squeeze it all into one week (including taking one day to rest because of a scratched cornea) so buckle your seat belts folks!

Cartagena
Our first destination was Cartagena. It is famous for the walled portion of its city that was used to fend off pirates and the French during the colonial era. It was a really pretty city, but so hot! This was also the first city we´d been to where we (inadvertently) booked a hostel in the tourist neighborhood, so the $10-$15 lunch prices really shocked us. (We managed to find a restaurant that had a gringo menu and a local menu and got some traditional rice, beans and meat for $3.50. We´re on a budget man!)

The wall was really cool and stretched for miles

For parts you could walk along the top, but then it gets up to about 20 feet off the ground. We attempted to walk on that part, but quickly retreated and walked on the sidewalk instead.

They have some old replica cannons along it so you can feel like you are at war against pirates.

Cartagena was crazy hot and there wasn´t much to do, so after 2 nights we hopped on a bus and headed for the little mountain town of Minca.

Minca

In Minca, we stayed at an eco-lodge that was a 15 minute hike outside of town. They had plenty of space for camping so we finally got to use the tent we´ve been lugging around. Minca is a sleepy little town, but its got some great nature hikes. The only problem is that it downpours almost every afternoon.

Really neat pathway up to the hostel.

The campground was actually a sacred ground from pre-Spanish times. The hostel worked with some local indigenous people to upkeep its spiritual purity... or something like that.

One day we hiked out to a waterfall. It was awesome because we were pouring sweat but then we got to swim.

As promised, every afternoon it pours rain. We just made it into town when it started pouring so we quick hopped into the nearest restaurant which turned out to be owned by some Canadians. We didn´t feel like looking for a local restaurant in the rain so instead I had the most delicious cheese burger I´ve ever eaten (or maybe I was just really hungry.)

The plan for our second day in Minca was to do another waterfall hike and then hit the road, but things do not always go as planned. My eye had been bothering me the day before, but I woke up in the morning with an unmistakably scratched cornea. We changed plans and headed down early, grabbed a colectivo (shared cab) back to Santa Marta (the largest town from which travel to Minca is based) and grabbed a hostel for the night. Santa Marta is not that great, so we don´t have any pictures. Additionally, light was really painful, so I spent most of the day inside the dark hostel room sleeping.

I will spare you and not make this picture very big.

Parque Tayrona

Mercifully, I woke up the next morning feeling good to go. A scratched cornea usually only takes 24-48 hours to heal on its own, so I wasn´t suprised that I was feeling good. We hitched a ride to nearby Parque Tayrona, a national park right on the coast first thing in the morning.

Armed with very little knowledge of the area, we headed off from the park entrance knowing only that we were trying to get to "El Cabo San Juan". The hike took 3 hours and we actually didn´t get lost. It was 100% humidity and 95 degrees though, so we reached the El Cabo Campground pouring sweating and probably smelling terribly. The campground was right up against a beach so after we set up camp we hopped into the water. 

One morning we got up early and watched the sunrise

It was beautiful!

We also hiked up to some pre-Spanish ruins called El Pueblito. The hike was really neat, but all the pictures are on Keegan´s phone which isn´t working right now. I will add them in later!

After two days in Parque Tayrona we hopped back on a bus bound for Santa Marta. We stayed one more night in Santa Marta and woke up early to catch a 5 hour bus back to Cartagena. From the bus terminal, we caught a cab straight to the airport and then jumped on a plane bound for Cali.

Last laughs

For those of you wondering how Keegan and I haven´t killed each other yet, you will enjoy this story. To pass the down times we´ve been playing a lot of card games: rummy, stress, speed, this crazy Russian game we learned in Panama, you name it. For some reason the last couple of weeks, the card gods have looked upon me favorably and I have handily kicked Keegan´s butt the majority of the time. While we were waiting for the bus to leave the parking lot in Tayrona, Keegan made me play this stupid squares game with him. I won handily several times and this was the result.

Evidence that Keegan is a terrible sport (although he claims he was joking.. hmm..)

I made him keep the page in the journal though.

The Caribbean coast was awesome but so dang hot! We are looking forward to some milder weather once we hit Cali!