Thanks to Avianca airlines screwing up our connection, we ended up in Madrid, Espana. Since we came back in the midst of tourist season, we could not get a train to France for 3 days.
Luck has it that Greg and I have had 6 months of training for the ¨unexpected¨ and we took it like champions.
We should send a thank you note to Avianca cause we loved our visit to Madrid and even made a day trip out to beautiful Toledo. It was an amazing way to end our neverending vacation.
We are now in Barcelona, awaiting our train to France tomorrow am...with no battery left in the camera and no clean undewear...but blissfully happy being back in our comfort land of good cheese, wine and jamon serrano.
Next stop: Montpellier, France. HOME!
PS I will keep posting pics of the end of the trip- sometime next week.
PPS Hope to catch up with everyone at the wedding!
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Cartagena....
Romantic, relaxing and hot!
Last stop in our trip.....made the best of the last few days of our trip visiting museums, beaches and amazing restos.
Pics to come....
Last stop in our trip.....made the best of the last few days of our trip visiting museums, beaches and amazing restos.
Pics to come....
Sunday, June 28, 2009
Finding Island Mucura
Other travelers we met spoke of Isla Mucura as paradise on earth. Lobsters come out of the locals ears, the beaches are filled with soft white sand, water in colors of blue you could never imagine. And there are no tourists.
After a 6 hour bus ride (we missed our stop) and one night in a random village, we arrived to the island looking for Wilbert.
Wilbert and Lina put us up in a basic hut riding high on stilts next to the sea. We stayed 3 days in quiet paradise, enjoying the small isolated beach, snorkeling and eating fresh fish. The sounds of the sea lulled us to sleep at night.
It was a perfect place to enjoy the warm carribean waters and relax.
After a 6 hour bus ride (we missed our stop) and one night in a random village, we arrived to the island looking for Wilbert.
Wilbert and Lina put us up in a basic hut riding high on stilts next to the sea. We stayed 3 days in quiet paradise, enjoying the small isolated beach, snorkeling and eating fresh fish. The sounds of the sea lulled us to sleep at night.
It was a perfect place to enjoy the warm carribean waters and relax.
Taganga Loving
Taganga was by far our favorite spot in Colombia, mainly for all the things there is to do there (I joke). We dived every morning for 6 days, had lunch and passed the afternoons at the beach. Such a busy day. We were in fact so busy that we stayed 12 days.
We wandered Taganga on our daily routines, getting to know the people in the community, eating at our favorite restauraunts and drinking a minimum of 1 fresh fruit juice a day. Our airy hotel room overlooked the village and the football field that was it´s pumping heart.
Our diving expereince was exceptional. We chose a small dive shop called Vida Marina to do both our open water and advanced Padi certifications. The dive masters were professional and all but 1 is a marine biologist. Our instructors made us feel safe, comfortable and made sure we had fun in the water. By the end of 6 days we had done 12 dives, including a dive at 110 feet, a shipwreck dive and a night dive.
We loved Taganga. The laid back vibe and sense of community we felt there was relaxing. We made new friends, had a couple good parties, a few filet mignons and left fat, well rested and happy.
Taganga is:
The stillness of the bay, with the sun shining down showing off it´s brilliant blues.
The soft sway of fishing boats at the edges of lapping waters.
Sounds of Colombian music mixed with the sweet smell of salt.
Finally, we forced ourselves to move on and spent 2 days in the Parque National Tayrona, this time on the beaches. Diving, we had already been exploring the reefs of the national park. In the park we slept in hammocks and swam in blue waters.
Now it was time to head south.
We wandered Taganga on our daily routines, getting to know the people in the community, eating at our favorite restauraunts and drinking a minimum of 1 fresh fruit juice a day. Our airy hotel room overlooked the village and the football field that was it´s pumping heart.
Our diving expereince was exceptional. We chose a small dive shop called Vida Marina to do both our open water and advanced Padi certifications. The dive masters were professional and all but 1 is a marine biologist. Our instructors made us feel safe, comfortable and made sure we had fun in the water. By the end of 6 days we had done 12 dives, including a dive at 110 feet, a shipwreck dive and a night dive.
We loved Taganga. The laid back vibe and sense of community we felt there was relaxing. We made new friends, had a couple good parties, a few filet mignons and left fat, well rested and happy.
Taganga is:
The stillness of the bay, with the sun shining down showing off it´s brilliant blues.
The soft sway of fishing boats at the edges of lapping waters.
Sounds of Colombian music mixed with the sweet smell of salt.
Finally, we forced ourselves to move on and spent 2 days in the Parque National Tayrona, this time on the beaches. Diving, we had already been exploring the reefs of the national park. In the park we slept in hammocks and swam in blue waters.
Now it was time to head south.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Fishing in Taganga
We arrived to the fishing village of Taganga, 5 kilometers from Santa Marta, around 9am. Sun, sand and carribean waters!
We took off a day later with local fisherman to practice our skills learned fishing in the amazon. Turns out you dont even need a pole to catch fish. =) We just tossed in a line with some fish on the end and viola! We hooked plenty.
People in Taganga do not go hungry- there is a mountain of fish and the fisherman told us that what we caught was normal, if not on the smaller side.
People in Taganga do not go hungry- there is a mountain of fish and the fisherman told us that what we caught was normal, if not on the smaller side.After we spent the morning and most of the afternoon fishing we stopped off at a coral reef to snorkel and swim. Then we headed to the village to find someone to cook us some fish! We ate our catch with a view of the sea. We gave most of the catch to the local fisherman and kept 5 different types in the freezer for a fish party later this weekend.
12 hours in a refrigerated truck
The 12 hour bus ride from San Gil to Santa Marta took 10 years off my life.
Colombian´s are wonderful torturers and have many different methods I have not yet seen in my young adult life. Like putting the air conditioning on max when it is around 95F outside. Or having a transistor radio blasting for 12 hours, kinda like being in a tour bus but without all the useful tidbits of information. I will not forget the torture of going 80 kilometers and hour around curvy roads with the driver taking into deep consideration that once you are in a comfortable position he simply could not let you stay that way.
We arrived to Santa Marta red eyed and cranky. I swore to the universe and my god that would be my last overnight bus of this trip. Thankfully it will.
Colombian´s are wonderful torturers and have many different methods I have not yet seen in my young adult life. Like putting the air conditioning on max when it is around 95F outside. Or having a transistor radio blasting for 12 hours, kinda like being in a tour bus but without all the useful tidbits of information. I will not forget the torture of going 80 kilometers and hour around curvy roads with the driver taking into deep consideration that once you are in a comfortable position he simply could not let you stay that way.
We arrived to Santa Marta red eyed and cranky. I swore to the universe and my god that would be my last overnight bus of this trip. Thankfully it will.
It´s Like Eating Ants
After one more day in Bogota (to visit the amazing Botero exhibit!) we headed north to Villa de Leyba, a small colonial village. 
Cuy (Guinea Pig) betting in Bogota. Guess which plastic hut the pig will end up in!
Villa de Leyba is sleepy and relaxing, with cobblestone streets and friendly locals. There is tons of hiking around the area but we got rained out and opted for afternoon naps instead.
2 days later and a 5 hour bus ride north took us to San Gil, the adventure capital of Colombia- that is if you are ready to fork over thousands of pesos. We decided instead to pay 4 bucks to get into the local park and make our own adventure. 
The next day, while waiting for our night bus, we took a short ride to the national monument village of Barichara. Say that fast 3 times, it´s fun. Barichara was an excellent place to wander, with beautiful scenery and colonial architecture. Even in the rain it was fun to spend a few hours exploring the town.
We also tried the local cuisine, hormigas tostadas. Fat butted, herb eating ants that are toasted and salted. After paying 10,000 pesos for a jar (that is about 5 bucks) we decided- they taste just like eating ants.
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