Catch up on Colombia – Part 1 (Taganga, Santa Marta, Minca, Tayrona)

After leaving Peru, I arrived in Cartagena, Colombia. I then headed to Taganga, near Santa Marta, where i completed my PADI advanced open water course with a dutch guy called Beert, who i met at my hostel, and our instructor Adrian from Medellin.

We saw lots of big Moray eels, different fish, lobsters and some squid. In the course we did 5 dives: a deep dive (30m), peak performance bouyancy, navigation, drift dive and a night dive, using flashlights. I only took videos, not photos on the night dive and it wont let me upload them here…

After completing the advanced open water course, i headed to Santa Marta. There (El Viajero hostel) I made friends with Derek (from san francisco), Marvin (from near cologne) and Niels (from Utrecht). (Obviously met more people but im just going to mention people i travelled with for several days/something noteworthy happened).

The next day we did a day trip to Minca, which is in the mountains that look over Santa Marta. We walked around, and did a tour of the coffee and cocoa plantations.

If you look carefully there are about 5 almost identical nests. The tour guide told us that for this species of bird, the female will only mate with the male if the nest it makes is “perfect”, so the male repeatedly builds nests, most of which dont end up being used.

There was huge bamboo all over minca. It grows incredibly fast and they use it to build buildings. It is supposedly far more durable than wood, as ants etc do not go through it and weaken it. It is also more flexible and can withstand earthquakes easier.

Fire ants. Their colony cuts up different leaves and brings them to an area to compost. On this compost, funghi grows which they eat.

We stopped at a waterfall and swam in the river.

Our tour guides dog, bonga, who followed us all day.

After visiting the coffee farm, we were given a talk about the animals and plants in colombia. Colombia is the most biodiverse country in the world by area, and the second most biodiverse in total, behind brazil. One in every 10 species of flora and fauna that is found on earth can be found in Colombia. I found it interesting that the cockoo, which lay their eggs in the nests of other birds, has the shortest gestation period of any bird (9-14 days). This is so that when the cuckoo hatches, it can push all the other eggs out of the nest, meaning the mother only raises this one bird and increases its chance of survival.

Next we went to a cocoa farm, where we learnt about the different ways that chocolate is made, and sampled some freshly ground cocoa beans and unrefined sugar, grown in the area. It was delicious. The hot chocolate was so nice, I thought I would buy a couple of bags to send back to england, as part of a birthday present for mum. The universe however, decided this was not allowed. At the next hostel, ants went into my bag, cut through the bags with chocolate in and were all inside the chocolate. I decided maybe mum wouldnt want them anymore…. Its the thought that counts!

One of the bags of hot chocolate (12 pieces of chocolate, dissolve one in hot water for each drink), pre ant infestation. Where the cocoa was grown in Minca, Colombia.

At the chocolate place, they also had a couple of rabbits that had adopted a chick. They said the hen tried to kill the chick, and now it follows around the rabbits, and they follow it and look after it!

After getting back to santa marta, we went out to a rooftop bar, where there was lots of locals. We also went with Pauli and Katha, two german girls we had made friends with at the hostel.

After Santa Marta, Me, Marvin and Derek headed to Tayrona national park. The park is home to snakes, jaguars, agouti, many reptiles, birds and 3 types of monkey (Red Howler, Cotton topped Tamarin and Capuchin monkeys) amongst more. On the way we made friends with Nani, who (you guessed it!) is from germany and only makes friends on transport. (She met us on the bus, and met two sets of friends in tayrona who she met in madrid airport and bogota airport).

Me, Nani, Marvin and Derek on our walk through the jungle to the beach, which took around 2 hours.

We were lucky enough to see all three types of monkey in the park! I only saw the cotton topped tamarins because we were watching out for falling coconuts, so we could eat one. The cotton tops were eating fruit and dropped some, i heard this and walked over to investigate (wanting a coconut) and found 5 cotton tops looking at me!

Whilst trekking we also saw several fire ant colonies, (termite nests?) and lots and lots of lizards. It was interesting to see how the ants would completely clear there path (in the photo above).

This type of lizard was everywhere. You would see one every few metres on the path, and hear them run away in the bushes as you got close.

A caiman, right by the beach! The next day we saw tracks from where it had went into the sea in the night and came back.

Cabo San Juan. We stayed there for 2 days, the first night i stayed in a tent, after losing a rock paper scissors tournament for a hammock. (There were 4 of us, and 3 hammocks left). The second night i stayed in a hammock in the hut on top of the rocks.

There were small geckos that would hunt in the toilet block at night, where the light would attract the insects that they ate.

A “Delicasy” of mashed green bananas, topped with a tomato and onion sauce… Can’t say ill be craving it when im back in England!

The rocks on the beach were covered in crabs. This type of bird would fly over and try and get them. I saw one catch a small crab and fly to shore holding it with its beak.

Whilst in Tyrona, we bumped into several people that we had each met before, and I also made friends with several people that I would end up seeing again, some multiple times. It really is surprising how you can bump into the same people so many times in such a large place! I also chatted to someone who happened to be from Laxey in the Isle of Man! After temporarily parting company with Nani, me, Derek and Marvin headed back through the jungle, on our way to Palamino. We saw a coconut fall right in front of us, which Marvin took for us to open and drink/eat in palamino. Whilst in Tyrona i had learnt how to prepare a coconut – its harder/different than you would think! We also bought some fresh orange juice from someone belonging to one of the local indigenous tribes, who live in the jungle and all wear full white clothing.