We arrived in Bogota after another long bus journey and decided only to stay for one night as we wanted to get to Cartagena for my birthday. It was a holiday the day we were here, so the only thing I was interested in seeing, the gold museum, was closed!!! We wandered around the city and found some live entertainment that had been put on for the holiday. We sat around the square and watched and then looked around the shops until we needed to work our way back to catch the last bus for a while……I hoped!!!!
At 8pm we boarded the bus for Cartagena. A couple of hours into the journey the bus crashed into another bus in front of it!!! No one was hurt but the windscreen was smashed, so we had to wait around for another bus to collect us and continue on our journey. It finally arrived after an hour or 2 and we climbed aboard for the next 20 hours to Cartagena!!!! I am so done with buses now!!
Media Luna Hostel!
Eventually, we arrived in Cartagena! It was the 22nd May so we had a night to settle in before my birthday night out. We hit the hostel bar but nothing was really going on so at about midnight I ended up going to bed and saving it for tomorrow! It was so hot here and we sweated the night away!!! The next day was my birthday! D-Day! The day I had dreaded was finally upon me and I tried to embrace it as best I could….We lounged around the pool all day and met a few people who were all going to the hostel party tonight up on the terrace, so we decided to do the same. We strolled to the old town in the afternoon and had lunch at hard rock cafe and then we went to get ready for our big night out!
We got our glad rags on and headed to the bar across the road first so we could get some drinks that were not watered down like the ones at the hostel! There was a guy from Equador in our dorm and Nicola invited him to come with us! Great, now I spend my birthday playing gooseberry!!! It's times like this I miss home and my friends who I know would have made this night a special one to remember, instead of just picking up the first bloke they meet and fucking off. This is one of the downsides of travelling. I wished they were here to help me celebrate. Instead as Nicola went off with her new friend I spent the time alone having to make small talk with strangers at the bar! Oh joy!!! To be honest I was glad when it was all over! I think Nicola and I need some time apart, and I want some time alone again. It is hard travelling for such a long time with the one person and I have nothing to say to her right now!
The next day I realised someone had stolen the money from my bag while I was sleeping! It was on my bed and all the notes had gone! It was probably only about $40 but they left my camera so thankful for that! I reported it to reception but expected there was nothing they could do, but wanted to let them know. I thought nothing more of it until the following day when we went on a tour to playa blanca, an island just off the coast of Columbia, and when we returned to our room found my locker had been tampered with and upon further investigation found all the money from it had been stolen, about $200. I was furious now as the night before Nicola had caught the guy from reception in our room at 4.30am looking around using a mobile phone for a light, on the pretence of checking the beds!!! Sure, right, who checks beds at that time of the morning? When we confronted them about it they said it was routine!! They have a great scam going here at Media Luna Hostel and I am sure quite a few of the staff are in on it! My locker was forced open and the flimsy lock unscrewed and removed, then my money taken and the lock put back on. My laptop, passport and credit cards were all left so there was no point in going to the police about it as there is nothing they could do, but it left a bitter taste and all I wanted to do was get out of there!!
Playa Blanca!
We had no money and I would not allow those crooks access to my credit card so I walked out the door with all my stuff and told them I would come back later…they were not happy but after a heated argument I had had enough! We left and went to the atm and met our friend AJ before heading back…I did not want to pay them a penny, but by the time we returned they had called the police and they were looking for us, so we went back to sort it out. They were still trying to rip us off saying the deposit I payed online was nothing to do with them, but there was no way I was repaying that!!! In the end we agreed on an amount, which was still too much as far as I was concerned, and then we left. I wrote them bad reviews online and hoped it would put others off staying there, as there was nothing else I could do really as the police, who were very nice, did not speak english, and I no spanish. I just needed to be thankful it was just the cash and move on!!!
We moved across the road into Mamallena, where we had a private room for the same price as we were paying for a dorm room at Media Luna, and tried to enjoy the rest of our stay! Nicola just went off with the first bloke she met again, which just so happened to be the security guard there, and I had just about had enough when suddenly he was coming with us everywhere!! I decided I was not playing happy threesomes and made the decision to leave and go to Santa Marta, where I could explore Tayrona National Park. I needed to get away and was no longer enjoying Cartagena after everything that happened there and was no longer enjoying Nicola's company, and I am sure the feeling was mutual. We headed off in different directions as she decided she wanted to come, but thankfully went on to Taganga.
Santa Marta!
I arrived in Santa Marta and checked into a hostel there which looked cool and had a pool and terrace so I could just relax for the rest of the evening as the day was already over. I was exhausted and after a brief walk along the seafront and some food, I went straight to bed despite it being about 6pm. There was a couple in the room who did not say anything, as well as a few girls I was chatting to earlier. The girls had left when I returned, but the couple were there lying on a bed together. I hoped they would go out soon and leave me to sleep for a while, but no such luck! They were obviously wanting me to leave, as they then thought it would be ok to go at it while I was trying to sleep. Nice!! Well no way I was leaving they should have booked a private room!! Some people are so tight!! I was dozing on and off, but by 11pm I had had enough of the two of them and was awake now so I went to the bar to get a drink and see if there was any normal people around!!
Our bungalow on the beach!
View from the bungalow!
Deserted beaches at Costena surf eco lodge!
I grabbed a beer and chatted to a few guys there in the bar, until I met Matt. He was canadian and we got chatting for a while and when the bar closed we went up to the terrace to escape the heat and enjoy the breeze. Before i knew it, it was about 4.30am and we had been chatting all night. He was going to a surfing eco lodge on the beach near Tayrona the next day so I agreed to go with him. We left on the bus after checking out and got there in the afternoon. We booked a bungalow on the beach! Luxury! Then all I wanted to do was get in the water. It was sooo hot!!!! Unfortunately the sea was quite rough here and we just got pounded by the waves, so we just chilled out on the beach most of the day waiting for the sun to go down.
After we freshened up, we had dinner with everyone else staying there as a group. Then we just spent the evening chilling out with a bottle of wine and chatted the night away!
Matt!
The next day was much the same. I decided to stay another night as I really was enjoying the rest and relaxation and Matt's company. We found a river and spent the day there just chilling out and then again after dinner we hit the beach with another bottle of wine to hand! Big mistake! I got totally eaten alive by sand fleas!!! My legs were covered in itchy bites, which were driving me crazy and just seemed to get worse as time went on.
The following day we headed back to Santa Marta as I needed to get my bus to Cartagena so I could join the boat for San Blas Islands the next day. I met Nicola back there, the boat to Panama was all booked and as she was still hanging out with the security guard, so glad I left, I spent the last evening alone and just packed and prepared for our big trip the following day!
Despite my experience of Columbia, it is a nice place and most of the people there are really friendly and helpful. I can't say I was not glad to be leaving but I could also see a totally different experience there if I was to go back, just guess I had a lot of bad luck there on this particular trip and a disappointing time for the most part!
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