A trip to Colombia isn’t complete without seeing the gorgeous Caribbean coast. From the colonial jewel of Cartagena to the hippy hub of Minca, there are a ton of different things to do and you can spend weeks hiking, island hopping, and even “swimming” in a gigantic volcano bathtub.
Unfortunately, for me, I didn’t really get to do many of those things, and just as a warning, this post is going to be a bit complain-y. But……it does give you an accurate idea of what traveling through Colombia was like when I was there.
I arrived in Santa Marta from Medellin planning a plethora of activities only to discover that they had instituted lockdown 3 days out of every week (Monday, Wednesday, and Friday) This may have been one of the dumbest things that I had heard regarding the dreaded C-word up until that point but I tried to make the best of it. I decided not to check into my hostel since you weren’t even allowed to be in the street and instead head straight to Minca, a hilltop town not far from Santa Marta.
I walked 25 minutes in the hot sun with my heavy backpack to the bus station just to discover that there weren’t actually any buses that day. By sheer luck, a couple in a taxi drove up next to me and asked me if I wanted to share the cost. Of course, they made me pay 50% rather than 1/3rd. Oh well, I had no other options so I hopped in the car with them.
We arrived in Minca and I attempted to check in to my hotel and was told that check-in time was 3 pm but that I could leave my bag. Turned out that Minca also had a strict lockdown and the dirt streets were completely empty and everything was closed. There wasn’t even a place open to buy water. I tried walking around and was stopped by the police. I told them that I had nowhere to go and they left me alone.
Eventually, I managed to find a few things that would open sporadically when the police were nowhere in sight and managed to buy a few groceries. I went to bed around 6 pm that night after eating a dinner of crackers and cheese and hoped that the next day would be better.
The next morning, I was up bright and early to teach and then raced out the door to try and visit some of the attractions before having to rush back to Santa Marta in the hopes of being able to visit Tayrona National Park. Luckily, I was successful and was able to drink delicious coffee at La Victoria, an amazing coffee plantation, go for a swim at Pozo Azul, and walk until my feet were about to fall off.
I headed back to Santa Marta and was off the next morning, I took the first bus to Tayrona since the park had set a strict limit on how many people could enter the park in a day. Of course, everyone rushed to the park at the same time and there long lines to buy tickets and to enter. The park costs roughly $23 for foreigners to enter and once inside, there aren’t even free toilets to use or signs to tell you where to go. I decided to follow the crowds and after two hours, I made it to a beach overflowing with people. I walked back the way I came and was the only person on the trail so I am pretty sure I went the wrong way. Unfortunately, with no signs, I had no way of knowing for sure.
The hike itself was very pretty and once the crowds spread out a bit, it was very enjoyable. The trail isn’t too challenging and is very well maintained,
The next day, I rushed off to Cartagena rather than spending a day stuck in the hostel. This happened to be the Thursday before Good Friday and when I arrived in Cartagena, it was already packed full of people. Between the Colombian Instagram princesses taking 30 minutes to take a picture in front of a piece of street art and the obnoxious woman in my dorm room who turned on the lights all night, I decided to abandon ship after just 24 hours and boarded a flight to Cali. This was my second trip to Cartagena and although I am sure that there are tons of things to do that I have missed on both trips, I am happy that I avoided a heaving city of party-goers during a global pandemic.
I was in Santa Marta and Cartagena early in 2020. Beautiful places. I just had a weird dream with us and Dad traveling,