Taganga and the Tayrona National Park

We arrived in Taganga courtesy of the laziest bus service ever, we were picked up outside our hostel in Cartagena and dropped off right outside our hostel in Taganga after the 5 hour drive! Taganga is a little fishing village over the hill from the next main town of Santa Marta, and has a beach (not the cleanest in the world) but also the option to walk up the coast to some slightly nicer, less crowded beaches. We were staying in a hostel called La Casa de Felipe which is definitely one of the best places we´ve stayed in, made even better by the fairly constant 35 degree heat! On arrival we made the sensible decision to spend a couple of weeks here (with a visit to Tayrona National Park wedged in the middle!). Obviously we weren´t the only people to be impressed with the place as the hostel is full of people also making extended stops here!We met loads of sound people, gave the blender an excellent workout making rum based cocktails and also had two fish-fest evenings involving masses of a fish similar to tuna and on the second night a couple of gigantic lobsters (all purchased straight off the beach!)!

Our friend The Sheriff haggling with the lobster salesman........!

The two beauties ready to be boiled.....

(Animal rights activists look away now!) A scene of lobster carnage.......!

We also discovered the best smoothie known to man, Oreo cookie and banana, best consumed on a lilo floating on the Caribbean! After our first week in Taganga we took a trip to the Tayrona National Park a few miles up the coast.It´s a section of gorgeous tropical beaches separated from civilisation by lush jungle, so after a 1 hour journey by car to the entrance you have to hike for an hour through the jungle before stepping out onto something that resembles a scene from LOST!

The rocks and currents are fairly treacherous so swimming spots have to be chosen with care and there´s clear evidence that ships are at risk too....During our three days there we did a nice hike back into the jungle to some ruins called Pueblito and plenty of lying around soaking up more of that 35 degree sunshine. Once again we were sleeping in hammocks which is definitely not as comfortable as it sounds.We did however get to justify the purchase of our mosquito head-nets and remained bite-free for the duration of our stay, although this was at the expense of looking slightly ridiculous!

After our stay we returned to Taganga for more sun/rum/fish based fun at Casa Felipe for another 5 days.

Yesterday we had to wave goodbye to the Caribbean and hopped on a flight down to Bogota. We were greeted by some very UK-like pouring rain and chilly winds and were tempted to hop straight back on the next flight to the coast. However, we decided to stay and are now in another nice new hostel about to step out for some big city sightseeing!

Hope all is well.

Lots of love.

Al and Jo x x x