tyrona

So parke tyrona.... it was good and bad... i mean it was a beautiful place.... but it took forever to get there... it was like 1 1/2 hours by boat..... and it was like 20 bucks for the ride there... and buuuuumpy seriously.... it was sooo scary... and me and joe were on the front of the boat so we were getting a beating.

Another problem is that there are sooo many mosquitos.  I looked like I had chicken pox when I cam home... we slept outside in hammocks and I didn't have a mosquito net.. so I could barely sleep because the mosquitoes kept waking me up.  So.... worth the trip to be in a little paradise... but not anywhere you want to stay more than a day or 2.

So we didn't want to take the boat back... cause it was kinda scary... so we rode mules back to the front of the park.. the part that we got rained out of the first time we went there... it was a couple hours on mules.. and just as expensive and then we had a long bus ride back to Santa Marta when we were done... but it was cool to go both ways... some people only take the boat both ways and some only take the mules.

Playa Blanca

Let me tell you about playa blanca.  So it is a private beach just off Rodadero that you have to pay boats to take you to.  It was lots of fun.... I've always wanted to do the banana boat thing... and when I saw one there I had to do it.

playa blanca

So I went to playa blanca with Marcela and Lalo.... her friend... she met a guy there... so it was just the 4 of us chilling under a sun shade and playing on the beach.  The great thing about these places is that there are people who just work the beach... pretty much they come up to you... and offer to be your servant for the day.... get you food.. ice... drinks.... if you want a massage they go and find the massage lady...  haha it's pretty cool.

So I don't think I have posted about Marcela before this... it has been kind of a touchy subject in my life up until now.... but hey... this blog is my journal and I'm not gonna leave this part out... cause it happened.....
So marcela is from Armenia Colombia..... which is the south part of colombia... she was on vacation in santa marta as well and thats where we met.  When I first talked to her and she told me she was from Armenia... I was like.. how did you learn such good spanish.... lol because for me Armenia is by Iran.... that's when she let me know that it's a city in Colombia.
So we met and just had an instant connection... we danced... ate together.... and just had a great time... it was fun to have someone to go to the beach with and show me different parts of colombia that not all the tourists go to.

Anyway... the bad part about playa blanca is that I lost my camera there... it is a water proof one.. I lost it in the ocean... well.... a diver found it when he was looking for a woman's ring..... and he made me pay good to get it back..... so... I had to pay for it because  1... I wanted the pictures... and 2 I wanted to take more pictures on the trip.

Taganga

Taganga was quite the experience.... Found a cheap hostel near the beach and stayed in a dorm room with Joe.  So we walk down the street to use the internet cafe and then we hear what sounds like gunshots... then some little kids come running in saying someone got shot... we walk out the door and right there in the street is a group of people....  I don't know what for but a guy got gunned down right in front of the hostel. Supposedly the killer was a man in black riding a motorcycle.  Sounds James Bondish :)

The next day we went to the beach.... ate fresh fish.... and had a good time before we headed to parke tyrona.  We got there way way way too late....  it was very stormy... and we decided to turn around and go home.... and it's a good thing we did.. because when we did eventually make it to tyrona... we saw what a journey it was.. and if we would have attempted it in the dark during a storm.... it would have been really really bad.

Playa Rodadero

Rodadero is just over the hill from Santa Marta.  I was supposed to meet Robbie and Troy at the hostel and we were all gonna go together but I got a little distracted at the market.... way sidetracked and so they left without me.  I got there about the same time they did with Bret and Beatriz.... we bought a little tent and had a party.  There was music, dancing, massages, swimming, body surfing.... just an all out great day.  It was actually the best day at the beach I have ever had.  I am not really a beach person.  As I get older I really like having a tan for some reason... so I like the beach for that reason.... but I dunno I don't think of going to the beach much when I'm at home.  Well the waves, the temp, the atmosphere, everything was just perfect....