Minca

To get to Minca you have to take a jeep from Santa Marta. You have to wait until it has a minimum of 4 people. The jeep driver was about 80 years old and the jeep even older and we broke down about 5 minutes after leaving! When the jeep was fixed it took about an hour to get to Minca up a winding mountain road.  Minca is a small village in the Sierra Nevada mountains looking over Santa Marta.

I went with a Polish girl from the hoatel and we had a very strong local coffee and began walking up the hill to Pozo Azul which is a waterfall and swimming spot. We walked for an hour in the hot sun, crossing a rickety rope bridge and I was glad to jump in the freezing water when we arrived  on the way back we stopped at a quaint little restaurant named after it’s owner on the mountainside called La Camarita.  It had wooden tables and benches with chickens and dogs wandering around and an old fire stove  I asked for a vegetarian meal and the old man cooked me fried eggs, yuca, rice, beans and the best patacones I’ve tasted!

I then went to find someqhere to stay for the night  luckiky I’d left my backpack in Santa Marta and just brought a small bag because it was very tiring climbing the many steps to get to Casa Loma. But when I arrived I was greeted by a fantastic wooden hostel with the most amazing views. They even had some rock carvibgs from the Tayronas on the property. It was so peaceful and friendly up there. I watched the sunset over Santa Marta and the mountains which was stunning.
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I braved the steps down by night to eat by the river in the village and then was welcomed by the hostel cat who led me up the steps back up. I relaxed in a hammock and read my book for the rest of the evening. So relaxing!

The next day I went to Las Cascadas with Levi from New York. The walk was hot but beautiful and always uphill! A little dog who we named Trekkie followed us all the way and me all the way back for 5 hours! The waterfall was very refreshing and we shared it with a Colombian family on a day trip  In the way back we bumped into Sharon and Jack, a couple from the hostel and had a drink at a ‘bar’ (a shop selling beers with a plastic table and chairs outside) and had a good chat about life!

I headed back with Trekkie to the village to catch the jeep back into the city. I had to meet with the tour company  arrange the trek to the lost city. I didn’t want to leave this little slice of heaven on earth!

Santa Marta

Santa Marta is a big and bustling city on the coast. It is a great base for many other locations and activities in the area and I actually really like the city aswell! I spent a day exploring, taking in Plaza de los novios, the cathedral and the sea front. The city has road numbers and is a grid system so is quite easy to navigate as long as you know the number of the street. People at the hostel had been robbed in daylight in the city but I didn’t feel unsafe at anytime. However I made sure not to wander down dodgy lookng streets and followed general city advice.

I really liked plaza de los novios and there were some really nice cafes and bars around there. On the seafront I liked the statues of indigenous people. People were friendly and I finished my exploration by treatng myself to a manicure and pedicure for CP14000 which is about 7 dollars!

For some reason the quality of hostel in Santa Marta is excellent.  I stayed at Drop Bear which is apparently an ex-cartel house!I It’s now a spacious luxery hostel with a pool and I’ve heard the other hostels are of a similar quality.

You can take the collectivo (like a mini bus) to Tayrona national park, Palomino and other places of interest. You can get to Minca via a jeep from a side street with 3 other people. Each time I took my small backpack and left the big one at the hostel which made it a lot easier to get around.

I also had a great Friday night out in Santa Marta  I went to La Puerta in  the city centre which is a colourful open air club playing every and any type of music you can imagine with the main focus being dancing! Everyone was on the dancefloor all night!