Kamikaze beetles, Caribbean beaches and mudslides

More apologies from us for the delay between blogs. Well... kind of sorry, but the reason is, we're out having way too much fun! After heading out from San Gil we headed north to a coastal town called Santa Marta which is a launchpad for visits to rural Minca and pristine, 'beach meets rainforest', Tayrona National Park. Originally, when planning our trip, heading up this far north wasn't actually on the cards, but we'd heard about these two places from fellow travellers and decided we could definitely make the trip and padded out our inventory accordingly.

We arrived on an overnight bus from San Gil, bleary eyed and not in the best of moods. The bus had ride had been alright but Ed hadn't had the privilege of being in a window seat and therefore had nowhere to rest his head. I on the other hand had a wonderful sleep, waking up to the catch the sun rise over flooded grasslands which was something special. I wanted to get off the bus and spend the morning snapping away. We took the day to recoup and explore the town and we were a tad disappointed. Each larger city/town in South America will have a nicer district of town and it tends to be where the tourists head as they are safer and are usually conveniently based for tours, museums, sights and activities. Santa Marta's 'area' was small and venturing outside drew a lot of unwanted attention. We'd wandered to the coast (Santa Marta is an industrial port town), to see the marina and instantly attracted lots of attention from touts and homeless people. We went for food at a great veggie cafe and planned our stay. The next day we headed to Tayrona National Park, pictured above. You have to take a 1.5/2 hour trek to get to the beach where you can stay overnight. We enjoyed the trek although this was in the sweltering Caribbean heat. When we arrived at the beach, whilst spectacular, we remembered we weren't exactly great at relaxing on beaches. We weren't allowed to swim in the sea because of dangerous currents and we get bored easily just sitting on a beach. We stayed overnight on the beach in hammocks which allowed us to watch the sunset over the coastal rocks which was a really nice experience and very relaxing. In reality though, I did think the whole thing was a little bit of a tourist money maker. The hammocks on the beach were hammocks strung up in rows under a roof in a hut quite far back from the shoreline. The hut was open to the sounds of the sea and encroaching forest. This in itself was very pleasant but I did feel like cattle in a crowded barn. The price for this luxury stay was significantly more than hostel accommodation anywhere else we've stayed. I can imagine the locals laughing at us, the gringos who paid this much to sleep crammed in next to each other in a large hut. I personally didn't experience the magic of this place in the same way others did. It wasn't a waste of time but I was way more excited about our stay in a hammock in the mountains! We headed back early the next day to avoid the midday heat and headed to Minca - a town in middle of the rainforest where we had planned to visit coffee farms, waterfalls and rock pools. I'll write a separate blog later all about Minca as it deserves it's own space and we are about to head off for the day!