The trip to Colombia - Santa Marta - Palomino

It pains me to say that I was in Santa Marta at the beginning of the Civid lock down so Tairona Park was closed.

I was already worried bout returning home on the last flights, but definitely I was not going to leave Santa Marta without seeing its fabulous beaches. So asking around I discovered that you can go to Palomino which is a town that sits right past Tairona.

You catch a bus from the Market in Cartagena and in two hours you´re there, from the road to the beach it{s a two click walk, and you will stumble onto the most gorgeous beaches.

The access to the beach was closed in many places so it was empty, if you go there during high season you will have to dodge bodies to walk on the beach.

Hey I had to use my tropical shorts bought for the occasion.

The trip to Colombia - Santa Marta - Where to stay

In Santa Marta I stayed at "Hostal La Villana" at Calle 17 #3-70 in the "Centro Histórico"smack downtown and 3 blocks from the beach.

With low cost no frill beading it does have a small Jacuzzi-pool to chill down at night and the location is superb not to mention the cheap price and friendly staff.

The trip to Colombia - Santa Marta - Visiting Taganga

Taganga is a picturesque town 20 minutes away from Santa Marta which you can get there by tout, taxi or just the public transport (the blue buses) that you catch at the market across from the exito supermarket.

upon arrival you will be treated to beautiful views of the beach since the only road leading to the town comes down the mountain.

There are diverse day activities on land and water which you can book through the agencies or with the boat owners themselves.

The town is quite small so you can walk around it a see the sights. I do recommend you eat some fresh fish at the small bars beside the beach.

The trip to Colombia - Cartagena at night

I would say that colonial cities render most their mystique at nighttime with their lamps reflecting on cobblestones on an empty street.

But in crowded touristic spots you might find it complicated cuz you´ll have people wondering around till very ungodly hours.

My recommendation is to get up early one day to catch the sunset and do an hour or two of nighttime pics with your tripod.

The trip to Colombia - Cartagena - Boca Grande

From the walled city you will see some sky-rises to your left, that is not the business district, That area is called "boca" grande and it has some nice beaches to explore, the buildings are just apartments of the wealthy in Colombia that have them for their vacations.
There is also a shopping mall that you can check out if you need to buy some over-marked clothing or if you miss fast food you can go to the food court and get yourself that burger you crave for.

The trip to Colombia - Cartagena - Door fixtures

In Cartagena you will find that most colonial doorways are ornamented with elaborate door fixtures od door knoks mostly made of bronce.

You can spend a whole day just looking round and photographing these beautiful ornaments.

The trip to Colombia - Cartagena - The Walls

One of the first things you might want to do is walk all around the cities walls, that will give you a feeling of the layout of the walled part of Cartgena.

you can walk on the wall and see the ocean and a vantage point view of the old city.

The trip to Colombia - Cartagena - walled city and Getsemani

You might choose to spend most of your trip exploring the historic parta of Cartagena or alternate with some of the most spectacullar beaches found nearby.

You need to know that the epicenter of Colonial Cartagena is the "Barrio getsemani" and the walled City or "Ciudad amurallada", there you will find most of the monuments, churches and Colonial buildings.

take your time to discover all the small details on door fixtures and balconies and you can spend several days touring the city.

The trip to Colombia - Cartagena -Getting there

Definitelly Cartagena is the main atraction Colombia has to offer, you could even skip Bogota for that matter. Cartgena is one of the prettiest cities in the Ameicas matching Quebec city (Canada), puebla (Mexico) and Fortaleza (Brazil).

In my case I went from Bogota via twingo low cost airline for 50 bucks round trip.
The Rafael Nuñez Aiport is very close to the Old city, you could even walk, but do grab a a cab specially if it hot.
Do not take a cab a at the Airport, actually never do that anywhere, just ask and walk one block to the "Calle 70" and there look for the tiny Hyundai cabs, not anything bigger. Those cabs are shared and they pick up people as they go, they will honk at you or u can do the peace sign, that actually means two for $2000 pesos that is the going fare.

And thus avoiding being overcharged on arrival.