Fri 17th Oct
As a postscript to getting Troopie back, that evening,
after trying to pack most of the car back up, we went off to our favourite
little haunt up in the square and had our friend their Danny make Janet a
special” (?) mojito, while I had my preferred dark Columbian beer and a yummy
pizza ! Perfect way to end our great
stay in Cartagena – A beautiful city and it was good that we got to spend
almost a week here.
The next morning we
finally finished packing the car and got away from Cartagena at about 10.30 am,
and it was a clear blue sky, so VERY hot.
Good to be back on the road again.
We had decided to head north through Barranquilla because there was
supposed to be a lovely National Park north of Santa Marta for camping, and we
wanted to at least see a bit of the Caribbean coastline. Out past the old fort,
and some of the original 16th Century city walls, we drove out
through parts of town with some nice houses, and then along the beach where
there were lots of high end hotels along the road. Even a store signed
“Brogueria Inglese” – Wonder if they have any good English stuff in there, like
McVitie’s Chocolate Digestives ??? Hmm –
Will have to check one out some time !
The road went along the coastline for some of the way,
with mangrove swamps interspersed with new housing complexes along the
coast. Suddenly we saw signs to the
Volcan de lodo el Totumo (Totumo Mud Volcano) – We had seen adverts for this in Cartagena, and know
several other friends who have visited it, but had thought it wasn’t really our
idea of fun. But since we were passing
it, why not go and see it ? So we drove
down the road and after a few kms
it appeared – All a bit smaller than we had
imagined from the posters we had seen !!
There were a bus load of tourists just recovering from their mud bath,
so after the usual chats about our trip and photos with us and the car, we
climbed up the “volcano” steps.
Apparently this lukewarm mud just percolates up slowly (no bubbling or
anything exciting !) and is full of minerals and salts, so good for your skin
and complexion ! But once we got to the top and saw the rickety and muddy /
slippery ladder reaching down some 20 ft into the mud and ooze below, it just
reconfirmed that we didn’t really need to do this !! So we didn’t, and were quite happy with our
decision. But there was a local guy (was he a Life Saver in case someone fell
in ?) “bathing” and he came up, and made sure Janet got some mud rubbed into
her arms ! Then we climbed down, Janet had to pay to use the bano to clean the
mud off her, and we set off on our way.
Good to see the volcano, but glad we hadn’t paid for a tour from
Cartagena to come an hour up the road just to climb into a muddy lukewarm bath
!!
Driving along the fairly boring road we saw an
interesting sign warning us of potential anteaters on the road – Personally I
thought its tail looked a little more like it was “expelling wind” ! Gave us a chuckle as we drove along ! Despite
several sizable towns, including big Barranquilla, all with lots of traffic, it
was all very “country”, with lots of donkeys pulling carts along the road,
often with enormous loads on the carts.
A couple of big traffic jams due to roadworks showed off Columbian
driving traits at their finest – It may be a single lane road, but if there is
room to fit another lane, someone will fit in there ! They are SO pushy that if you leave an inch,
they will try to squeeze in ! But I have to say they are not impolite, not
hooting, they just do it – And often without looking at you as that would infer
they MIGHT give way !! But if you let
them in, they usually wave in thanks. It
is just the way they drive ! Even 40
seater coaches do it ! Luckily with
Troopie being fairly big, and also having big bars all down the sides, I can
match the best of them in the push and shove game and love doing so – At one
stage I had a motorcycle who tried to push in front of me hanging onto the bars
of my car to try to stay up right – Needless to say he didn’t get in ahead of
me, but dropped back with a smile as if to say “OK, you won this round, but I
will get you back at the next intersection” !!
But even mule carts are pushy, and will try to squeeze in front of you
if they can !
Lots of water along this road, on both sides, and, oddly
enough, tall cacti growing along with the mangroves. Most incongruous. We stopped for a sandwich just after a Peaje
(toll booth) where there was a bit of a clearing beside the water, although
there was a fair bit of rubbish there, as usual. If you see the pics of where
we stop for lunch, you may think I don’t pick the most salubrious spots, but
there are just no places to pull over in this part of the world. No such
thing as rest areas or laybys, and if
there is a clear spot under a tree, or with a view, then some local has set up
a shop there ! So you just stop where you can, which always makes for some
interesting views and smells ! Along with much of this part of the world, the
dumping of rubbish beside the road is common, and such a shame as it ruins a
beautiful country. (This is presumably due to the lack of proper or reliable
rubbish disposal and removal services, so not totally the people’s fault – And
to be fair, not something people in the west are yet totally innocent of).
Anyway, we were looking out (over the rubbish) to the little fishing sail
canoes and huts built out on the water – Actually quite pleasant.
Even the local dogs were friendly !! (I think they smell
our food !)
Then it was on up the coastline, through villages which
boast their own kind of bicycle rickshaw to a design we had not seen anywhere
else, and lots of donkey and mule carts, and pushy truck drivers joining the
main road from side roads. Eventually through Santa Marta we started looking
for turnings into the National Park at Tayrona, where we knew there were
supposed to be several camping spots along the beach. The road was much more
“jungly” now, and with the heat and humidity it was all quite tropical – Not
surprising really when you realise we are now only 10 degrees off the equator. But the only turn
we found was into the National Park, which we had heard was interesting, but
expensive. But time to stop, so in we went, and when we went to pay the
relatively high price, had a pleasant surprise when the girl saw our birthdates
on our passports, and informed us with glee
that as we were so old, we got in
for free ! Well, she was chatting away
in Spanish, smiling, and pointing at the birth dates on my passport, and we
didn’t pay any entry fee, so we presume that was what she was saying !! Whatever, in we went down the trail, and past
a fairly open camp site as we continued down to the beach just to see what was
there. Answer – A nice resort in the trees with a big open dining area under
thatched roof, and individual thatched cabins dotted around under the trees. We
wandered through and down to the beach, passing a big swinging day bed and a
hot tub beside the path on the way
down. The beach was deserted – Probably
because there are big signs everywhere saying “Don’t swim” due to dangerous
rips and a steep drop off into the water.
There are some enormous boulders on the beach that are said to be
magical because no one knows how they got there, so we clambered on them and
frolicked (?) on the beach for a while, before going back up to the car and
returning to the camp site to set up.
Being tropical etc, lots of bugs and skeeters etc, including dragon
flies which give you a bit of a shock when they bump into you – Aerogard and
mossie coils didn’t keep them away ! We
parked away from the tall palm trees loaded with coconuts as a big storm with
lots of thunder and lightning was brewing, and we didn’t need them landing on
our heads ! We saw a few animals wandering – One kind of fox like, but very
dark grey or black, and also a couple of big guinea pigs – Capybaras or
whatever they are called ? Then turned
in and had heavy rain off and on during the night – But we were snug and dry
inside !
Pics for today, and also some of the "extraction of Troopie from the port" over the last few days, are here :- https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/0116CartagenaToSantaMarta?authkey=Gv1sRgCNWPtbvRhpOq6QE#
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