It was a slow start as we had left Deryn’s iPad at the pub last night. The staff at 574 were really helpful with the owner’s dad driving me up to the bar just before opening to help me try track it down. Thankfully it had been found and was safely returned. We grabbed a metro to the northern bus station and for 8000 pesos each we were on our way to Guatape and its famous rock.
It was a pleasant 2 hour bus journey followed by a 5 minute ride in the local tuktuk to our Lake View hostel and a lovely room with a balcony overlooking the lake. We headed into town for some dinner (trout) before retiring to bed for an early night.
We hired a couple of bikes the next morning having decided to bike the 5 or so kms to the El Penon Rock. The rock is basically a bit of granite that has not been worn away – a bit like a mini Uluru. It was first climbed in the 1950s. Steps were built to get to the summit which now has several cafes and viewing platforms. Bike hire was 35000p each for the day. The ride was not too bad – not as hilly as we had feared – until the last km. We had to walk the last 300m because it was too steep to ride. Tickets to climb to the top where 18000p each which is quite ‘steep’ in the local context. It was roughly 750 steps to the top with some lovely views on the way up. Looking down on the circling condors was pretty cool.
The views from the top were spectacular. We both thought the views reminded us of the Bay of Islands with the multitude of watery inlets. Some of the houses looked very impressive. We cycled around the town upon our return. It was beautiful – every house was painted a range of different colours. I wonder what would happen if you dared to paint your house white. We both agreed that Guatape is a lovely little town that we both would have enjoyed spending a bit more time than the day and a bit. Most of the tour guides suggest a day trip from Medellin which does Guatape no justice.
We arranged for a taxi to take us to Medellin – 120,000p (about $55) as buses were a bit of a hassle involving several changes. We arrived nice and early and before long we had landed in Santa Marta – on the northern Caribbean coast of Colombia. The increase in temperature was noticeable. We grabbed a local taxi to take us the 30kms us to Minca. We got dropped off in the town square and then jumped on the back of a motorbike to take us to the hostel Finca Bolivar. Thankfully it wasn’t too far because sitting on the back of a motorbike with a heavy backpack on driving on a bumpy dirt road is not easy.
Our hostel was lovely, surrounded by huge trees and plenty of bamboo. Simon, the Swiss owner, talked us through the many activities available in Minca. Waterfalls and walks a plenty. It started to rain as he was wrapping up the intro which was a bit of a bugger as we were hoping to head into town for some food. We waited a couple of hours but no joy so we had no choice but to don our jackets and head into town. We stopped at the first place we found and both ordered garlic prawn pasta for 22000 each. What we got was a little bowl with 6 prawns in garlic oil, 2 crackers and 2 halves of bread. They obviously had no pasta! We will not be returning.
The next morning we had a bit of a wonder around the town and then spent some time chilling around the hostel, including having a swim (more of a dip). We got chased away by the noise of the guy doing the lawn so decided to visit some water holes just a wee walk out of the town. It was lovely. We had an early dinner on the way home and then played some cards and had a few quiets in our hostel – enjoying the fact we were the only ones staying in the hotel. We tried, reasonably well, to keep a lid on it as we had a big walk planned the next day.
We had our breakfast at the hotel with some granola, bananas and yogurt bought at the local dairy supplemented with fresh local mangoes grown at our hostel. Perfect. We headed out at 10 with plenty of water and some sandwiches. It took us over an hour to reach the waterfalls – basically climbing the entire time but at least it was on a dirt road. The waterfalls at Pozo Azul were pretty cool with some nice water holes to swim in. It was reasonably busy but thankfully not as bad as it could have been given the number of full vans that passed us heading down as we walked up. We both agreed that there was no way we could walk the full circuit as the heat and humidity made it really challenging. So we headed back to the hostel and went into town for an early dinner at a local restaurant that made its own pasta – Santa Isabela. Magic.
We grabbed breakfast in town before negotiating for 2 motorbikes to take us to the Mirador at Los Pinos – 30,000p each. We thought it was a lot until we spent at least 20 minutes traveling over incredibly rough roads to reach our destination. We were both glad to get off the bikes and thankful that we didn’t try walk it yesterday. Also being a weekend the number of vans at the waterfalls from yesterday made us gla we did it then – everyone in Santa Marta must head up for a weekend drive. The views across to Santa Marta wasn’t great thanks to the mist/cloud. We then walked down to Casa Elemento with its famous large hammocks. It was 10,000 each to get access to the hammocks but we also got a coffee and a swim thrown in. Amazingly we bumped into a couple of girls from the Lake View Hostel in Guatape. Small world this backpacking fraternity.
Next stop was the Cascada de Marinka, some more waterfalls about halfway back to town. The walk was pleasant enough although after an hour or so we were both thinking ‘motorbike’ but soldiered on. Again they were very pleasant without being spectacular. And thankfully not too busy. We then limped back into town for a well deserved burger at my local favourite The Lazy Cat. 11.7km which took us nearly 3 and half hours. The heat and humidity made it tougher than the numbers. After a well earned kip we headed down the enjoy the famous paella at Casa Antonio. The hostel was lovely, we were very surprised that we were the only guests. The paella was everything we hoped. Another couple of episodes of Stranger Things before trying to get to sleep in our hot and humid room.
