Santa Marta

Birds and Waterfalls: Colombian Adventure Day 10

/ Emily / 1 Comment

*Disclaimer: Though this post is written in the midst of the COVID-19 Pandemic, the travel was done earlier in 2019. Please follow the advice of your local government and health organizations and stay safe!

We woke early the next morning because we had decided to go on a birding tour. We did one in Costa Rica and really loved it, so it seemed like a good thing to try.

After a long drive up into the nearby mountains, we ended up in a small town called Minca where we met up at Jungle Joe’s a place that did local tours.

Our guide met us and a few other people and we headed up a steep and muddy hill.

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Our guide tried to help us spot a number of different birds. We did see a toucan and got to see another bird perform a courtship dance down in the brush.

Halfway along our tour we stopped at the top of the hill and enjoyed some coffee from a local school. We also got to see these beautiful nests hanging from a nearby tree.

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We headed back down the hill and over a makeshift bridge and back around to where we’d begun the tour.

After we were finished with our tour we decided to a place called Marinca where there was a waterfall pool where you could swim. It was another wild drive along a bumpy dirt road. We were all a little worried after the last time nearly getting stuck on a rough hill. Thankfully we made it to the parking area with very little trouble.

We walked a ways and soon were at the beautiful waterfall. There was a second one higher up as well which my brother and dad went to see, but my mom and I were too exhausted and opted to stay and soak instead.

It was very cold, but felt refreshing after so much walking in the heat during the day.

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After we had done enough swimming, we finally headed back down to our hotel.

We spent the rest of the afternoon just enjoying the pool and the beach and our lovely hotel. We had some more delicious fruit juice and just enjoyed being in such an amazing place.

After a while of lounging, we finally cleaned up and headed into the nearby town of Santa Marta to grab some dinner.

We ended up at a place called: El Balcón de Ouzo. I think I had lamb with some pita bread, but I can’t quite remember and failed to write it down. My mom had the empanadas which were really good and we split some yummy appetizers.

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We walked around just a little before heading back to our hotel. It had been another long and tiring day and we were ready for a good night’s rest.

Immersed in Nature: Colombian Adventure Day 9

/ Emily / 1 Comment

We woke up in the Eco Hotel Chayrama. Our cabin let in a lot of natural light, so we were up early. My brother and I walked around the place, and he got some photos of a giant grasshopper on our cabin porch.

Soon enough my mom and dad were awake as well and we went to get breakfast by the pool. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed our breakfast outside.

We also particularly loved the wild scarlet macaw that apparently just hung around around the hotel. I think he was hoping to have some of my fruit.

After we finished eating we took off for Tayrona Park, a beautiful natural preserve along the coast.

We got our tickets and headed in. We parked and started off hiking towards the beach. The weather was hot and humid, and there was a bit of a climb up and then back down towards the beach. Thankfully on one of our little rests we did see a long string of monkeys making their way through the trees. I have to say, after a trip to Costa Rica the year before I had really anticipated seeing more wildlife, but sadly a lot of the animals in Colombia are more shy and therefore not as easy to see. I was just glad we got to see this one little glimpse of jungle life.

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The park was beautiful, and though we were pretty warm and tired, we enjoyed the walk down to the beach. We reached La Piscina–a natural enclosed ocean pool where we stopped and had some fun swimming, laying on the beach, and even snorkeling! We saw some very beautiful tropical fish in the clear waters.

The hike back was the really exhausting part. The weather had become almost unbearably hot, and with how humid it was being damp didn’t really help. In fact if anything my wet swimsuit was very uncomfortable to hike in.

We arrived back at the car hot and exhausted. On our way to our next hotel we stopped and grabbed a grocery store lunch before driving on our way.

Our next hotel was just outside of the city of Santa Marta. It was called Casa Verano, and was absolutely gorgeous. After such a long and exhausting hike, it was nice to just have a relaxing afternoon by the pool enjoying some fresh tropical fruit juice.

After resting for a while we headed out to grab some dinner. We went to an Indian fusion place called Babaganoush. The sunset as we drove there was lovely!

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The food was really good. We had some crab cakes and pumpkin soup as starters. My brother and I both got cocktails, a strawberry daquiri for me and something different for him. We even had some dessert to treat ourselves after our long and exhausting day.

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It was a pretty fantastic day all in all. We headed back to our hotel to get a good night’s rest, ready for another adventure the next day.