Travel Log:
Monday, April 2nd ~
Transportation from Santa Ana to Santa Marta went a little
something like this: motorcycle+canoe+citybus+taxi+intercitybus+taxi = total
time 6 hours, no more than 100 miles.
Checked-in at Irish-owned Aluna Casa & Café – a nice
hostel less than 5 minutes walking distance from the Historic District. Had an
amazing, romantic, gourmet dinner at El Bistro Restaurante and mojitos at [Bob]
Marley’s Café. On our walk back to our hostel we came across a random adult
league soccer game complete with spectators - at 11pm.
 |
| Jugo Natural |
Tuesday, April 3rd ~
Our day dedicated to food! Breakfast at Lulo was delicious—start with an arepa, add
beans, cheese, and a fried egg, throw a few strips of crispy bacon across and
top with fresh avacado and hot sauce. Jugo Natural de Maracuya was the best
fresh juice we’ve had so far. Lunch at Marisol (just a few doors down) also
amazing—Pineapple/Ginger and Mango/Blackberry juices. More sightseeing followed
by appetizers at Agave Azul Mexican Restaurante (we’ve been craving Mexican). Finally, dinner at the #1 rated Ouzo (according to
TripAdvisor). We had a chicken, bacon, pesto pizza (another thing we crave in
Santa Ana) and it was perfection. We also tried a michelada, hot sauce, lime
juice, pilsner in a salt-rimmed glass – would turn even a Budweiser into a good
tasting beer, maybe.
We also met up with several other World Teach volunteers
placed in other parts of the country, whom we haven’t seen since orientation.
It was great to reconnect and share stories.
 |
| World Teach Cali, Bogota, Cartagena, Monteria & Baru! |
In a nutshell, Santa Marta is like a mini-Cartagena. More intimate, great
restaurants, more ex-patriots (English speakers), less hassle, easier to
navigate. In general, great 2-day getaway, but not necessarily for its beaches.
 |
| Santa Marta |
Wednesday, April 4th ~
Quick breakfast at Aluna’s Café, which was pretty standard
but good. Then we started our adventure to Minca, a tiny village in the Sierra
Nevadas. We were told there was a collectivo station, or a place to catch
shared taxis not far from our hostel. [disclaimer: moms, you may not want to read further :) ]
We arrived at the address and found your
typical Colombian corner tienda with benches and several people, who appeared
to be waiting for a ride. About 20 minutes later an early-90s blue Mazda pulled
up and the driver motioned for us to put our bags in the trunk. One of the doors was jammed shut, so we
all had to crawl in through the same side. As soon as we got out of the
city limits, the car started sputtering, the driver started cursing in Spanish
and sure enough we were stranded on the side of a dusty road in the Sierra
Nevada foothills with no gas. It gets better.
So then, while we’re standing on
the side of the road because it was scorching hot in the car. The driver makes
a call, which we assumed was to get us another ride. 20 minutes later another
taxi arrived and we thought we were in the clear. Only, now the drivers are
tying up the two cars using beat up old ropes. They told the other couple we
were sharing the ride with to get in the taxi to distribute the weight more
evenly and Micah and I got back in the collectivo and off we went another 20
minutes uphill to the nearest gas station, where we were all re-loaded into the
collectivo and made our way the rest of the 45 minutes up the mountain to
Minca.
 |
| Just another day in Colombia... |
After finally making it, our next adventure was finding our
hostel, Casa Loma, or Hill House. We started seeing signs as soon as we got to
Minca, which led us gradually up hill behind the Institución Educativa de
Minca. From there we followed more signs, until we realized we were literally
in the woods, hiking straight up a mountain, which was exhausting with our
backpacks. When we finally reached the little bohemian oasis, we were relieved
to see numerous colorful hammocks and an amazing view over the Minca Valley and
Santa Marta in the distance. We stayed in a tree house; similar (but not as
cool) to the one we stayed in when we got married in St. John.
 |
| View from Casa Loma |
Thursday, April 5th ~ Hiked 2 hours up a mountain
road to a coffee finca, built in 1892 and barely changed since. We don’t get
fresh coffee in Santa Ana, so we were elated to have some that was fresh
roasted, organic, and fair trade!
 |
| La Victoria Finca |
Minca was an awesome experience. It was great to be up in
the mountains, with slightly cooler temperatures, less people, and we saw some
spectacular sunsets and toucans!
HIGH: Thursday night sunset with fresh Maracuya LOW: Not
making it to the “Lost Waterfall”, next time!
 |
| Sunset over Minca |
No comments:
Post a Comment