Santa Marta, Magdalena

I finally arrived at my destination! Santa Marta, Magdalena. Santa Marta is also located in the Colombian Caribbean coast and it is the capital of the Magdalena department. Santa Marta is the oldest city in Colombia and second oldest in South America and because of its location between the Sierra Nevada and the Caribbean Sea, it is one of the most attractive destinations in Colombia for tourism. 

The original plan was to go to Santa Marta first and then spend some time in Barranquilla but it worked out the other way around. I bought a ticket from Barranquilla to Santa Marta, in what they call ‘un puerta a puerta’ which translates to “a door to door”. This van picks up passengers at their front door and drops them off at the door of their destination. It was fairly inexpensive (30,000 COP) so I decided to do this rather than have my cousin take me since he would have to spend more money filling up his gas tank (by the way, his car has a gasoline tank and a gas tank. A lot of the cars in Colombia have that system). Santa Marta is only about an hour away from Barranquilla but it took longer in the van since it had to go to each door picking up and dropping people off. I arrived at a hotel called Balcones de AndaLucia, which is owned by a cousin of a cousin that I will not even get into so you won’t get confused. It was located right by the oceanfront! Yay!

They gave me a room to myself with a bathroom. I settled in and immediately called and emailed Cerys, the volunteer coordinator, letting her know that I was in Santa Marta. She told me that they were going out for dinner to celebrate one of the volunteers’ birthday so we could meet then. I got ready and asked the man at the lobby how to get to El Parque de los Novios and lucky for me it was walking distance and he advised me it would be safe. I found Cerys, who’s from England, accompanied by Will and Rob, two brothers from England, and Lynn from the States. We waited for Adam, a peace corps volunteer from the states, and Diana from Medellin who works for a school in Santa Marta. At the restaurant Naomi and Charlotte from England were waiting for us, more volunteers. We ate at Crêpes Expresso and the crepes were amazing. I had a chocolate strawberry one, yum! We also enjoyed some ice cold drinks during happy hour and I bought a strawberry daiquiri, which started melting as soon as I got it. We hung out a little longer and then we all went home. Tomorrow I am going to meet with Cerys at Carrera (Kra) 4 y Calle 26 to go to the foundation. I am so excited! Off to bed : )