Tuesday

 We started out the day walking around trying to find an ATM that could give us some cash from our checking account. The bank ATM's we used in Medellin would not allow us to take out money here for some reason but eventually we found a machine that allowed us a small withdrawal ($95 withdraw at a cost of $8 and a poor exchange rate).

Getting cash from a machine is hugely expensive but most everything else is cheaper. 

This cup of fresh squeezed orange juice was $C 1.42 and this huge mango (photo below)....

.....was $C 1.72.

A little bit of grocery shopping later and we were back to the apartment.

It is a very windy day and there is a lot of garbage blowing around. We have had a couple of pieces of garbage fly up to our balcony (on the fourth floor).

Caro went to the ocean for a while however she stated that the wind whipped sand made it unpleasant.

Tonight after supper we went out for icecream and our day was over.

Day trip to Minca and seaside

 We were picked up at 0730 (the first people in what became a loaded mini bus).

This photo shows everywhere we went today. The first half of the day was at Minca (bottom right of photo). The second half was at Taganga (just north of Santa Marta). Incidentally we are located in a suburb of Santa Marta called Guira (the blue dot in the middle left of the photo).

Our drive to Minca was up twisty turny mountain roads into the Colombian jungle.

We stopped for a quick breakfast bite to eat before ascending the mountains. Once in the parking lot at Minca we hiked for twenty minutes down a rocky trail (the kind that breaks ankles if you are not paying attention). We came to a very popular swimming location on a mountain creek. Lots of people there enjoying the scenery and experience.

It was a pleasant experience. 

Next we drove out of the mountains, through the edge of Santa Marta then over the mountain to the next bay.

This photo (taken on the return trip at a well visited viewpoint) shows the bay. The main beach (center right ) is the main stopping point. Here we split the group up. Those of us going snorkleing took a boat out towards the ocean. 

Those who didn't want to go instead took another boat to another bay . The bay is hidden in the photo (two photos above). Where we snorkled was just around the corner of the point in the distance above.

I didn't really feek like snorkleing so I stayed in the boat but Caro enjoyed it!

I found the surrounding cliffs nice to look at. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera with me so no photos (the photo above is taken by the tour people).

When we finished that we went to the beach (hidden in the map photo above). This is where we had lunch (included in the tour cost). Afterwards we rented a couple of chairs and sat under a tree enjoying the ocean breezes.   The day was completed with a boat ride back from the hidden bay to the main bay where we got on our mini bus for the drive over the mountain,through the downtown of Santa Marta and home,

A quiet Sunday

 Amazingly the bar beneath us decided not to blast music all night and we both seemed to have slept OK.

Today we walked north on the beach to where the fishermen land their boats and sell their catch.

Caro was deciding what to buy. She chose two fish from the left pile. They are sea bass.

Here the fisherman cleaned and prepped the fish for us (they became our supper tonight).

Next is a look back down the beach where we walked from.

Our building is to the immediate right of the tall building located a little left of center in the photo.

Next a photo of the beach. Very busy!

Our building is the one in the upper left of the photo.

When got back to our building Caro went  ahead and I took a couple of photos of her on our balcony.

She is to the right of the palm tree.

In the afternoon we walked to a travel agent and got tickets for an all day trip tomorrow to a waterfall, river swimming area and a boat ride on the ocean. Hmmm; only $C 23 each. I guess we will find out if this is legit or not. The price is SUBSTANTIALLY lower than what I have been seeing on-line (of course this area is not a foreign tourist mecca, it is mostly Colombians so maybe it is geared to the local tourist only ).

After supper we went for a walk, had an ice cream and bought some more groceries.

Saturday night

 What a noisy night last night! The THUMPING music until the very early hours of the morning; the general noise of many people out and about, celebrating (in boozy fashion) Friday night.

Today Caro went out for a run and afterwards we went to pick up our freshly laundered clothes.

After a bit more grocery shopping we were back at the apartment with both of us having naps in the afternoon.

The photo above is the street behind us running parallel to the beach. At nights it is full of people, cars and motorcycles all manouevering around each other, The street is very much alive with music, live and recorded, along with the usual sounds of hundreds of people.

This photo is taken 90 degrees to the left of the previous photo looking towards the beach front.

Our apartment complex is at the end of this cul de sac on the right hand side.

Examples of prices here.  A can of beer (purchased in a store as part of a 6 pack) 68 cents C:  a small bottle of ketchup $C5. Limes 15 cents each (Photo below is Caro buying the limes from a street vendor)

Supper was left over chicken, salad and home made french fries (the apartment comes with a tiny air fryer).

After this..

....we went out for a beach walk only to see the police closing the beach (they were on quads or walking, clearing everyone off). I don't recall this happening before tonight but I do remember the other night when we walked the beach there was hardly anyone on it so maybe this is a nightly routine. Anyway, everyone just moves off the beach section, on to the paved/cemented walkways area and continues enjoying the evening.

We walked the beach sidewalk before heading onto a side street to buy an ice cream cone ($C 1.70 for two single cones).

Financial Things

 This morning I phoned Air Canada to see about changing our tickets to return a week early (btw getting a Colombian number has been a great idea; not only for phoning but for googling things like " Restaurants near me"etc)

Air Canada came back to me and said if we wanted to change our tickets it would cost $972. Yikes; things seem to going good at home so I left our tickets for the original return date of Feb 24th.

We took our dirty clothes to a laundry place that will wash them etc. Our cost is about $15 and we will pick the clothes up tomorrow.

After a walk to a mall nearby we started for home, stopping in stores near here (on the beach front) where we purchased some more clothes (especially for Caro as we had originally thought we wouldn't be coming here so she left most of her beach things at home).

In mid afternoon we went on to the Air bnb app to get a place for the week after we leave this apartment ( we want somewhere quiet with a pool and hot tub). Due to a major screwup on our part we ended up with TWO reservations for the same time period  (different places). SH_T!!!!

I contacted Air bnb and they did what they could but we lost 50% of the nightly cost plus the Air bnb service fee for the second one we booked. We had only reserved the place for 30 minutes and we lost half our money-sigh.

Feeling sorry for ourselves we poured a drink and after a chicken supper we watched this...

Tonight will be a quiet one as we continue to lick our self inflicted wounds. LOL

First full day in Santa Marta

 Our mood is better today

The beach is busy,busy but the noise isn't so bad until after the sun goes down and the area gets rockin'. The owner of this AirBnb rental proudly states that his apartments are the only ones in the building with double pane windows. I would HATE to be one of this areas apartments with only single pane.

We slept pretty good. The air conditioning works great. 

We did some food shopping this morning.

This afternoon Caro was reading outside on the balcony when she rapped on the window for me to come out and see something.

The dolphins are trained (the boat behind them are giving them instructions) but they are out in the ocean doing their thing.

After sunset...

....we went to a highly recommended sea food restaurant. The food was good but not great. AT $C 35 for supper I can't complain all that much! We had been told that Colombia was cheap and so far I agree with that.

We walked the beach tonight.  The sand is very firm  (much nicer than Manzanillo )  so it is easy to walk on and the police are patrolling so we feel very secure. Nice!!

Medellin to Santa Marta

 We had a wonderful night last night. Our hotel (Viaggio) cost $C 110 /night and was worth every penny.

After breakfast we had some time to wander around. We checked out of the hotel at 11:15 and had the hotel call for the taxis that just go to the airport (100,000 pesos/ $C 29 each way).

We arrived in plenty of time for our flight at 2:30. The flight was delayed until 3:15 and was about 80% full. 

We landed in Bogota and had to wait between 5-10 minutes as we were at the back of the plane. After a long walk to the national departures connecting door we immeediately found our connecting flight gate. Ten minutes later we started loading for the next flight.

A couple of firsts for us on this flight. Before we took off the stewardesses discovered a group of people drinking from a bottle of booze (which was immediately confiscated). Next, as the plane left the tarmac on takeoff all the children in our area cheered and screamed. Hmmm! Upon  arrival everybody clapped (which I guess must be the culture here).

We caught a taxi to our condo. Our initial reaction is disappointing. I hope it is just because we are tired. 

The area around here is a zoo. VERY busy and as I write this at 10PM there are loud party type sounds from the beach (which we have a nice view of). The waitress at the restaurant we went to for supper says it is even busier on the weekend. I think we may have become spoiled during our stays in Manzanillo.

All is not lost though!

Great temperatures for the time we are here!