After what was said to be a 15 hour busride from Caracas to Colombia, ended up taking 24 hours (we had to wait 6 hours at the border for an incoming bus, that is... not because we got kidnapped by the guerrilla nor by the paramilitary, even though that would also have qualified as a post in this blog), we finally arrived in the small but beautiful town of Santa Marta. Well, small and small, it has more inhabitants that Malmö! Santa Marta is just by the north coast of Colombia and the Carribean sea. The first thing we did in this neighbouring country was to find the best coffee-place in town and ooooooh looooord and his son (Jesus), it was gooood. Colombian coffee, that's all I say! The second thing we did was walking in to a huge
supermarket and to our eternal happiness encounter TAHINI! Life was treating us well! How I have missed this lovely sesame pasta!
Only having about 6 days to spend in this country (which had already won our hearts) we thought it would be wise to get moving, we wanted to feel the breeze of jungle or the sea in our hair (maybe not such a strong breeze to lift Linda's dreads, but still, Santa Marta was hot). So the next day we took a bus, 15 minutes to the little fishing village Taganga, not knowing we had come to the official rasta-hippie-hang-out place of he entire coast.
After having had a late lunch eating our ever standing (and most of the time only option food wise) plátano (green cooked and fried banana) - and taken the opportunity to shoot of some sweet fotos - we hit the playa!
Linda, being a very ambitious spanish student as soon as the normally intense travelling conditions allowed her, took the moment to practice the very useful verbs of dejar=leave and llevar=bring. Me... well, my restless beachsoul went for a juice haunt! The fruit juices in Colombia come second on the "Best drinks"-list (Coffee being the un threatened winner!).
As it was friday the little touristic village was preparing for paaarty and we were handed a flyer saying it would be a reggae band playing in one of the three bars in Taganga that night, coool. Strolling back to our hostel the village showed its best side...
The reggae band consisted of five young men from Bogotá and they were really good! We swayed to the music (dance that is, but in a cool laid back reggae style) and tried to stay away from five very obvious swedish guys standing in the front, apparently also liking the music (from what they shouted to eachother: Fy faaaan, dom ä ju heelt sjuuuukt bra asså.). Not that they don't had the full right to be there, but man... the dance floor was just not big enough for 7 swedes... 5 had to go. Anyhow, after having danced until early morning hours we ended up chatting with some of the group members. They were on a tour for a few weeks and the next day they had planned to go to a beach about an hour from Taganga, after having been invited by the owner of the bar (Franzisco, who apparently owned a strip of the jungle and beach). They invited us to come, and we accepted. 5 hours later we met up and litterally packed ourselves in their 4x4, and off we went... to Palomino, further a long the road towards Venezuela. From where we went off the official road and to the beach it was a very bumpy 7 km long dirt road. But once we got there, we were quite amazed by what met us. Open ocean, palm trees, hammocks and lots of known hippie-faces from the earlier evening!
We felt like we knew the whole place... that is just what one night in a reggae bar can do! Me and Linda rented an old tent from Franzisco and then we spent two very nice and relaxed days on this beach, hanging out with our rastafari friends, playing ultimate frisbee, bathing in the nearby river, taking walks on the beach, going for runs at the edge of the sea, cooking, making fires in the night and enjoying the tranquility of this "hidden" place. I guess I saw more interesting people during my 6 days in Colombia than I have done during three months in Venezuela. Now, why that is, I won't even start to analize.
Anyhow, on the morning of the third day we and some other hippies (Linda being the hippie of the two of us) from Spain and Ecuador were given a ride back to the main road and the little village of Palomino by the singer Camilo. Waiting for a bus to pass by we were once again reminded of the tense military-guerrilla situation going on in the country. Any ride (by bus or by car or by whatever) where ever you go is interrupted by military checkpoints and the quantity of heavy arms worn by these boys is just rediculous. In the photo one can see how smoothly I handle the situation. Acting like I don't even see the military I calmly chew away on my apple.
Finally on the local bus and after having said good bye to our new friends me and Linda decided to get off at the very known national park Tayrona which was on our way back to Santa Marta. We had to pay an expensive entrence fee but once we entered we thought it was well worth it. Extremely beautiful beaches and jungle walks and wildlife, but also very very touristic, beeing the most famous and popular place to go for both colombians and foreigners. We stayed one night in the tent of some people we met on one of the beaches in this very park (since we didnt have any of our own and all hammocks very occupied). The next morning we got up early and walked about 1 hour up the mountain to a small ancient indigenous ruin village. From there we kept on for another 3 hours until we got out to the main road and took a bus back to Santa Marta. That is more or less where the Colombian adventure ends...
Linda has gone back and my classes have started again. I am taking Biology Conservation, Ecology Laboratory, Public policy problems in Venezuela and Arabic Culture! I think they will all be very interesting. This trimestre I hope to get out in the reality of Caracas and meet people who want to build something new and real in Venezuela. It is just to get out there!
After the votation of the reform (where NO won) Chavez said that he accepted the results and even expressed himself as being proud of the venezuelan people. It was a calmness and relief of many people after this, no matter if they were for or against. No violent outbreaks took place of any kind. But just a few days later these gigantic posters could be seen all over town... The sign says "Por ahora..." which means "For now..." They are really redicilously big and I guess their purpose is to make everyone who voted against the reform and thought that this meant that the reform was now dead...would have to think again, because obviously the government and Chavez will not give up. Don't know what to think of that really, just that it is quite an extreme way to make ones point...
See you soon again.
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