Santa Marta, Colombia's oldest surviving town and one of the oldest in the whole of South America. Founded in 1525 by Rodrigo de Bastidas. I was warned by other passengers who had been there previously that it was a boring town with nothing to do or see. Semi-true, insofar as, there was no walled city or an old quarter to highlight the age or importance of the city; the main nod to the foundation of the town was a statue in a square of Rodrigo de Bastidas. When following on from Cartagena on the itinerary (check out my previous blog), it was obviously going to come up slightly shorter. However, I found it to still be a worthwhile stop and again it will feature in my future travel plans.
The main thing you are told aboard the ship that is worth doing in Santa Marta is to go to the beach. In a similar way to Grand Cayman's Seven Mile beach, there is a beach that you are sent to which remains to the West of Santa Marta. We opted instead to be taken in the opposite direction, away from the tourists, towards the East. Our taxi driver took us to a little village where there was single dirt-track road to the main square. The side roads gave a glimpse of every day life, free-range chickens, kids and all. To get to the beach we essentially had to ditch the car and climb over this cliff and go down to where the Colombians travel to for their vacations.
The beach was full of tourists but all of Colombian nationality. Incredible! I could have stayed there all day relaxing had we not had to make sure to be back at the ship in time for sailing!! Good snorkelling too. The beach was called Playa Grande. One thing to note though, make sure that you have small denominations of US Dollars. While they accept dollars they will pay you back change in local currency and you will be short-changed.
On the way back to the ship we were quickly taken around the town. While there was not much there apart from residential houses, we were taken to a small church which seemed almost to be the town's main cathedral. It was truly beautiful as there was a service going on at the time. What struck me at the time and what resonated was how many people were attending the service. It made me feel more spiritual watching them devoutly express themselves. I found it beautiful to see how much religion is still an integral part of peoples lives in this side of the world. Christianity and Catholicism isn't dead or dying in Central America.
After speaking with other passengers, I am glad that we went to Playa Grande as due to the very windy conditions that we had on the day, the main (Seven Mile) beach seemed to have sand-blasted everyone. Our secluded beach however was nice and sheltered. If there is one thing that you can do when you stop in Santa Marta, go to this beach. Take some decent and comfortable walking shoes with you and be prepared for a scenic walk over the cliffs before dipping into some crystal waters.
So overall, with the slightly laid-back day in Santa Marta following on from scenic Cartagena, Colombia as a whole has made a brilliant impression for me. I will definitely be going back in the foreseeable future and both Santa Marta and Cartagena will be on my itinerary list.
