The last weekend in September, Nate and I planned a trip to Santa Marta. We chose Santa Marta with the plan to visit Tayrona National Park. It's a beautiful park located right along the coast.
We left Friday evening after work. Booked our transport through Juan Ballena. It was $20 USD a person one way. We really liked this company because not only did they pick us up right from our apartment, but they were super helpful. Nate and I planned this trip VERY last minute. Like Thursday night last minute. Not only that but we accidentally booked the trip for just one person. Friday afternoon Nate messaged the company to let them know of the mistake and to get confirmation on our trip. They responded right away and were very helpful in working to find a solution. They made getting there and back super easy and convenient. Totally recommend them for any future travels in the area!
We stayed at the Masaya Hostel in Santa Marta. It was a super cool looking place. We've only stayed at a hostel once before. It's a unique experience because it's more personal than a regular hotel. You really get to know your neighbors. We had a room on the first floor. Right outside our door was one of the pools. Up on the rooftop was another pool, some hangout areas, a kitchen and the bar/restaurant. At night you could find the other guests having a drink up there while playing pool, or other board games they offered. We really liked it there. Plus it's cheap!
We had planned our excursion to Tayrona National Park for Saturday through Tayrona Tours. We woke up early that morning to be ready for our 7am pick up. After waiting an hour we decided they weren't coming. Nate messaged the company to let them know we were never picked up and they refunded our trip completely.
It was now 8am, and most the tours for the day had left already. Upset, we went to the front desk of our hostel and asked what they had available for the day (wishing we realized they offered tours earlier, we would have just booked through them from the start!). The man at the front desk set us up with a tour of Minca, a near by town in the jungle. We got picked up around 9 and were on our way.
The tour was through Jungle Joe. Joe himself was orchestrating our day. He was a really nice guy who spoke very good English which was great! He had two younger boys who were our guides for the day. They also spoke good English and were very friendly!
We stared our day by hiking through the jungle to a local organic coffee bean farm. It lied in the middle of the jungle itself. We learned about how coffee is made, distributed and then got to taste some. The coffee was delicious!
The family who owned the farm had a pet toucan. I (though very afraid of all birds) held it! It started ok. I was very tense, naturally. Nate who was supposed to be taking a picture of me "couldn't figure out how to unlock my phone to take the photo." Flustered, I reached over to help him unlock it and the bird freaked out. Flew at my face. Got tangled in my hair and the owner had to help get him off.
Once it settled down, the owner placed him back on my arm and Nate got a photo. Once the photo had been taken I realized the wife of the coffee farmer was reaching over to hand me a napkin. It was then that I realized the bird had pooped on me. Embarrassed, I cleaned it off and went on with the day.
After the coffee farm we hiked through the jungle further to a waterfall along the river. We stayed there and swam for about 45 minutes. Nate and two of our new friends from Australia climbed up it but I stayed at the bottom. Despite being hot from the hike, the water was freezing so I didn't want to fully submerge myself. I watched from the water below.
Our two guides handed us some type of clay to use to exfoliate our skin. It was pretty cool but hard to get it completely clean when washing it off.
Once we were done at the waterfall we went back on our way through the jungle. We made our way to a house that had an unbelievable view. It used to be a Hostel, but is no longer in use anymore. Here Joe had lunch waiting for us. It was a salad, chicken, rice and some vegetables. So good!
Once we were done eating we learned about the animals located in the area as well as bamboo architecture. The house was constructed out of bamboo. It was really unique.
After that, we got to try pure coca. We got to taste the cocoa bean before it's dried out which was surprisingly sweet/sour. Then we were able to watch how the beans are roasted, ground and then transformed from there. We tried the cocoa which is something we may never get the chance to do again since you can only get it when the fruit is fresh! Cocoa beans you get in the US/exported anywhere else in the world lose some of their oils and therefore are not 100% pure. Joe had some hot cocoa made for us. It was so good, very rich!
After we were done there our tour was just about through. Nate and I headed back to the hostel, showered then went out for dinner. We went to a restaurant called Beertown. I had an upset stomach and wanted some comfort food so we picked this restaurant because it looked like a good option for that. I got a sandwich and Nate got a burger. Both were good and reasonably priced!
The next morning we got the complementary breakfast at the hostel then headed back to Cartagena around 10:00.
Although we didn't get to do the one thing we planned to do in Santa Marta, we really enjoyed our time there! We decided we will need to go back to see Tayrona park, but we're not upset about it. It's definitely worth a second trip!
See below for a video of our time in Santa Marta. If you have any questions about our trip comment below, or send us a message!
Thanks for reading!
-Jen