We stayed in Santa Marta at Gayle, Jen and Char’s house. They are renting an 8th floor, 3 bedroom apartment right on the water. It has the most incredible views that are equivalent to any 5 star resort I’ve seen. Even they say they can’t believe that they live there. They were such great hosts, sharing their beds, their food and their company. We couldn’t have asked for a better place to stay!
I had the opportunity to travel around Columbia with a great group of girls. We went to visit Gayle and Char who are teaching English there. I traveled with Erin who I went to high school with and we met our friend Sara who also went to high school with us. We also met up with Deborah who studied in Mexico with Gayle and came to Ecuador a couple years ago. Gayle and Char recently moved in with Jennifer from Indiana who teaches with them. They were so welcoming in their home where we stayed several nights. We all went camping together (see the post below) and hung out in Santa Marta several days together. We cooked together, laughed together and played scrabble together. It was so much fun just having such a great group of girlfriends to chill with. There is really nothing like meeting new friends and getting back together with old ones. We have vowed to plan another trip somewhere in a couple of years so that we can do it all again.
We spent two nights sleeping in hammocks in the national park, Tayrona about 45 minutes from Santa Marta, Columbia. We hiked in about 1 hour and paid our 10,000 pesos (about $5) for our hammocks. We were grateful for a roof over our heads as it rained both nights we were there. The day was spent laying on the beach, reading, drinking cold Aguilas and swimming in the warm water. Other than the constant wetness, lack of cleanliness and constant mosquitos it was a blast! Two nights seemed like just enough time though. Gayle’s boyfriend Walter met us there for the second night. We spent our evenings enjoying natural juices and playing scrabble. On our way out we opted for horses to carry us.
We visited a volcano mud bath about 45 minutes outside of Cartagena, Columbia. It was quite an experience. We immersed ourselves in the mud, which was so deep we could not touch the ground. After soaking for around 30 minutes we were led down to the lake were ladies scrubbed us clean. They even made sure to get the insides of our ears! They washed our bathing suits out and we were as soft as babies. We then enjoyed a cold Aguila by the side of the lake.
