After my Spanish lesson, a chat with Liz and a big lunch on Friday I took a bus into Santa Marta to catch another for Parque Tayrona. In the supermarket I ran into an Israeli, Shouele and two Canadians, Rich and Benji, who were also going to the park and generously offered to wait for me and find the bus together. You would be surprised to see how many Israiles I run into in Colombia. I suppose this is because they are known for traveling a lot, however in Taganga alone there are 3 Israeli ran hostels and it just seems like I see a lot more here. Shouele is traving South America for a whole year and has picked up perfectly fluent Spanish in the process. I envy people like this so much and don't understand how they do it that fast. Since Shouele also speaks English as if he grew up in the mid-west US his whole life, I had a couple good chats with him as well as the Canadians over the bus ride. I decided to change my plans of heading to a more secluded area of the park and go with these guys to Playa Cabo, a backpacker / camper Mecca of tent and hammock dwellers on some of the most beautiful shorelines of the park. Really annoying how many people were there, but surprisingly you could pretty easily seclude yourself if you wanted. We rented hammocks and made some what of a roof over ourselves with some plastic tarps the campground provided and spent two nights sleeping right next to the Caribbean, pretty nice I must say. I woke up with the sun both mornings around 5:30 and hiked as far as I could get out on a peninsula of boulders where I ate breakfast, watched the remainder of the sunrise and read while it was still cool and breezy. I must say that was the best part of the weekend, chillin on rocks in the early morning with the sound of waves crashing into the boulders below. We didn't do much on Saturday, just the usual beach thing, however in the evening we had quite the run in at the park's tiki hut / restaurant. We met this girl named Beth who was from Ohio as well as her sister Emmy and British friend Luke. There wasn't more than a handful of people from the US in that joint let alone Ohio. To really top off the night we see this other dude with an Ohio State shirt on and I give him the "O-H", waiting for the "I-O" response. He came over to say hi after and we commented on how small the world is. As you may see in the pics, the coast was pretty stunning. Unfortunately the sun is completely down here by 6 so the days felt short but we spent the eveningss playing cards in the tiki hut dining room of the restuarant, including "kanive" an Israeli game that is pretty fun. The second night was a bit rougher as one of the supports our hammocks were tied to cracked but luckily we didn't drop to the ground it was more of a slow process. Today the Canadians and I hiked out of the park through the jungle which was over a pretty big mountain requiring about 4 hours of strenuous hiking. These Canadians were pretty funny. Like most Aussies or Brits I run meet, they gave off a pretty strong sarcastic tone, ripping on eachother 24-7 which I find strangley amusing and familiar. On the way through the jungle we passed through what is know as "Pueblito", the ruins of an ancient city about 2,000 years old. There wasn't much to see, but it was pretty cool standing on platforms that used to be tribal chiefs huts / temples. No sight of monkeys or big snakes as hoped, but I did see a ton of lizards that were all different neon colors snd a couple blue crabs that were about the size of a mini football. After a the hike, we exited the jungle at the perfect place, a spot on the main road with some small little shops with music blairing selling cold beers and snacks. It's a holiday tomorrow so there seems to be a lively scene with loud music everywhere including back here in Taganga. Strangely the holiday is a celebration of the 'races'. Strange to me since race is so touchy in The US but not in Colombia. For one it's a really diverse place due to the combination of Spanish, native and African descent here. Unlike in the US these races "mixed", for lack of better terms, quite quickely resulting in a more diverse country. Riding into the North at first looked like I had left South America and entered Africa. I wasn't expecting this so I must say the amount of diversity in Colombia as well as this holiday were surprising to me. Til next time, take care guys.
