Santa Marta

We got off the plane in Santa Marta, collected our bags (shock horror the last off the plane!) and after meeting some guy realised we were going in the same direction so shared a taxi. We had decided to try a hostel that sounded alright in the book, but unfortunately they were full. The plan was to hole up somewhere for a day or 2 and use the time to try and find a nice resort without the pressure of having nowhere else to stay and without the bags. After 2 hours walking around in the scorching hot 35 degree heat and only coming across horribly overprices hotels we decided we would have to blow off the two day plan and find a nice plan straight away.

We had seen some nice places online and decided to have a look at the one we most liked the look of. After visiting here we could see why Santa Marta is the place where the Colombians go for a holiday with "sand under their feet and sun on their backs"! The resort was the incredible, the nicest resort we have ever been to. It had over a mile of private beach with golden sands, as well as 4 swimming pools. A golf course and Tennis court (neither used by us!), a gym, Sauna, steam rooms, jacuzzi and a spa for massages and treatments(unlike asia, no happy endings were offered!). There was a 2 tier auditorium where shows were put on for guests and 12 gourmet restaurants on the resort. This place was well out of our budget but it was a once in a lifetime chance as it was unlikely we would ever have the opportunity to come here again. We decided that we could afford it by shaving a bit of time off the end of our trip and began enjoying our time in luxury!

After 7 incredible days we grudgingly had to leave and eventually found a place to stay for the 2 more nights we needed in Santa Marta. The next day we went to Parque Nacional Tayrona one of Colombia´s most beautiful national parks. We got a horse back ride through the lush green forests and over some of the jaw dropping beautiful beaches. The sand and water were both sprinkled with gold flecks and looked remarkable when the sun caught it. After a scorching hot day we were just about to pack up when out of nowhere a wave decided to play silly b*****s with us! We were sat about 5 ft from the waves and they had not moved all day when all of a sudden a megawave comes in and completely soaks our 6 ft beach towels (that's an extra 11 ft on the wave!). This meant we had to take home heavy, soaked, sand covered towels (and we means Antonio!). Coincidentally in the 20-30 more minutes we had before we left no other waves came even close to us. After another horse back ride to the entrance we headed back to town ready to leave the next day.