Santa Marta, Colombia

After a fairly easy door to door shuttle bus journey, we arrived at our hotel in Santa Marta. A unanimous vote decided that a hostel would not suffice, with none of us wanting to spend all our time standing under a cold shower again. Air conditioning was a must-have! The tropical, laid back vibe hit us as soon as we stepped off the bus. Music was blaring from the bars near our hotel and we found this everywhere we went. One shoe shop we passed even had a live reggae band!

Santa Marta is home to some of the best beaches in South America. However, the closest one to us was rather grim and we were told we would have to travel around a bit to find the beauties. The first one we ventured to, Taganga, was a buzzy, bohemian beach set in a pretty bay. It was packed with locals and travellers alike and we whiled away a good few hours baking in the sun. Although a fun setting, Taganga still didn't fit the description of the white sand, crystal clear water beach. We found this the following day when we caught a taxi boat to Playa Blanca. It was beautiful and much quieter than Taganga. We stayed until the weather took a turn for the worse and caught our boat back. The third beach we visited was in the part of town where all the fancy hotels and apartments are located, El Rodadero. Although a nice beach it definitely had its drawbacks...the looky looky men! They swarmed to our deck chairs in their hundreds selling everything from whole raw fish (exposed to the sun and flies all morning...no thanks!) to a hammock! Couple this with women shouting 'MASAJE!' (massage) every couple of minutes and you've got one overwhelming annoyance! The boys later admitted that if the massage ladies were more like Halle Berry and less like Precious, the offers would have been far more welcomed!

The big ticket item near Santa Marta is Tayrona National Park where untouched, pristine beaches and Caribbean rainforest are found. From the entrance of the park we trekked about 2 hrs through the rainforest to the first beach. We saw a couple of caiman on the way, peaking at us through the foliage, as well as an anteater feeding on an overhanging branch. The first beach, Arrecifes, was absolutely beautiful but a bit of a tease! We were dripping with sweat but unable to go for a swim because of the strong riptides. The water genuinely looked like a giant whirlpool so we daren't even walk along the shallow surf! On we went to the next beach, La Piscina, and finally to the piece de resistance, El Cabo San Juan! It is one of the most beautiful beaches we've ever seen and without a doubt the most refreshing swim we've ever had. The trek was absolutely worth the effort! We could have easily spent all day there but we had to begin the long trek back to the bus. We were filthy and starving by the time we got back to our hotel. We immediately showered and headed out to Santa Marta's lovely little square where we had found our favourite restaurant of the entire trip. Harry developed a mild obsession with this place so it was always No.1 choice and Joe and I were never complaining at the frequency of our visits!

After a week in Santa Marta we said a sad farewell to Joe. His month with us had absolutely flown by! He headed back to Cartagena to begin a nightmare of a journey home. Not wanting him to relive it again, lets just say lost cash card, cancelled flight, trouble getting anything to eat and being accused of having two women back to his room!

For our last week Harry and I decided that we couldn't go back to a hostel! We wanted to finish on a high so we found a hotel outside of Santa Marta, with a pool, to chill to the max in the Caribbean sun before heading home. Not being able to help ourselves, we've made the long journey back to our favourite restaurant once this week but apart from that we've been sunning ourselves and hitting the gym! The Copa del s***head tournament is over and as you can probably guess, Harry is the victor!

We are really sad that our big adventure is now over but we are so excited to get back and see everybody! We feel really lucky to have seen all that we have, it's been an unforgettable trip! Thanks to everyone who's kept up with our blog and left comments. It's made it even more enjoyable sharing it with you all!

Our final thoughts, by Harry:

South America is quite simply the most amazing place we have ever been. All preconceptions we had before hand have been blown out of the water. The people are the friendliest we have ever encountered despite, in the most part, being some of the most impoverished in the world. The way they embrace hard work and the sense of community is incredible. Some treat complete strangers like family. It has genuinely been a humbling experience to bear witness to their daily struggles. The more indigenous countries (Bolivia & Peru) were our favourites, although definitely the most challenging to navigate. For us though the most spectacular thing about South America is the vast variety of wildlife, natural wonders and micro climates that it encompasses. It's crazy to think that all in one continent we have seen the world's biggest glaciers, most active volcanos, biggest waterfalls, largest most diverse mountain range, biggest rivers and rain forests, driest desert and some of the biggest lakes. Its provided us with the most thought provoking and fascinating six months we could have ever possibly imagined!

Nicola & Harry

Final Copa Del Sh*thead Scoreboard: NH 142 - 162 HF