Today was another relaxing day on Playa Blanca, we were keen to get out of the hammocks and lie on the beach! Mine was quite sandy and neither of us had the most comfortable night's sleep. We had ham and cheese crepes for breakfast which were a bit strange as the crepes were really sweet. The beach was quiet again in the morning so we decided to do some snorkelling before most people arrived, we saw a school of hundreds of yellow fish and a couple of bigger ones,...

The speed boat to Playa Blanca took about 40 minutes, it was a much smoother ride than we had had in Galapagos! Although at the start it was tilting significantly to one side so the driver asked me and another girl to swap with Nathan and another guy to balance out the weight! It was cloudy when we left Cartagena but the skies were bluer when we arrived at Isla Barú. The beach was pretty much empty when we got there, we strolled around looking for somewhere to s...

We decided to take the convenient option today to get to Cartagena, we paid for the hostel's air conditioned mini bus service instead of taking two different buses through Santa Marta. It was 2.30pm by the time we arrived and as soon as we opened the car doors we felt a blast of hot air, it is so so hot and humid. Our hostel 'Las Chancletas' is in Getsemani, a small street in the old, bohemian part of the city. The hostel itself has flip flops on the walls from t...

We were ready to check out of the hostel at 6.30am, however as in true Colombian style we didn't leave until 8 as everything seems to take a long time. We took one of the collectivo buses to Santa Marta and then eventually found the right corner for the buses to Minca - we always have to ask several people until we get closer and closer to where we should be! We are quite glad we didn't stay in Santa Marta itself as it is extremely busy, noisy, and a lot of traff...

From Tyrona we caught a bus back to Santa Marta and then to Taganga, a small fishing village just 10 minutes from Santa Marta. We both noticed and commented on how friendly and willing to help the Colombians are, making sure you are going to the right place and getting off at the right stop (although Nathan was horrified when a woman sat next to him had hairier legs than he did). We tried the hostel that Harry Potter had recommended to us which was really nice, s...