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To get to Santa Marta, according to our tickets, we had to take 2 planes. The first to Bogota, where we would have 30 minutes, and the second on to Santa Marta. When we arrived in Bogota we asked where we needed to go, the answer was the desk we had just passed when exiting the plane. It turns out that we had to walk off the plane to then get back on it and into the same seats. We all found this so funny. It was nice at least to be able to grab a coffee and stretch our legs.
On arrival in Santa Marta we had organised for the hostel we were staying at, called ´The Dreamer´, to come and pick us up. After 30 minutes of waiting we all agreed to jump in a couple of cabs instead. I had it in my head that I was going to go and complain about the lack of transport but on arrival to the hostel the place seemed so nice that I completely forgot about the whole thing and anyway that´s what travelling is all about. ´The Dreamer´ is owned by a Brazilian chap who wanted to take the best aspects of each hostal he had staying in and combine them to make the ultimate traveller hostal. With power sockets in the lockers, personal bed lights, hammocks, a pool, a funky bar, a little Italian resaurant and more all for just over 6 pounds a night, I thought this place wasn´t too far off the ultimate hostal. In the evening there was a quiz where the grand prize was either a free cocktail or a free breakfast for each member of the team. It was great fun and we actually came joint first with a team that had a loudmouth, annoying American in it who disputed every answer. The guys at the hostel tryed to set up some alternative challanges to decide a winning team but the American kept saying it was unfair. In the end the hosts got so fed up that the announced that team ´Where is Barry?´ (that´s us) had won. The only small set back was that our team exceeded the size limit of 4 cocktails or breakfasts but we were just happy to be the champions.
The next day was Stuarts 31st Birthday. It was a good start to the day to get half a breakfast free each. The morning was taken up with the planning of a 2 day music festival that everyone wanted to go to, me being the exception because I wanted to do my Open Water PADI certificate and couldn´t afford both. The guys at the hostel were trying to help organise tickets for the festival but it turned out you had to buy tickets from the Exito Supermarket. We all headed into town in two taxi´s and some how ended up at 2 different Exito´s! OOPS! Eventually we found each other and went in to get the tickets. The client service desk where the tickets were meant to be on sale had no idea that there was even a festival going on. After well over an hour in the supermaket going back and forth between desks and telephones everyone decided that it just wasn´t meant to be and that we needed to start enjoying Stu´s birthday, or rather he did!
We spent the rest of the day at the Simon Bolivar Botanical Garden. Bolivar was the man who gained independance from the Spannish for Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, today's Panama and Bolivia. He had a huge influence on all of these countrys before eventually passing away in this botanical garden. The gardens were full of huge Iguana´s, cacti and even a crazy red squirrel. The museum area was interesting as it explained about bolivars life but I would have to say that we had the most fun trying to squeeze out juice from sugar cane using a traditional press. It was here that I heard my favorite Dutch word ever, Panfluit, pronounced like ´bumfloat´ in a really posh Englidh accent. We all cracked up for about 5 solid minutes. From this moment on I was trying to learn all the best Dutch words from Franky and Elien.
We started the evening in the hostel with a few drinks, it was nice that everyone made an effort to look good for Stu´s B´day, we even had showers!! Carly had told the the hostel that it was Stuart´s Birthday but no one expected that they would actually go out and buy him a cake, they really were great. We headed out to a fancy tapas bar in central Santa Marta, the food was so good that we ended up ordering a second round! Next stop was a cocktail bar where us boys all agreed to do the most discusting shot on the menu consisting of onion, tabasco and tequila. the girls stuck to shots like butterfly glitter and fairy dust. Okay they wern´t the actually names but I´m sure compaired to our shot they tasted great! After a few more shots and cocktails Stu, Carly, Franky and Jen decided to head back while Sal, Barry, Elien and me headed to a nightclub for a few more drinks and some ´dancing´. The night club was match box sized but pretty packed out. Shortly after arriving 2 Columbian dancers started performing around the club, one of them pulled me our of the crowd before wrapping her legs around me while some how still dancing! wasn´t expecting that one! The 4 of us decided that it would be fund to have a dance off, Sal and Barry a.k.a team red (named because of the glowing bands they had been given) and Elien and Me where team yellow. The dance moves were hillarious with Sal and Barry trying to pull off the famous lift from Dirty Dancing and Elien and me just..... I´m not even sure what you would call our dancing! Team yellow claimed victory although I´m not entirly sure why! What a great night.
There were a few sore heads in the morning but I was as hyper as ever hence the name A.D.H.D given to me by my favorite Dutchman. I spent most of the day splashing about in the pool. Elien invented a new version of water dodge ball called Belgian Dodge ball whereby she could get as close to me as she like before throwing the ball at my head! Not too sure about the rules in that one! Going to really miss staying at the Dreamer.
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Nick Conway Well Pedro I never thought you would win a dancing competition!! Presume the others just passed out and you were last man standing!! Sounds like you struck lucky with the hostel. Hav eyou been over the Sierra Nevada yet, what are they like??? Speak soon Dad X