Road Trip to Santa Marta

We started our departure morning from Medellín with a hearty breakfast at Panadería y Repostería Multipan, across the street from the scenic and tranquil Parque Boston. From there we walked to the Museo Casa de la Memoría, which is a must see if in Medellín. (It is to Colombia’s troubles with insurgents, paramilitary groups, and narco-trafficking cartels that Cape Town’s District Six Museum is to the story of South Africa’s apartheid era. IYKYK.)

Once on the road, we set our sights on making Zaragoza Municipality before nightfall (260km / 5-1/2hrs), which we did with about an hour to spare. For a town of 24,000 Zaragoza was crazy chaotic with lots of Torito trikes moving goods and people all around. Lots of horns blasting and lots of loud music blaring. But everything became tranquil when we returned to our hotel room ~10pm.

The next day we drove from Zaragoza to San Jacinto, (350km / 6 hours). By contrast, San Jacinto was rather tranquil, even with a festival in progress celebrating the indigenous tribes in the region.

Our 3rd and final leg was San Jacinto to Santa Marta (240km / 5 hours). We thought about spending the night in Baranquilla, but once we got there, we could smell the barn - SV AT FIRST SIGHT - and so we continued home.

The trip was fantastic. That said, I’m glad we only drove one way. It’s an impressive and varied countryside the entire way - from the mountains around Medellín, through the rolling hills and large, well-groomed haciendas between Zaragoza and San Yacinto, and on to the flat lowlands and mangroves approaching Baranquilla and on to Santa Marta.

The roads were mostly super. Four-lane divided autopistas/autovias in some areas, but mostly 2-lane carreteras. All the roads, large and small, were toll roads, and we paid ~$25/day in tolls.

Because of Colombia’s history, security always seems to come up when discussing our visit here. On this trip we always felt safe - incredibly safe. That said, I wouldn’t want to do the back country roads at nighttime. Not because of thugs, but because some of the stretches we drove were a long way from civilization.Read more