Santa Marta

Continuing East along the Carribean coast our next stop is the town of Santa Marta. It is the oldest city in Colombia and some even say South America! Although, as with the rest of the Carribean coast line it was constantly invaded and destroyed by Pirates, privateers and navy's. At one point the city removed all its defenses in the hope raiders would assume as it was defenseless there was nothing worth stealing, it didn't work.

The city itself is a decent size and still one of the biggest and most important ports in the area. It has a large newly developed promande which is full of locals once the sun goes down, as it is roasting when the sun is up! It also attracts a fair number of tourists, both domestic and international, so has a lively (loud) bar scene and a tonne of great restaurants.

As good tourists we visited Santa Marta's museum. There we learnt about how the city was founded and also the different indegenous groups that live around Santa Marta. The museum then ended on a whole room of video and text for one man, the one and only Simón Bolivar, El Libertador! Yes, saddly, Bolivar died in Santa Marta of tuberculosis and couldn't achieve his dream of United the states of Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.Read more