Palomino

While we were walking towards the bus station in Santa Marta to catch the bus to Palomino Harri got a call from his friends from Santa Marta. He had told them last night that we were coming and asked for recommendations. They called to tell him they were in Santa Marta and could give us a ride to Palomino. I wasn't to excited as the bus was basically waiting 20 meters ahead of us and to meet Harris friends we would need to take a taxi to get to some place out of town. The taxi would probably be more expensive than the bus all the way to Palomino. And I doubt that we saved any time getting in the car. But maybe it was nice meeting some more locals.
We met them at some gas station out of town and jumped in a car with 5 people and a dog. It was actually quite a funny ride like this even though I had no chance of joining the conversation. They were talking in a normal Colombian tempo about stuff that happened 10 years ago. No chance I would understand a word. But it somehow was like being on a bus again ;)
Once in Palomino we dropped our a stuff at a little hotel they recommended and went to the beach together. I spend the rest of the afternoon not really understanding anything but enjoyed the beach with its crazy waves and some coconut sweets we bought from an old lady.
After Harris friends had to get back to their house we bought some fresh vegetables and had a nice home cooked dinner. I'm usually a lazy cook when traveling so it was nice to have someone around who likes to cooked with some more enthusiasm.
The next day was Harris birthday. We changed to another hostel with a pool and some more people (we were the only ones staying at the first). After that we did what everybody seems to do when in Palomino: river tubing. You walk out to one of the many little stands along the main street, grab a tube (inside of a lorry tyre) and jump on the back of a motorbike with it which brings you into the jungle. You stop along the way for some beer and once the bike drops you walk for about 30 minutes deeper into the jungle till you get to the river. Now all you have to do is jump on your tube and float down the river. I liked this stupid activity so much! Just chilling on the tube floating down a river through beautiful surroundings. What more do you need? It took almost 3 hours till we were back at the beach where the river run into the ocean.
Back at the hostel I chilled for a while at the hostel pool and watched an amazing candy cotton clouded sunset at the beach.
Later we went for Pizza and fixed our plan for the next days. We wanted to go to the most northern point of South America in the desert of La Guajira.Read more