Cartagena to Santa Marta

We didn’t sleep too badly.  My biggest worry when in shared accommodation is that I’ll disturb other people when I get up during the night.  I’m a light sleeper, too, so I wake up at every slight noise and movement.  Mark takes strong painkillers, so he sleeps through everything!  Luckily, there weren’t too many snorers in the dorm last night!

We weren’t leaving the hostel until 9am, but most of us were up and about early ready for breakfast starting at 7am.  It was absolutely lashing down, so we got soaked on our way from the dorm to the bar!  Breakfast was plentiful and tasty.  We sat with Nikki and chatted about previous overlanding trips.  We found that we have several mutual acquaintances.  The world of overlanding is very small!

At 9am, we all congregated in reception with all our luggage.  Luckily, the rain had all but stopped.  Ritchie couldn’t get the truck close to the hostel, so we had a ten-minute walk to meet him.  We caused a few raised eyebrows and caused some amusement as 23 of us snaked our way through the rush-hour crowds of commuters carrying all of our belongings for the next few months!

We didn’t have to wait long at the meeting point before Ritchie appeared with the truck.  It was exciting to catch our first sight of our home for 19 weeks!  We didn’t have time to ponder, though, as we were parked illegally.  We just had to throw our big bags in the lockers and climb on board.  Because we are not a full truck, Mark and I managed to get a double seat each, so our first driving day was pretty comfortable!

Our destination today was Santa Marta, a four and a half hour drive northwards.  It rained for much of the first half of the journey, so we couldn’t see much.  I know we drove through the industrial town of Soledad.  We had one stop for toilets at a toll booth and then pressed on.  The weather improved as we got further north.

The most interesting part of the journey was when we drove on highway 90, which is built on a narrow strip of land that divides the Caribbean Sea from the Santuario de Flora y Fauna Ciénaga Grande de Santa Marta. The natural wetlands here are a haven for birdlife.  We saw thousands of pure white egrets and herons.  People here make their living from fishing.  There are many stalls along the roadside selling ceviche and piles of fresh prawns.  It’s a very precarious lifestyle as the area often floods.  Many people have built their homes on stilts to overcome this problem.  Sadly, safe and effective rubbish disposal is not really a thing in this area, so much of the water and surrounding land is full of plastic and other waste.もっと詳しく