Iguanas and Quintas in Santa Marta

Originally, we thought to come to Santa Marta only as the gateway to the Lost City. But we were positively surprised by the city’s charme. It’s a lot less pretentious (and fancy) than Cartagena, but also has a nice old city with a lot of beautiful colonial houses, colourful facades, and nice cafés to hang out. Just everything seems more relaxed, less busy, less “2-worlds-type” as we saw in Cartagena with the polishes old town and the slums on our way to the bus terminal.

After a breakfast at one of them (Ikarus Café - highly recommended, nice coconut latte and almond milk shakes), we checked out tour operators for the Lost City trek which we will do as of tomorrow. No haggling needed, it’s all 850.000 pesos, 240 euros.

We then made it to the harbour but soon escaped the heat in one of the mini buses heading to La Quinta where Simon Bolívar lived for some time and also died. Best idea! Not only did we see the beautiful scenery of a former sugar cane estate but also a pre-taste if the jungle with iguanas, many different birds, and.... squirrels :-)

Heading home for self-cooked dinner, we investigated options to spend time at the beaches of Tayrona National Park after the seemingly quite challenging Ciudad Perdida trek. And finally: we booked the plane to Quito, Ecuador. We will land on November 21, 16:00. Any tips welcome!Read more