Day 93 – 100 – The North Coast

The next week or so of my trip was spent in various hostels in the North Coast of Colombia, near Santa Marta. The city Santa Marta itself is easily forgettable and supposedly quite sketchy, with most travellers using it as a gateway to the more picturesque and remote parts of the coast. 

My first stop was ‘The Journey’ hostel, a lovely jungle hostel (minus the hippies of Minca) which is close to the popular Tayrona National Park and has an infinite pool that looks over sections of the park. I arrived to see familiar faces from previous destinations and we took advantage of the 2 for 1 cocktail of the day and played board games to see out the night. 

The next day revolved around making sure I had a secure wifi connection for the Arsenal v Man United game. It was a relaxing day spent at the hostel, enjoying the pool and endulging in the 5 hour happy hour deal the hostel had. Happy hour/s? 

Tayrona National Park was on the agenda for the next day, a natural reserve where the tropical forrest meets the Caribbean sea. It is a hugely popular place amongst backpackers and Colombian nationals alike. It was a humid day with a lot of walking, but it was worth doing. It probably didn’t live up to the rave reviews I had heard about it for me, possibly a byproduct of having been to so many amazing places in the last 3 months. 35 000 steps later we were back at ‘The Journey’ for a well deserved cerveza. 

I woke up to watch Tottenham try and do Arsenal a favour by beating Man City (they didn’t) and had breakfast before getting on the bus to venture further down the coast to my next stop. The public bus system in the North is a model of convenience. There is one main road that drives parallel to the coast and connects the whole of the North. You just need to get on the main road which was right outside the hostel and flag down the bus (every 20 minutes or so) and tell the driver where to be dropped off and he will stop anywhere along the road for you – no bus stops needeed! Within 20 minutes I was picked up and dropped off right outside my next hostel – Viajero Hostel located in another section of Tayrona National Park.

I spent 2 nights here which was somewhat unnecessary as if offered many of the same activities and views of my last hostel but I had a few days to fill in as there was a massive party further down the coast on the Saturday that I was waiting for. It was a relaxing couple days right on the beach where I caught up on the blog and gave my liver some deserved rest. The highlight was karaoke night where a local girl absolutely butchered Vance Joy’s ‘Riptide’.  Very humorous. 

El Rio hostel was the third and a final stop of the North – one of those famous, well-talked about hostels in all of South America, with one person even describing it to me as a ‘rite of passage’ when travelling Colombia. The bus driver dropped me at the main road where you then take a cheap mototaxi 10 minutes into the jungle. The hostel gives you no reason to leave with a bakery, pizzeria, restaurant and multiple bars all on site. You receive a wristband where you can pay for everything at the hostel and its a tab system that charges you upon check out. Very dangerous when you’re 12 cuba libres deep and everything seems free at the time. The hostel is known for its parties, every Thursday and Sunday and then a big one once a month on a Friday which starts around 3pm and ends at 10….. am. 

The hostel also has its own charity foundation with opportunities to volunteer and help out at local communities. I decided to help out indirectly and support local communities through the hostels ‘Foundation Wednesdays’ offer with the profits of every rum & coke providing 45 minutes of education for 20 local children. I generously and selflessly supported this initiative. By the end of my stay half the kids in the North of Colombia will be educated for a year thanks to my efforts. No recognition necessary – just doing my bit.