- David Gyscek
Coastal Colombian Christmas
We traveled to the Colombian coast last week — the second year of a new tradition of traveling for the holidays. Here are some highlights…
First stop: Caratagena de Indias
Equatorial sunset
Links to information on some of the sites above:
Muelle de los Pegasos: https://www.lonelyplanet.com/colombia/cartagena/attractions/muelle-de-los-pegasos/a/poi-sig/454787/363310
Castillo San Felipe de Barajas — a remarkable structure. Unfortunately we saw it at night after the facility closed: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Castillo_San_Felipe_de_Barajas
India Catalina: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/India_Catalina
Alma Restaurant — superb!: http://almacolombia.com/en
Hotel Don Pedro del Heredia: http://www.hoteldonpedrodeheredia.com/en
Second stop: El Rodadero, Santa Marta
El Rodadero is a stretch of beach front south of Santa Marta proper and separated by a cactus covered mountain. While Cartagena attracted more international tourists and was therefore more expensive with more aggressive vendors, Rodadero was more laid back. Here, we spend Christmas eve and on Christmas day we took a day trip via bus and lancha, a small boat carrying about 10-people, to Playa Cristal in Parque Tayrona.
Playa Cristal (Crystal Beach) in Parque Tayrona, Christmas Day:
Links:
Hotel Del Mar: http://www.delmarhotel.co/
En route, through Santa Marta…
Third stop: Taganga
Taganga is a small fishing village just north of Santa Marta. It is now home to a thriving scuba industry. We stayed in a little cabana along the hillside descending into town. The view was spectacular and the wind, wild!
Links:
Hotel Cactus: http://www.hotelcactus.com.co/
Fourth stop: Playa Los Angeles, Tayrona
Technically just outside Parque Tayona to the east, we couldn’t have planned a better end to our trip. As we were approaching, I was struck by an intense craving for a mango. When we arrived at the property and were checking in, we were brought two glasses of fresh, cold mango juice. I’ll let the pictures speak for themselves…
Dawn
Half the view from a hilltop lookout
Other half the view from a hilltop lookout
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