kwilenacat

Nov 95 min read

Sven alone in Columbia

As Caroline mentioned in the last post, we sailed our boat to Columbia (Santa Marta) and had only a couple of sightseeing days together, before Caroline left for 5 weeks to visit her family and friends in Australia.

So I (Sven) had to cope with all the first world problems by myself in Colombia and I must say, it was not difficult.

In the morning, after Caroline left me in the middle of the night alone in the Hotel in Barrranquilla, I drove back with the rental car to Santa Marta. On my way I did a small detour to check out a Marina in Puerto Velero and visited as well Malin and Christer (SV Anastasia). It was nice to meet them again after we separated south of Bonaire after we sailed together from Grenada to the ABC-Islands.

The Marina is nice but very remote. We are planning to sail there from Santa Marta when Caroline is back.

Back in Santa Marta, I worked the next 2 weeks through the boat repair, maintenance and improvement to do list.

Finally I replaced our temporary Starlink antenna holder with a local custom made one and did as well a lot of other repairs and modifications, which I don’t want to mention here, because Caroline may not like them or think they are not necessary. However I am sure that in end she will appreciate them.

Breakfast, lunch and or dinner??? It’s quite cheap and very good here in Santa Marta, so I used this opportunity and went always out, no need to clean the kitchen and dishes (besides, my dishwasher was out of function or let's say not present 😊 ).

I only had one bad experience when I ordered a Hawaiian Pizza, they used pineapple jam instead of real fresh pineapple, which you can get at any corner.

It’s also quite interesting the Happy Hours promotion they have. Happy Hours apply from the morning when they open until 11.00pm at night . I would call this „Happy Day“ 😊 (The busiest time is 11pm to 4am!!!)

I was always wondering why my cocktails were so quickly empty, until I realized that the lady with the red flower hair (Catrina) was drinking from it.

At night there was always any kind of life entertainment and for sure I checked out all the different roof bars.

After nearly all the work was done on the boat, I had more time for sightseeing and went for a guided city tour. The old town is really beautiful and the rest is like any other city. Santa Marta is actually the oldest city in Colombia.

I went also through the local markets.

The shops are very specialized 😊, like the one who only sell eggs, but you can get them in different colors 😊.

Santa Marta is also the starting point for the „Lost City“ hike, so of course I couldn’t resist walking it. It was an amazing and rewarding 4 days walk (52 km), with ups and downs (totally 3414 m) through the rainforest jungle.

On the way there were always local kiosks for refreshments.

In one case the hiking track went through someone's living room.

It’s claimed from western society that the city was lost and found again but the indigenous people say it was never lost because they always knew it was there.

At the end of the hiking days we had the opportunity to talk with some indigenous people and they explained so many very interesting things about their rich culture. Too many to mention here, especially for me with my dyslexia but one I would like to mention:

When the boy turns 18, he gets married with a widow, to learn „everything“ from her, after a while he can leave her and ask the tribal leader to marry a younger woman / girl. Similar applies for the girl, after she gets the first period she gets married to a widower and learns everything from the experienced old man.

I just want to make it clear that the indigenous people are still living traditionally in their traditional huts. They don’t like to get photographed (some exceptions) and when you pass them, they turn around, stand still and show you their backside.

The hostels we stayed, been very simple but very clean.

The water pressure in the shower was better than in a 6 star hotel.

The undisturbed (no glass) view directly from my bed was breathtaking with a not man made water feature (natural water fall).

Finally I made it! I had the place nearly for myself, only 35 hikers compared in high season over 200 hikers.

Unfortunately the tour company messed something up with my Lost City tour and offered me compensation for a free day trip to the Tayrona National park.

I took the offer and experienced after living nearly 4 years on the boat the other side of tourism, which we were always watching from our boat.

I got picked up at 7:30 am at the marina with a tourist bus full of lovely local Colombian tourists, we drove for 2 hours to the park and beach and took a small boat to another beach, where we relaxed and had lunch. At 5:30pm the bus dropped me back to the marina. I had a typical tourist day trip and took of course typical tourist selfie pictures 😊.

What happens in the Marina?

The girls from the marina bar already knew what I like to drink.

There was a Police event parade with some high ranked officials and a lot of police bikes:

There was also a gynecologist in the Marina! He practiced from his boat but I never saw a patient 🤣.

After a week I was keen on another hike and took a 2 days hike to Mount Kennedy (3100m).

First we drove for 2 hours into the mountains, on the way we visited a small coffee plantation, there are many many small families owned coffee plantations.

From there we (guide, the mule and myself) hiked up for 1.5 hours to the Finca Santa Elena. Everything in the Finca was carried up by humans, horse, mule or donkey!!!

The guide who picked me up in the morning in the Marina, was also the owner of the Finca and the chef in the kitchen together with his pregnant wife.

After a long time, I experienced a sunset and a sunrise above sea level.

The next morning we went up Mount Kennedy, unfortunately the cloud base was coming up and the view was gone.

Nevertheless I was making friends with a local dog and a soldier who checked my belongings.

Finally, just a week before Caroline’s arrival, there was a weather window for kitesurfing in Mayapo. I booked a hotel there and hired a car and drove 200km to the east.

Unfortunately it took me over 8 hours, because there was a demonstration and they blocked a bridge.

I loved to drive through the mud to the really remote hotel.

Hotel was directly on the beach and so beautiful even with a private open sky shower.

Along the beach there were many opportunities and I was always finding a place to eat, drink, kite and relax. Live is Good (LG) and I’m a lucky guy (LG).