Bahia Concha
Not wanting to leave the hot weather and beautiful beaches of the Caribbean, we headed north after Cartagena to Santa Marta. We only spent two nights there and some much needed downtime at an awesome hostel called Drop Bear Hostel. It had a pool and big tv room. On the second day in Santa Marta we took a taxi to Bahia Concha which is a beautiful beach that isn't very busy because it is a 20 minute drive from town. We had a great afternoon relaxing on the beach that ended with a beautiful sunset! I don't think I'll ever get sick of spending the day on a beach!
Bahia Concha
I love the Sea
Taganga
Next we travelled to Taganga, which is a small fishing village only ten minutes away from Santa Marta. Taganga is in a small bay on the Caribbean coast and had a very chill, beach vibe. We planned to only stay two nights, but it was such an easy place to hang out that we stayed for five nights. The main beach/bay isn't very nice, but the next bay over has a lovely beach called Playa Grande. According to the Lonely Planet, there's an easy twenty minute path that takes your from the main bay to Playa Grande. We attempted to find this path and ended up hiking up a mountain in flip flops.. We should have turned back when we realized this clearly wasn't the path, but we'd gone too far up and were committed. Our twenty minute walk turned into an hour and a half bush wacking mountain hike in the incredible heat. After the ridiculous walk down through cactuses and thorn bushes, we finally found the beach! I've never been so happy to jump in cold water! After spending the afternoon on Playa Grande we found the actual path. It was indeed a very leisurley walk on a clearly marked path.. The walk back was easier, but the hike there was way more interesting and a decent work out!
The rest of our time in Taganga was spent in hammocks or on the beach. It was a great, relaxing, little village to hang out in with good restaurants and fun bars. Except, our last night there was the Saturday before Colombia's elections and alcohol was banned everywhere. You couldn't even get a beer with dinner. The ban was no problem, but it was really interesting that the whole country bans alcohol the night before elections. We had an easy Saturday night and prepared to leave for Parque Nacional Natural Tayrona the next morning.
The main bay in Taganga
Taganga
