Beach Hoppin' - The Caribbean Coast

"Summer, Summer, SUMMERTIME......
....time to sit back and unwind." - DJ Jazzy Jeff & The Bagger Vance

SANTA MARTA, Colombia

That's 84 Fahrenheit at night time but feels much cooler with the wind factor. I love it.

We arrived in the port city of Santa Marta, Colombia where the cool night breeze was as refreshing as putting on a fresh pair of socks after wearing the same pair for 5 days straight (as if I know what that feels like...or do I?...ill, that's gross.) It was also a huge shocker to hear and be greeted by the locals in Tagalog. It was already surprising that they knew what a Filipino was (normally we are Chinese, Japanese, or Korean). And then I was totally blown away when these local chicas would be like...
"Ano ang pangalan mo?"
I was like Whaaaaat?
They would even ask us questions that Filipinos typically ask for first time meets like what province are we from. CRAZINESS. We come to find out that there are Royal Caribbean cruise ships that are full of Filipino crew members who hang out around town with the locals when the ship docks at the port. Bebot Bebot Beh Bebot Bebot.



It doesn't get more chilled out than this tiny Liquor Store on the corner that sets up plastic chairs and tables just outside close to the ocean front. What's funny is that this liquor store actually has employees in uniform that come around and take your order and deliver it to your table. This is a very standard liquor store that only sells the essentials: beer, wine, spirits, cigarettes, gum, chips. We went for the spectrum of local beers - Aguila, Pilsen, Club Colombia, Redd's (this one is kinda weak, but Fred might like this GD).





This random drunk lady pulled up out of nowhere and took a seat at our table. With a mouth full of sloppy words, she would not stop asking us to buy her a beer. Dejame en paz (leave me alone) por favor. Man she was persistent and at one point she grabbed my drink and we had a mini tug-of-war battle of beer. I won, but geez lady... c'mon now. We also had are money on the table to pay for our beers and she just took it and refused to give it back. Oh NO you di-n't. To prevent her from escaping, quick-thinking Muzz grabbed her filthy shoes from underneath her seat and pulled them aside out of her reach. Amazingly, it did the trick and our money was back in our control. I wouldn't have touched her nasty shoes. Thanks for the sacrifice.



And this is the restroom in the corner of the liquor store. Casual saloon swing doors...



TAGANGA, Colombia
Population: A whopping 3000 humans.
10 minutes drive up the coast east of Santa Marta

This little fishing town is spread along the back of a small bay enclosed by hills. It's hot & humid up in here...






Just to give you an idea of how calm and relaxing this place is, not only did they rent out tubes too wade in the water with, but another popular item was this casual blue air mattress.


Typical local snacks they sell on the beach and on the streets as well. Not really sure what it is but it looked like bacon and funyons.





Rodadero Beach

After soaking up the sun in Taganga, we hopped on a collectivo (small bus) and hit up Rodadero Beach which is on the west side. This beach was a lot more busy and it had all the beach elements: Banana boats, Kayaks, floating animals,and even those pedal pusher boat things.





We just kicked back and ate a casual dinner as the sun set.


As we were walking down the beach we bumped into our crazy hostelmates from the Miramar Hostel. They invited us to share a drink on the beach with them. They labeled Jose Cuervo as the BEST tequila and it was their choice of drink of the night. YESSSSSSSSSSSS!



Local musicians provided us with some groovy Vallaneta music to get the party started. HOLLLA!!! Then we looked up at the digital clock display along the beach and it was only 7pm. ¡Ay Caramba!