Last day in Bogota; Night in Santa Marta

Last day in Bogota; Night in Santa Marta

Santa Marta, Colombia, South America

I got up this morning after another great night’s sleep at Colombia at Home. This has been a brilliant place to stay. I can’t wait to come back here someday. I packed up my stuff and checked out and then went into the city. I’d been told that I needed to check out the Museo del Oro (Gold Museum), so I made sure to get there today. It was a pretty cool museum with a lot of history on the Muisca people and the gold they used for trading or in some traditions. It was really interesting.

I finished up at the museum and went out to El Corral for another awesome burger before heading back to the hotel to pick up my stuff. As soon as I got back to the hotel, the rain started pouring down. Perfect timing to get out of Bogota. The only problem was that I was supposed to get a taxi to Melissa’s office, but it was now rush hour, in the rain. It was proving very difficult to get a taxi at this time, so Melissa, her mom, and her Grandmother all picked me up from the hotel and drove us to the airport. They are the nicest people!!

We got to the airport in plenty of time, checked in, and still had time to stop at Kokoriko to get a bite to eat before going to our gate. It’s a specialty chicken restaurant that was really good, and a perfect way to start our the weekend away. It was a short hour and a half flight to Santa Marta, and as soon as we got off the plane, the heat hit me. What a huge difference from Bogota to here! It’s really hot and really humid. That’s a combination I haven’t been used to since I left Cuba.

We got a taxi to our hotel, which was pretty expensive, compared to Bogota taxi prices. It was less than a five minute ride and it cost 18,000 pesos (£6), when in Bogota I would take a 15 minute taxi that cost 12,000 (£4). I guess this is just a much more touristy area, so they can name their price. When we were checking into the hotel we met a couple who are also going to the wedding tomorrow. Angelica and Juan Sebastian are from Bogota and also friends with the groom, Oscar. We agreed to meet up in front of the hotel to get a taxi to go meet everyone on the beach.

We got the taxi to the beach, not too far from our hotel, and it was beautiful. They had arranged a bunch of chairs in a big circle and there was a mariachi band off to the side playing music. It was such a nice night with a good breeze coming off the water, it was really comfortable. Some guys were going to get some alcohol, so I gave them some money and they came back with two handles of aguardiente. This was my first REAL experience with aguardiente. I had one shot of it on Monserrate when we were there for dinner, but tonight I think I drank half a bottle. It was a great night chilling on the beach until about 1am, and then we got a taxi back to the hotel. Tomorrow is a big day of sightseeing and the wedding. Very exciting!

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