More of the Caribbean coast - from Cartagena to the beautiful mountain town of Minca

From Cartagena we drove for half a day to the city of Barranquilla, which sits at the mouth of the Magdalena river. On the way we stopped for a drink on the beach at Puerto Colombia - a small local beach town. We love that in Colombia you can just ride your bikes on the beach (it makes for good photos!). Barranquilla is famous for being the birthplace of Shakira, and it’s annual carnival (akin to the Rio carnival) which we missed as its held in February. Apart from that, there isn’t a huge amount to see or do in Barranquilla, and we planned a quick overnight stop to break up our journey to Santa Marta. We did stay in the Ibis hotel, which Ash was very excited about - it’s his favourite hotel! I didn’t take any photos in Barranquilla, it was so unremarkable!

The next morning we set off to the coastal city of Santa Marta, and the route took us along the coast and through swamp and marshland, used by the locals for fishing and crops. We stopped for lunch at a floating village which was interesting to see - the locals have built floating houses, surrounded by pens for fish cultivation. 

Afterwards we arrived in the very hot and humid (90% humidity!) city of Santa Marta. Santa Marta was the first Spanish settlement in Colombia, and some of the historic buildings still remain. Sadly now the town has a neglected feel, and there is lots of poverty and homelessness. We didn’t have any problems whilst we were there, but did feel a little unsafe walking back to our hostel at night time. 

We knew that there isn’t much for tourists to see and do in Santa Marta, and our main reason for visiting was to arrange for us to do the Lost City Trek - a four day hike in the jungle to the ruins of the ancient indigenous city of Teyuna. We spent a day visiting different tour companies and choosing which to go with. We also visited the Museo de Oro (gold museum), which is housed in one of the oldest buildings in the city and had some interesting exhibits detailing the Spanish invasion and treatment of indigenous people, as well as information on the finding and excavation of the lost city of Teyuna. We were very sad to hear that the Spanish stole must of the indigenous people’s gold artefacts and they are now in museums all over Europe. We also got caught in the worst downpour we’ve seen our whole trip - it rained so hard the streets all flooded and turned to rivers, and hundreds of cockroaches escaped the water by climbing up the walls of buildings! 

After a few days in Santa Marta, we drove to the nearby small mountain town of Minca, about 45 minutes away. We had heard from other travellers about Minca and how beautiful it was, and planned to stay a few nights to explore. 

We stayed at a hostel at the top of a mountain, and though we were advised that the route to the hotels is off-road, high elevation and tricky to do, we decided to give it a go on the bikes. To start with it wasn’t too bad, but the road got progressively steeper, with sharp switchbacks, lots of holes and rocks, and a very narrow strip of concrete to follow. With our bikes fully loaded it was tricky driving, and we both struggled with the steep sections. Some locals stopped to help and advise us, and we made it about half way, but in the end decided to turn back as it was too difficult! We took the bikes to a parking place in town, and the owner ended up putting them in his lounge to keep them safe for us! And we took a 4x4 jeep taxi to the hostel. Later on in our trip we took a moto taxi and can only say what skilled riders those guys are - they have been riding bikes since they were kids, and knew every inch of the route by heart, knowing when to avoid tricky bits, when to slow down and when to speed up etc (no wonder we couldn’t make it!). 

Luckily our hostel was worth the traumatic trip to get there, it’s an old finca at the top of a mountain, converted into a hostel with a beautiful infinity pool overlooking the mountains. The kitchen did delicious freshly cooked vegetarian meals with ingredients grown by the hostel, and we ate breakfast lunch and dinner most days because it was so tasty! 

There was an indigenous Wiwa family living on land close to the hotel, and everyday the family would come to eat or take food back to their village, we think the hotel had an agreement with them for using their land and it was good to see the indigenous people treated fairly and equally. We learnt a lot about the indigenous culture staying at the hostel, like that for each family they have two houses - one for men/boys and one for women/girls, and they aren’t permitted to enter the house of the opposite sex. 

We loved the hostel so much we ended up extending our stay by a few nights, and we also decided to stay at the hostel before and after the Lost City Trek (most people start and end in Santa Marta, so we had to get a taxi from Minca and back, which wasn’t too much hassle). 

Whilst we were in Minca, we did lots of hiking and our hotel had a series of walking paths and routes directly from it. We walked to a coffee plantation, though we didn’t take a tour as we’ve done lots in the past, we stopped for a coffee and to say hello to their dogs! We walked down to the river, and to town and back a few times for some food. The thing I loved to do the most was relax in the pool soaking up the views, and to watch the sunset each night over the mountains - it truly was beautiful. 

After five days at the lovely hostel, we prepared for the lost city trek, packed up our things into small day bags which we had bought especially, and left our luggage at reception to get a taxi to Santa Marta to start the trek. 

Next step: Hiking to Teyuna - the lost city trek