Tag Archives: santa marta

Valentines Nights & Cat Frights!

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Some random things happen whilst traveling but this has got to be my worst!! Lady and the tramp style valentines dinner & being attack by a cat.Throughout our time travelling and chatting to other travelers hearing some of there mishaps we always say for the last 3 years we have been really lucky nothing stolen or any of us injured ect.

The meal was just a  funny situation although we could be food snobs since we know the industry but we also are laid back and understand it was a busy night in a hostel not a fine dining restaurant but the cat was definitely one of the worst things happened to me whilst travelling..

The Meal..

We managed to get a nice candle lit table of two for valentines somehow without trying in a busy hostel full of people. We got a nice salad surprise to start off with,which was so fresh! We ordered dinner which was veggie pasta and were told they were cooking it fresh to order. Then while waiting on the pasta being cooked, the owner came over to us with one portion and joked that he challenged us to share a romantic bowl of pasta until the next bowl was ready in 5 mins (lady and the tramp style haha). About 30 minutes later the hostel helper came over with desert before we had our second bowl, they had most definitely forgot about the meal. The desert was an alphajores with a brandy flavored chocolate sauce. The pasta was worth the wait as it was “Delicioso”.

Catastrophical..

We have slept in various accommodation and throughout this trip I have been thankful for how well I can now sleep in so many different types of places, whether the bed is un-comfy or it’s a noisy hostel somehow now I just instantly fall asleep but I was in a lovely deep sleep and suddenly awoke around 1am. I turned to Chris and said “oh it’s so hot in here”

In a flash I turned on my back and half asleep looked at the curtains and thought to myself they are pretty see through then wondered how I couldn’t see the mosquito net surrounding us. It was the first time having a mosquito net and Chris liked it but I felt caged in it. Instantly something grabbed my foot it was agony and I screamed. Chris had just moved and thought he had caught my hair under his arm like he does sometimes. I was shouting I’ve just been attacked. It felt like a monster grabbing me as I moved my foot slightly and its teeth clawed into my skin! He started laughing and thought I was kidding. I told him to turn the light on a rat or something has attacked me. Then he put the light on and the hostels cat is looking quite comfortable at the foot of the bed!!

The hostel owner was shouting Gata gata! And Chris shewed it out of our room! There was a hole in the mosquito net of the door and it must have climbed through. Even when I knew it was a cat and it was out of our room I was terrified to get to sleep. I didn’t want anything else to get in or attack me. I lay awake listening to the noises of the jungle,the dogs barking and cats screeching.Sending my mind crazy overthinking instead of sleeping, in case I needed to go for a tetanus, texting my mum and panicking her.  I literally slept for 2 hours when the sun came up. In the morning when I looked at it I realized it must of just grabbed my foot with its paws and scratched it slightly. It did break the skin, but I survived and it didn’t get infected. Now i will be keeping an eye on those evil cat eyes watching me!!

The catastrophical name came from a few nights later in Santa Marta and an older man living in our hotel had cats follow him upstairs into his room every night. We would hear him laughing with his neighbor and shouting “Its Catastrophical”. As it wasn’t following me I can see the funny side and hopefully I will eventually get used to seeing random cats again!! 

What funny/ scary travel stories do you have we would love you to share them with us!!!

 

Was it worth it Wednesday?

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Where have we been?

Taganga, Minca & Santa Marta (Colombia)

 

Where have we stayed?

3 nights @ local’s house with room for rent 40,000 pesos, £8 per night double room, clean and we were allowed to use the kitchen to cook fresh seafood just landed a 5 min stroll from the house.

2 nights@ Casa Loma  90,000 pesos, £22.50 per night for double room in the tree house, private balcony, stunning views, chilled vibes, eco friendly, no wifi, no fan/ air con, great veggie food.

1 night @ Sierra Nevada 55,000 pesos, £13.75 family run, very clean, no fan, ok wifi.

1 night @ hostel Miramar 60,000 pesos, £15 small clean room, relaxed atmosphere, free breakfast, good wifi.

 

What have we spent?

Still on a £50 per day budget  £350 per week.

Total Accommodation: 391,000 pesos, £97.75

Total Food: £73.50

Rough price of main meal is around £2- £5 estimated 3 meals @ £3.50

Transport:

Taganga-Santa Marta bus: 2800 pesos, £0.70

National park bus/boat trip:  25,000 pesos, 2800 pesos, 45,000 pesos boat each: 145,600 pesos, £36.40

Taxi to Minca: 22,000 pesos, £5.50

Taxi from Minca: 16,000, £4

Total transport: £46.60

What have we done?

Diving: 2 dives each 130,000 pesos , £32 each

Tayrona National Park: 35,000 pesos, £8.75 each

Hiking : free

Cascade waterfalls: 3000 pesos, £0.75 each

Coffee Plantation: 10,000 pesos, £2.50 each

Total cost of Experiences: £88

 

Total spent: £305.85

Loss/ Profit?  We have probably broke even this week as that £44.15 extra  we add to miscellaneous drinks, cheeky coffee & cake, new flip flops

What we loved?

It had been slightly over a year since we had been Scuba diving. So our highlight of this week was getting back into the under water world. Hear about our fun dives in our Taganga post.
What we learned?

  • Don’t sit on a petrol can of the boat
  • Don’t let a cat in your room whilst sleeping catastrophical!!
  • We can achieve much more than we think we can. We just need to act on situations.
  • That we are able to eat only vegetarian meals, the only non-veg we will eat is fresh seafood.

 

How’s the Spanish going?
We are now having simple conversations in Spanish to locals who are able to comprehend what we are saying. A few words may be mixed up but we are definitely on track in listening for key words and understanding the basic context of the conversation. By pushing ourselves to learn more words we are also able to interact in the conversation. We know we can always do better and strive to be fluent in Spanish one day soon!

We were able to translate for a Russian guy and Filipino woman in the restaurant as the waitress was trying to tell them there was no fresh juice except maracuya (passion fruit) and they had no idea what she was saying so we manage to tell them. They were so thankful and the woman then thought we actually spoke Spanish and now we feel more confident and very happy with our accomplishments as we basically had no Spanish when we arrived.