Taganga 7/11/12- 7/16/12

From Cartagena we went on a 5 hour bus ride heading east to Taganga.  This is a low-key beach town where we knew we could take it easy and relax. 


Taganga's beach wasn't that impressive; however, there were some nearby beaches that were pretty.  Playa Grande is a beach that could be reached either by a 5 minute boat ride or a free 20 minute hike.  We opted for the hike and were glad we did because it offered some beautiful views of Taganga and Playa Grande. 

Taganga beach

View from hike of Playa Grande beach

Playa Grande's beach was supposed to be a little more quiet than Taganga, but we were surprised at how busy it was.  It was a small beach filled with lots of "places" to eat.  Every place seemed to have the same menu- fresh fish with rice, beans, soup, and plantains of some kind. The fish was delicious!!! As you can see, Matt didn't like it at all ;-).  We enjoyed some snorkeling around the reef and although there wasn't a lot of fish, the visibility wasn't bad and we both just love being in the water.

While in Taganga we met back up with a group from Cartagena, a Swiss couple, Oliver and Linda, and a Dutch girl, Carlijne.  We also added a Brit, Ben, to our group and decided that we wanted to go on a little adventure.  One of Colombia's national parks, Parque Tayorona, has some of the country's prettiest beaches.  Matt heard about taking a little fisherman's boat to one of the more isolated beaches so we did some beach side bartering and eventually hired a guy for the right price to take us on his boat to Playa Crystal and pick us up the next afternoon. 

Ben, Carlijne, and Kristin

The views of the coastline along the way were awesome. The water at this beach was bright blue and very clear, it was beautiful.  This beach was much less crowded then the others we had been to and by 4 we had the beach to ourselves.  We stayed the night out there in hammocks which was quite the experience. Not a lot of sound sleeping thanks to the worry of coconuts dropping on our heads ;-).  While at Playa Crystal we snorkeled, laid out, played frisbee with some local kids, and had a great time with our new friends from Taganga.

Playa Crystal

In Taganga we stayed at Casa de Felipe.  It was a nice hostel with lots of lush vegetation and a refreshing outside area to hang out in hammocks, have a beer from the bar, read a book, etc.  The dorm beds cost about $9 each per night.  There was a nice breeze and the rooms had huge fans, so we were happy people! 

After our beach trip, we all spent one last night in Taganga.