See ya later Cartagena

Whilst we had enjoyed our day in Cartagena and its surrounding area we were excited to move onto the more relaxed vibe that Taganga had to offer. After a 4 hour shuttle ride through swamps, beachside towns, big cities, shanty towns and eye watering amounts of roadside trash, we arrived at our friend Khalid's hostel in Santa Marta. It's such a treat to see your travel family again and so the three of us headed out to enjoy some beers and food in the afternoon heat together. At least here the heat isn't quite as humid as Cartagena but we were all still sweating away at 8pm that night.

Jim and I finally caught a taxi the extra 6km north to Taganga where we had booked ourselves into a place called Taganga Guesthouse. We received a very warm welcome from the owner Victor and then turned in for an earlyish night ready for our dives I'd booked in for us the following morning.

Unfortunately we woke up to some sad news from home, the third death of someone we knew since we have been away. This time a friend who left behind his wife and 3 week old son. So as you can imagine we weren't exactly in high spirits for our dive but headed down there nonetheless as we had booked ourselves in and you feel so helpless being all these miles away. 

We had booked in with Poseidon Dive Centre as I'd read they were the best operators in the small fishing village that is Taganga. They didn't have quite the service we got in Ecuador, as we had to set up all our own gear - what a chore! Haha. And the sea was insanely rough so I was very thankful that this wasn't my first dive in seven years (but the huge waves crashing across the boat and subsequently my face meant I could have a cry without getting weird looks from the other divers at least). Once under water the rough seas didn't seem so bad instead we had a cool feeling of being pushed back and forth with the surges. The visibility wasn't great either and in terms of wildlife there wasn't anywhere near as much to see but we still saw some cool fish (including a lion fish) crayfish, huge moray eels and impressive coral reefs. Considering our two dives were half the price as the last ones it was still a pretty good deal as well as great diving experience for me. This time they had an underwater camera too so we have something to show for our exploration of the underwater world.

After getting back on solid ground both of us were feeling pretty average from the rough seas and the sad news combined. So, it was a quick lunch at Cafe Bonsai, then back up to the guesthouse for a lazy afternoon in the hammocks reading and napping. That's about all you can do here in this heat anyway! 

Our host had told Jimmy if he wanted to score some brownie points with me, to take me for a sunset drink at a restaurant called Babaganoush. After our nap it was bang on prime sunset time so we made the 15 minute walk back into town to catch the last of the days light over some beers and yummy mojitos. 

Dinner was pretty good too. We had the first goats cheese we had had in a while so that was a real treat! After dinner we were content to just head back to our fan cooled room instead of braving the Saturday night crowds in the clubs that line the beach pumping out Reggaeton music at FULL volume. I think we are getting old... But after today I'm just feeling grateful for my life and my husband I'm sharing this amazing journey with so I don't mind if I'm getting old.