Tuesday ended with a fabulous sunset, followed by a G&T on board, which helped put me to sleep, as the wind was howling, as usual. We didn't need to be at the marina gates until at least 9.30am, so we left our packing until the morning.
Viktor came for us at 10am and we set off through the busy streets of Santa Marta, with the usual crazy motorcycles weaving in and out of the traffic, with no care for their safety. The driver may have a helmet but any passengers, wives, girlfriends, children, babies or dogs, did not. Bikes even drive down the wrong side of the road, mount kerbs and take shortcuts through shop frontages. Once outside of the city, we started to climb and wind our way up into the mountains, the car struggling at times when the road became steep. Faster vehicles screamed past us, even on corners. The views became spectacular, as we gained altitude and on one corner we could see Santa Marta, way below us on the coast. Up ahead, we could see groups of huts on stilts, some of the eco cabins, in the jungle, where you can stay. We had opted for a small hotel 700 metres from the town centre. Viktor drove us into Minca, turning right after the river bridge and right again onto the road to our hotel, which deteriorated to the point where we said we would get out and walk the rest of the way. It wasn't far and our bags weren't heavy as we had packed the bare minimum for a two night stay. Pete's clothes and toiletries fitted in the top of his camera bag! I had a 20 litre capacity rucksack.
It was only 11.15am and check in wasn't until 3pm but we were welcomed at reception, where they took photocopies of our passports, allowed us to pay for the accommodation and put our bags in storage. There were two big Akitas and we were told not to feed them or pet them. They were there for security. I wasn't particularly comfortable around them but they seemed to be harmless is you ignored them. The bar was open and food would be available from noon, so we took a seat, overlooking the pretty river. Pete was ecstatic about the location and the view and excited to take photos; slow exposures of water, using the tripod. Birds and butterflies flitted around and we found a massive golden webber / golden orb weaver spider, in its web at the end of the bar. We doused ourselves in insect repellent, as there were mosquitos and other insects around. We had a beer and reviewed the menu, ordering patacones (flattened plantains, fried and topped with meat) and chicharrones (small pieces of fried pork belly), both popular Colombian snacks. The food was great and plentiful.
After lunch, we walked back up the hill to explore the little town. Other than the main road up into the mountains, the roads were uneven concrete covered in sand. There were little shops selling a limited range of drinks and groceries, souvenir shops, tour companies, restaurants and bars. Motorcycles were the main form of transport and buzzed up and down the streets. We stood on the bridge over the river for a while, watching the birds and the butterflies and spied a few terraces overlooking the river, downstream, so we found one and had a beer, passing the time until we could officially check in. The bar was very colourful, which pastel coloured stairs and painted murals on the walls but the food didn't look anything to write home about, so we made a note not to eat there during our stay.
Back at Casa de Hadas, Pete extended our stay to three nights, such was his love for the place. We completed check in, paid for the extra night and headed to room 7, on the upper floor, overlooking the pretty courtyard. Although the room was a deluxe double, it was pretty basic, although clean and the bed was comfortable. We had aircon and a ceiling fan but there was no hot water supply, not that it's a problem in the heat. Having unpacked, we headed to the bar for happy hour. It was 2 for 1 on house cocktails, so I ordered the Don Jose, which seemed to be a pineapple margarita and was delicious. Pete ordered a bucket of 6 beers, for 36000 pesos but was upset when it turned out that happy hour beers are only 210ml, not 330. Money was saved but it wasn't the deal expected. Nelson, behind the bar, asked whether we would like to go bird watching, something we had planned to do, so he arranged it with his friend, stating that we would need to meet at the church at 6am next morning. Pete joked that he didn't know there were to 6 o'clocks in a day. We sat overlooking the river and were lucky enough to see an Andean red squirrel jumping from branch to branch in a tree. We were surprised to see one in Minca as it's a much lower altitude than the Andes but our bird watching guide would confirm our identification next morning. Another guest alerted us to the presence of a dragon lizard in the crevice of the tree just in front of the bar. It was very well camouflaged.
Still in shorts and tops and without showering, we had dinner. The lasagna wasn't available, so I had my second choice of salmon, glazed in mango sauce, which turned out to be delicious. Pete had the steak. We started chatting to Ronald and Nora, a US couple in their mid seventies. They had impressively walked the 5km uphill to the Marinka waterfall but had taken moto-taxis back down to the town. Ronnie joked that getting on and off the pillion was the hard part.
We had an early night and slept well, waking with the alarm at 0520 hours. Pete lingered in bed while I finished my ablutions. Walking up the hill to the town square, we shared a muffin purchased the day before, as we wouldn't have breakfast until after our trip. We passed Jungle Joe's tour office, where a large group of people were gathering, to go bird watching. We met our guide by the church and were pleased to find we were going to be a group of only four, us and two young Dutch ladies. Orto handed out binoculars and guide books and we headed to the river bridge, as dawn started to break. There we saw our first birds, with Orto pointing them out with a green laser. As yet we couldn't clearly see the colours. The big group from Jungle Joe's passed us noisily and headed off into the distance. Turning left, we walked up a hill. We thought we could hear frogs. Orto stopped and set up his scope, following the noise and then pointed out a toucan at the top of a tree. Through the binoculars you could see the shape of its impressive bill but it was still not light enough to make out the colours. We continued on, along a narrow, dirt path, stopping every so often as Orto picked up bird calls, then located the birds. It was now daylight and we could see the colours of the woodpeckers, hummingbirds, different finch type birds and the toucans. The chorus of sounds was amazing and we just had to stand there, in the wilderness and let the birds come to us. The strangest bird was a Whooping Motmot. It's green and yellow and has a tail which looks like a dangling leaf, which is used to attract insects, for eating. Its name comes from the whooping sound it makes. Two and a half hours passed in no time. We had seen 28 species of birds. There are 685 species in Minca and 2100 across Colombia. Pete managed to get photos with the Nikon and Orta took photos and videos for me, holding the phone's camera to the eye glass on his sight. The tour had been well worth the early start and the £15 per person. We arrived back at the hotel in time for breakfast.
We gave ourselves another dousing of insect repellent and headed down the road to visit the little waterfalls downstream from the hotel. Pete took some photos, standing knee deep in the river, with the camera and tripod. He got a couple of nice, slow water shots. Next we headed into town, then turned right, up the main road, heading for the bigger falls. Pete applied more repellent when his legs had dried off. Having walked for 30 minutes, uphill, we stopped at a small hotel with a cafe on the roadside. The view across the valley, to the mountains opposite was stunning. A French couple in the cafe were absolutely covered in mosquito bites. We picked up the hotel's wifi and Pete checked Google Maps to see how far we had to go to the waterfall. Probably about 10 minutes to Pozo Azul. I recognised that name but didn't think it was where we had set out to go. We set off again and arrived at the start of the Pozo Azul trail, where we were charged 6000 pesos (£1.25) each to enter. We followed the trail for about 20 minutes, arriving at a small waterfall, with a deep pool beneath it. There were further falls above, if you clambered up a steep and narrow path and over rocks. The place was quite busy and plastic chairs had been placed in the water in front of a makeshift cafe, which spoiled the natural beauty. I removed my trainers and socks and paddled across the river. A whistle blew and suddenly the majority of people were gone, obviously on an organised tour. We stripped to swimming gear and waded into the pool, taking a quick duck under when it was deep enough. The water was refreshingly cold but we soon acclimatised. After coming out of the water, I dried myself quickly and applied more repellent. I didn't want to have bites like the French couple. Pete can't have been quick enough because he was eaten alive. We made our way back along the trail and set off down the road back to Minca, making a diversion to the Veranda Hotel for lunch and there we bumped into Sally and Lauren, who had just arrived and checked in. What a coincidence. From the restaurant, we watched vultures soaring overhead. Having filled our bellies, we trudged the remaining distance down to Minca, with Pete's walking sandals slowly disintegrating. In the small town, we stopped at the Lazy Cat, where Pete had a large draft, craft lager and I had a Mojito, as the board outside advertised that as the daily cocktail special at 15,000 pesos. When the bill came it was 26,000 and the board had disappeared.
Back at Casa de Hadas we both showered and I washed my hair, while Pete went down for happy hour and to chat to Ronald. When I joined him he was looking disgruntled. The only beer on happy hour was now a local brew in 175ml bottles but the price was still the same. After the first bottle, he had cancelled the rest. Consequently, we went out for drinks and dinner, finding a lovely little place, Cattleya, on a dusty backstreet, upstairs. It was cheap and the food was delicious. Pete had arepas for the first time and really enjoyed it. During the night, Pete had the runs again but we don't believe it was the food. He also had terrible itching from the bites, so we had a disturbed night.
I allowed Pete to sleep in on Valentine's Day. I had breakfast in the hotel, while Pete had a glass of water, then we went out to buy electrolytes for him. He had taken both of the imodium tablets I had with me, so hopefully he would be ok. Ronald had told us where to go to get to the Marinka waterfall but we decided to go by moto-taxi, as it was 5km uphill, Pete only had flipflops now and was in no fit state to walk that far. I didn't enjoy the ride. My driver went far too fast and I was banging and bumping around and hanging on for dear life. Pete arrived at the Marinka trailhead 5 minutes after me, with a more considerate driver. The road up to Marinka was well kept but very steep. At the top, there was a booth for making payment, 16000 pesos each here. Everything was made from plastic bottle tops, signposts, chairs, bins and artistic models. Once through the booth we were on well maintained walkways leading to the upper and lower falls, a restaurant, bathrooms and changing rooms. There were nets along the way for relaxing on or sunbathing. Ronnie and Nora had said there were about 100 people there when they visited, so we were lucky to find no more than 10 people at each of the falls. These waterfalls were much more dramatic, falling from a height. Pete managed to get slow exposures at both falls, after waiting a while for people to exit the water. The lower fall had a manmade dam to create a pool for swimming but we didn't go in today. The surroundings were lovely, with colourful flora and fauna. There was a warning about snakes but we didn't see any. Having returned to the start of the trail, we took moto-taxis down to Cascada Oido del Mundo, about half way back to Minca. This was a small, tumbling waterfall, pretty rather than impressive. We walked back to Minca, slowly, as it was steep in parts, jarring the knees. I had a sandwich in town and we returned to the hotel, so Pete could have a siesta. At happy hour we went down to the bar, where we met Terry and Olga, who we recognised from the restaurant the previous evening. We joined them for dinner and drinks. I had the same cocktail as before and Pete chanced a couple of beers, it being over 24 hours since he had eaten. We both had the ribs, which were delicious and beautifully presented. It was a noisy night and our neighbours came in at 0245 hours, talking loudly and banging around, before keeping the headboard banging for a couple of hours. Pete was loose again.
After breakfast, we packed and checked out and were met by Viktor at the top of the street at 10am for the journey back to Santa Marta. As we descended the mountain, we were treated to a vulture swooping low right in front of the car; a beautiful sight. Back at the marina we met Adam who informed us that everyone was getting the runs, every few days and he told us what we needed to buy from the pharmacy. When we went there, it was right on the counter, on a little easel. Pete was right as rain three hours after taking it. The pharmacist also prescribed cream for the bites, sold us a repellent that works, as there's a fly in Minca that is immune to most and also sold us vitamin B1 and B12, plus yeast tablets, that we can take for a week before going to anywhere else with mosquitos. Apparently they don't like the smell you give off after taking the tablets.
We had really enjoyed our trip to Minca and would recommend staying there for at least 2 nights, rather than doing a day trip, which usually includes Marinka waterfall plus the coffee and cocoa farms.