In mid June, Kim and Daniel returned to the States and Maria stayed behind to take care of matters related to the boat and to our upcoming stay in Colombia. Our plans on how long to state in Colombia and when to return to the US are still being formulated though our most recent plans call for sailing Kikuyu back to the US via Central America sometime after the hurricane season ends at the end October of this year.

As with most Americans, our friends from Contrails do not speak Spanish and Maria played the role of translator to make their stay more pleasant. They expressed a desire to take a tour outside of Cartagena and we decided to go north to Santa Marta, located about 3 � hours by car. We made reservations with a minibus company named Marisol which avoided having to take a taxi to the bus station located outside Cartagena. Marisol picked us up and dropped us off in El Rodadero, Santa Marta's most popular beaches. Upon return, they also picked us up at our hotel and dropped us off in a central location near Club Nautico.

Santa Marta was founded a little bit before Cartagena and was temporarily settled as the Spaniards' main seaport. However, the Spanish quickly gave it up because its large bay could not easily be defended against intruders. The Spaniards never attempted to wall the city but they did build homes and churches. The Santa Marta Cathedral, the oldest church, was destroyed by pirates and rebuilt a few times. The city still boasts many old buildings which unfortunately have fallen in disrepair. Unlike the beginnings of the city when city residents where wealthy Spaniards and Criollos, today most city residents are of poor means and lack the education to understand the importance of the residences they inhabit. Nonetheless, rather than staying at the fancy popular El Rodadero Beach, we opted to stay at a very reasonably priced hotel (Hotel Nueva Granada, Calle de la Cruz) in the old city and about 3 blocks from the bay of Santa Marta.

We spent 2 days in the city of Santa Marta walking its streets and bay front. The city is just beginning a rebuilding process, starting with their main plaza, Parque Bolivar. Because of this, the Gold & Tyrona Museum was closed. However, we learned about the new Ethnographic museum (Museo Etnografico), a fairly small but well-built museum where one can also learn about the Tyrona Indians who inhabited (some still do) this area of Colombia.

Click on the "Photo Gallery" icon on the blog to find pictures in the album "Santa Marta"