Santa Marta, My First Week

So I left Medellin about a week ago now, and leaving was quite the mess.  About an hour before I had to leave the hostel to get to the airport I went to the ATM that had worked earlier in the week to take money out to pay my bill and have some money when I arrived in Santa Marta.  Of course, the ATM decided that my bank was temporarily unavailable.  I tried three times.  None of the other ATM's near my hostel worked, and at this point, I was stressing... a lot.  I ran back to the hostel and immediately tried researching what other ATM options I had in the area.  The other travellers kept suggested ATM's that were in the center of the city but there was no way I had time to go to the center, find an ATM that worked, come back to the hostel, pay my bill, and then make it to the airport in time for my flight.  Finally one of the girls that worked at the Wandering Paisa Hostel told me there was a Citibank ATM a few blocks away (which for some reason did not show up on the Google search).  I ran there, hoping I would find it and make it back in time.  I found it, and it did not work on my first try, but thankfully worked on my second try.  I was then on my way to Santa Marta.

Not too bad right?  Oh but I made a grand mistake.  I forgot to write down the address of my hostel in Santa Marta.  My connecting flight was delayed so I arrived in Santa Marta a little bit before 9 o'clock.  I took the shuttle into the center of town, and while on the shuttle started using my (still poor) spanish to ask if anyone new where the hostel was.  The Colombians on my bus tried to help me as much as possible, but to be honest, they had no clue.  I ended up getting poor directions to another major hostel that was in the center of town.  I got off the bus, and tried following their directions.  I probably wandered for about a mile around the center of town, asking directions along the way, and having no luck.  I could not find an internet cafe, and at this point, I was once again feeling stressed.  Note, that at this time, I had my full pack and a backpack I used as carry-on, with all my cards, camera, ipod, and everything with me.  Luckily it was a Saturday night and there were plenty of people on the street so I felt fairly safe, but was not particularly enjoying the situation.  I went back to the main park, Parque de los Novios, where there were a fair amount of restaurants and bars.  Finally, someone knew the hostel I was asking about.

His response?  The Dreamer Hostel was no where close, but was actually on the outside of town.  Oh dear.  He did not know the address but was able to direct me to the closer hostel, La Brisa Loca.  I knew they would have internet and/or know the address of the hostel, so I made my way there.  It was only 4 blocks away.  I was able to get the address, and at this point I just hopped in a cab.  Of course the cab driver had to hit on me, and try to ask me out for the next day, and not wanting to make my cab driver angry when I was in a strange city by myself I just kept pretending I did not understand him.  It's a fairly good fall back option to avoid unwanted attention.  Thankfully I arrived safe and sound, and immediately ordered a beer with a sigh of relief.

The Dreamer Hostel is wonderful.  I will have to take pictures, as it is had been my home for the last 3 weeks, and will continue to be for the next 3 to 4 weeks.  There is a pool table, an in-ground pool, hookah, a bar, a restaurant, hookah, a cat and a kitten!  The owner is incredibly kind, and is giving me a discount because I am volunteering with the Mariposas Amarillos. 

As I was to begin volunteering on Monday, I went to the beach on Sunday.  The transportation was provided by the Dreamer Hostel, and there were 5 other girls also going.  I made friends with 2 Colombian girls, Sandra on the left and Maria on the right.  Sandra spoke pretty good English pretty well, but I used my spanish a lot as Maria only knew a few words in English.  We call it Spanglish. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 This is me having a great time on the beach.  Both sides of the bay were surrounded by tall hills, or small mountains.  The vegetation was sparser than I expected but I am here at the end of the dry season, so it should only get more green from here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 I just really like this picture.  Playa Media.  The beach itself was called Playa Concha Bay.  It is more of a Colombian hotspot than a gringo hotspot.  This means there were not tons of people walking up and down the beach trying to sell souvenirs.  We were given a cooler full of beer that we could pay for however many we drank at the end of the day.  That was sweet.  American beaches need to adopt this feature for sure.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

 The lunch prices were a little outrageous, but I had not packed a lunch so I went for it.  It was a whole fish with plantains, rice, soup, and Colombian style coleslaw.  (No mayo, much better!)  Que rico! In translation, how rich!  (delicious!)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There are lots of street cats and dogs and Colombian.  We fed our leftovers to a little pregnant cat.  Kitties deserve some nice fish too.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The rest of my week has been pretty pleasant.  I started volunteering with the Mariposas.  It has been a bit of a crazy week for them, with holiday on Tuesday (no school), and then Wednesday was a little bit of mess, as we got the kids too riled up with games early in the morning to accomplish much teaching wise afterwards.  Its difficult, because if we teach first and then play games, it is really too hot to run around.  The kids are super cute, but very difficult to teach, as they have very little sense of discipline.  I am more of a teachers assistant in the classroom, as my spanish is too poor to properly teach.  I plan on devoting an entire blogpost at the end of next week to my volunteering experience.  I want some more time with the kids, to do it justice.

On Wednesday nights, the Mariposas run a trivia night at my hostel to raise some money.  The hostel got quite riled up over the trivia competition as the winners are given free breakfast by the hostel.  We then ask for donations and basically everyone obliged.  It was all around a good night, although it felt like teaching again, just this time with adults from all over the world.

Tomorrow after teaching in the morning, myself and some of the other volunteers are going to spend the week at what sounds like a perfect beach.  There will be no internet, and we will sleep in hammocks and hang out around bonfires at night.  It should be spectacular.  I promise more pictures of Santa Marta, my hostel, and adventures this weekend.  I have just been so busy doing things this week, I forgot to play tourist and bring my camera with me a lot of the time.  Until then....

Pura vida!!!