Santa Marta

A city in itself, Santa Marta has many small alleyways bursting with old rundown South American architecture – but you have to look for it. That's what I love about this place, its subtle, its local, its colourful, its friendly, its laid back, its fabulous. Santa Marta is South America's oldest surviving city illustrated by the crumbling colonial architecture you are greeted with around every corner. There are few attractions here so tourists simply use Santa Marta as a jumping off point to visit the Lost City, a nearby jungle trek to lost ruins. This is great news for us as it gives us an insight into Colombian life without having to look through the throngs of pasty cruise ship crowds or pesky market sellers. We were often the only foreigners around and with my blonde hair, got treated extremely well by the locals who were fascinated by the hair colour and strange pigmented skin! The only other tourists we saw here were Colombians themselves, who come to the beach in throngs to soak up the sun, sand and aguardiente (aniseed liqueur) by the bottle full, congregating on the beach front across from the marina.

After a rolly, windy, creaky three nights at anchor, we went into the marina and stayed there for our entire stay (10 days) before we left for the San Blas Islands. Santa Marta marina was a god send after Orion got covered in sand and dirt on our passages from Bonaire to Colombia. An IGY marina, it really is top notch with some of the best rates in the entire Caribbean. We never go to marinas preferring to save our money at anchor but with the cheap rates, friendly staff and pristine facilities, it was hard to resist. The ladies in the office were extremely helpful, especially Diana who spoke immaculate English and can organise anything. Diana booked our bus trip and hotel for Cartagena as well as dealing with any questions we had on logistics, gas bottle refills etc. Mauricio the marina manager was always around asking for feedback and the marina staff could easily be found for any errands we needed running. Even the harbour master, John, came by numerous times to ensure we were having an enjoyable stay! It seems to be a popular place for cruisers to land prior to heading on to San Blas and Panama, rather than stopping in Cartagena. Golf cart trips to fill jerry cans, cheap water on tap, air conditioned bathrooms, big cubicle showers, air conditioned Captain's Lounge with huge plasma TV and even an on site mini mart selling essentials – it was easy to spend the days in the marina rather than venture into the city!

The city is just on your doorstep, a 2 min walk got you to the promenade with all the Christmas lights on display. It looks very pretty at night, the lights twinkling and the place is buzzing with Colombians on holiday. We wandered many a night up and down the front, stopping to see the street acts with crowds of people gathered to watch. We passed one guy dressed as a woman that people seemed to find hilarious but we wouldn't know as his Spanish was far too advanced for our comprehension!

We quickly realised that eating out was actually cheaper than buying food from a supermarket and then having to cook it. Our favourite place was a hole in the wall we found where locals sat stuffing their faces. Figuring this must be a good spot, we sat down at an empty table and looked at the menu that was written on a whiteboard high above everyone's heads. I didn't understand one word. No chicken, rice, vegetables that I had learnt via Rosetta Stone - we had no idea what was on offer...our kind of adventure! We instead chose to shop by price and settled for mid range prices, which was still less than £2 for a main meal. When the food came, turns out I had ordered chicken (pechuga = breast) and Dylan had ordered beef. A very local affair, the plates were piled high with good hearty food. For a starter (soup) and main each with 4 cokes it set us back £7, and that included a 10% tip! Needless to say, we returned more than once to sample the rest of their menu and weren't disappointed.

On the topic of cheap food, it seems timely to describe the street vendors on the beach front. Wow. A walk along the front at night is an assault on the senses. Yes there are pretty lights and yes the views out to El Morro are great but what really interested us was the food sizzling on the food stands, mmmm it smelt soooo goooood. We had been warned not to touch the food and drinks sold by these men as many yachties had fallen ill, but when in Rome...Skewers of meat, yes RED meat sandwiched between potatoes were Dylan's favourite. He ate 6 in a row one night, at a mere 30p /$0.55 each, it would be rude to leave any on the grill! My favourite were these big doughy cheesy grilled beauties, mmm my mouth is watering just thinking about them now. They are round, rather flat flour cakes grilled on both sides. The vendor then cuts them open and puts in grated cheese and queso blanco before grilling them again for a few minutes. Hoooaaaa they are so good and again 30p /$0.55 each. I watched the locals ordering a white-ish liquid from a squeezy tube rather than 'con queso' so I decided to copy them. Big mistake, it was condensed milk. Eurgh. Just no. It was like sprinkling sugar on your cheese on toast and makes my teeth ache just thinking about it now. I soon twigged that most things in Colombia are preferred sweet, there is a whole aisle of condensed milk in the local supermarket! Not to be deterred though we also had dessert street vendor style; shaved ice, pineapple syrup and yep...condensed milk. That too was unbelievably sweet but very refreshing.

One day a kind yachtie offered to show us where the fruit and veg market was. Apparently not many of our kind go there as it is meant to be in the dodgy part of the city but in broad daylight and from what we had seen so far, we weren't intimidated. Glad we took the risk as its a delightful place only reached by zig zagging a load of back alleys. I can see why you just need to go with someone who has already been rather than asking for directions as they would sound a little like this 'turn right at the guy with the large sewing machine, turn left at the large oak door, turn right at the crumbling brick wall, turn left at the ladies that always sit out in the street, turn right by some graffiti, left at the store selling speakers, right at the fire hydrant and then cross the road where there are big green bushes and there should be a bunch of umbrellas on the opposite side of the road. Yep, I kid you not. When going there by ourselves for the first time, we wandered up and down scratching out heads until we were greeted by the big green bushes!

This market is cheap cheap cheap. We filled our bags with fresh produce, marvelling at the variety on offer but also the price. Before we left for the San Blas I filled 4 big bags with produce; 1 kg cheese, 5 tomatoes, 10 potatoes, 2 pineapples, 5 apples, 6 passion fruits, 20 onions, 10 garlic, 2 pumpkins, 2 cabbages, 24 eggs, 40 limes, 1kg green beans, a yam, 2 peppers, 2 coconuts, bag of chillis, 10 carrots and 20 oranges. How much? £12 or $22. It was an experience to have a wander around here, not only were there fresh produce but further down the road was the meat section with huge chunks of the stuff hanging from bits of wood and buzzing with flies. We passed a whole cows head, trotters sitting out in the sun, blood oozing down the make shift table onto the floor where cats and stray dogs were licking it up. It didn't really smell though, lets just say, health and safety isn't really a big deal here and we decided that we were quite happy having vegetable pie that night! The main place to stock up in Santa Marta is Exito, a large supermarket with everything you need. Not the cheapest prices but a convenient walk from the marina.

As well as the hole in the wall selling local food, we loved a particular cafe on the way to the market. Didn't have a name or road number near it but was recognised by the derelict building opposite it. Here old men hung out on metal chairs put out on the street, watching the world go by whilst sipping a local beer. We mimicked these guys, found 2 chairs and did the same. Dylan was fond of the local brew, Aguila, a light beer that he easily demolished in 2 gulps. Anyway the best bit about this cafe apart from the urinal that was used constantly by male passers by (had to position the chair just right so that wasn't in your peripheral vision) was their empanadas. We discovered them by chance when I eyed up a local munching on something tasty looking. Having no idea what I was asking for I just pointed to one in the heated counter and gave it to Dylan for the taste test. Inside was minced beef, rice and a whole egg and it tasted amazing. It cost COP$1000 /0.33p /$0.55 but Dylan didn't believe me so I had to go and buy another one to prove my point! Ha, from then on anytime we ventured near that end of town no matter what the time was, we went and ate one of those. No other empanadas we tried matched this at all.

Another street side delicacy is the tinto. Men walk around the city with up to 4 thermos flasks swaying from each arm filled with sweetened Colombian coffee. They serve them in plastic espresso cups and lace the coffee with condensed milk (now there's a surprise). It is really nice, strong yet sweet and gives you the energy boost needed under the midday sun. A large one is COP$500 / 15p / $0.27...yes I'm banging on about prices here but its just so nice to be surprised by a price that is so cheap for a change rather than so expensive!

One more random snack and then I promise I'll change the subject from food. A pastry filled with guava jam and....queso blanco. Odd. The pastry is sweet, the jam sweet and then the cheese, well, very cheesy! I wouldn't have it again and certainly wouldn't think of putting the two together but it was very interesting and very different from what I thought I was about to eat – a cheese and tomato pasty!!

We didn't spend the whole time eating despite how this post may appear. With being in a marina we made the most of the water on tap and shelter by getting on with our chore list. Mould was scrubbed, anchor chain was remarked using 3 different methods, inside and outside of the boat was thoroughly cleaned, wear patches repaired in all the sails, climbed the mast for an inspection, filled the gas bottles, filled the water tanks, filled the fuel tank, cleaned the head, cleaned the water tanks, repaired cup holder in cockpit, repaired boom cover, researched San Blas and made the most of the fresh water showers!

On our chore list for a while now has been 'stock up on medical kit'. A lot of first aid items came with the boat when we bought her but not much in the way of ocean crossing items such as antibiotics, strong pain relief, burn wraps etc - things you normally need with a prescription. We were waiting until we got to a place that was pretty slack on regulations when it came to medicine and would happily sell them to you over the counter. Colombia was our place! It wasn't cheap but I did manage to find and purchase most of the must have items on our to get list. The process was hilarious. I had no idea of the medical terms in Spanish and the pharmacist couldn't speak a word of English so Dylan and I started a game of charades. I'd tell Dylan the word, say 'burn', then we would both act out a burn on ourselves whilst the pharmacist stood there, not knowing whether to kick us out or take us seriously! Luckily for us he had a sense of humour and after him producing a lighter...erm not what we were after...Dylan managed to successfully mime getting burnt, running around with his hands in the air trying to blow on his skin. Aha, we purchased some burn cream! And onto the next item...charcoal tablets. Yep that baffled him as we pretended to be poisoned by a fish, grab our necks, turn purple and fall to the floor. That particular item remains on the list but I think we got some kudos from the staff who had a throughly entertaining afternoon!

Santa Marta is full of photocopying places. It became an ongoing joke that we would turn to the other as soon as we saw said shop and ask if they were doubly sure they didn't need anything copied. It was unbelievable, almost every shop we passed, even if it sold toys...also did photcopying. I want to know what on earth the Colombians like to photocopy that calls for such demand in service! Yet to find out the answer...

The other thing that made me giggle was the MCs in shop entrances. All the clothes stalls had a guy at the entrance with a mic hooked up to two big ass speakers. He would then use it to constantly tell shoppers passing by of his offers or just comment on the music they was currently playing. If anything, this scared me away, it certainly didn't lure me in!

Dylan hadn't had his haircut since Bonaire and the new clippers I bought in UK don't like to work on 110V so we treated him to a haircut Colombian style. The women in the salon all wore a mask around their mouth as if Dylan was contagious but they did do a good job. I was kept entertained by a transvestite working there and colouring his own hair whilst pulling out clumps and depositing them in an easy to reach bin. I was most disappointed when Dylan finished as I wanted to see if he/she had any left on his head by the time the dye had washed off.

We could have stayed in Colombia for a lot longer, loved the country but San Blas was calling and we wanted to get there in plenty of time for Christmas. The weather is still renowned to be rough from Santa Marta to Cartagena so we wanted to leave in a weather window and attempt to go straight from Santa Marta to San Blas without stopping. Dino (the agent) cleared us out within 24 hours, I washed, dried and put away all the fresh produce, dug out baskets to store them in and tied bananas to the hand rails as we had totally maxed out the space. A final skype to the parents as we may be offline for up to 4 weeks and we were away, next stop Coco Bandero Cays, San Blas, Panama.

p.s. Despite 48 knot winds and a couple of rain showers, my first handmade flag passed the test with flying colours (excuse the pun). It's a little faded but all colours are still recognisable, no stitching has come undone and not even the ends have unravelled. It was well worth the effort! Once again, hats off to the gang that helped me with this immense task!