Tricks and Trees - Santa Marta to Tayrona National Park

Santa Marta seems to be about prostitutes, cocaine and marijuana - in that order. The first night I was here, prostitutes outnumbered other people 10 to 1. I ended up having some beers with some girls who I figured out were prostitutes after a short time. They were nice people with tough stories. One gave me a ride on her motorbike. She was new to the buisness, freshly divorced with children to feed. I liked her. There wasn´t much I could do for her though. It seems like there is a culture of prostitution here. I wouldn´t be surprised if husbands have to pay their wives. It seemed like the entire singles scene was based on prostitution.

I left in a hurry for Tayrona National Park. The girl running the hotel managed to get a taxi driver to drive me for about $4 Canadian. The ride took an hour and a half and would have cost more than $200 with a proper tip in Banff.

Tayrona National Park was the tropical paradise that I always dreamed of. I stayed at two different campgrounds that offered hammocks for $2-3. Each had a small resturant that cost about $6 a meal as everything had to be hauled in by mule. The beaches were mostly small and cozy, seperated by massive outcroppings of rocks.

In the Jungle, it was hard to see much wildlife other than the nurmous lizzards hunting on the path. I did see some poison dart frogs and a lot of ants. The amazing thing about the jungle was the sounds of all of the creatures that I cound´t see.

I had some fantastic sleeps as the sound of the waves and the jungle are so much better than anything pop music has to offer. On the second night, I awoke to a chicken that hopped onto my hammock. It might hve been the one day I didn´t eat chicken. The next day, I awoke to a puppy messing with my pack under my hammock. Both were a delightful surprise as it was time to get up anyway.

It sure was a lot different than Banff. There were only a few family run buisnesses. The place I stayed at for two nights had a generator that they fired up and sundown and it turned off seemingly when their favourite TV show ended. After that, you had better have a flashlight or at least a lighter to find your way to your hammock because the moon wasn´t coming up for a couple of hours. I did do a moonlight swim one night.

I´m back in Santa Marta now and will head to Venezuela as quickly as I can. I met my prostitute friends, kissed them on the cheak as is customary here, but they seemed busy. When I left for Tayrona, I had a bad feeling about Santa Marta. This time, I feel a lot better. I was greeted by I guy with an eye infection that I bought some drugs for last time. The woman who gave me a ride on her motorbike pulled up beside me and another guy I had a beer with greeted me all in the fist half hour. A girl I met in the park from Peru checked into the same hotel as I. I met some other good people here and on the street.

I hope my prostitute friends aren´t too busy. They were earlier as the town is really busy tonight. I really enjoyed my time with them last time - it was their stories that left the bad taste in my mouth. If not, most of the other travelers here are really cool. It seems that for the most part, only cool people go to Columbia.

Chris