Colombia - The Caribbean Coast

It was only about 100km to my next stop of Baranquilla and on the way I stopped in at a mud volcano. 

I resisted the temptation to be coated in mud. 
My friend Josh is from Australia and he is a young entrepreneur and computer programming guru who I met in Panama. He was now living in Baranquilla and he had given me the name of a hostel he was staying at. I followed the directions and as I approached the hostel I wasn’t exactly sure where it was so I stopped at a corner restaurant/store to check my map and notes. Josh happened to be having a meal and a drink outdoors at the restaurant when I arrived. A good sign, my intuition was starting to work again and the ‘surprise’ meetings were back in order. I booked into the hostel for three nights and had some good catch up time with Josh.
Barranquilla is an industrial town and was very unattractive and frankly unappealing. 

The highlight was a Friday night out at a salsa bar and restaurant which was crowded with people spilling out onto the street. It started with people sitting and eating or drinking and at some magical point most people were up dancing salsa. We had a few dances and Josh surprised again with his twinkle toe prowess. As for me, I stuck to basic and lateral and tried to remember not to move my shoulders so much!
I took a ride to some local beaches to check out the Caribbean. It was a popular family destination.

I had a feed and made some new friends.

It was time to leave and I headed up the coast to Santa Marta. I unfortunately had my camera buried in my gear because it was a really interesting ride along the coast. It is a salty mangrove flat reaching the sea with some white sandy beaches breaking into the landscape along the way. It was quite a windy day and the water was choppy with lots of waves, looking more like the Pacific than the Caribbean. There was a small shanty town with the most rubbish I had ever seen in human habitation, right on the edge of a salt lake near the coast. It was really sad to see and this was the most genuine slum I have seen on my trip. Maybe it was good I didn’t stop to take photos. As I continued east some mountains started to appear in the distance. The Sierra Navada near Santa Marta is the northern tip of the Andes mountains and actually has snow within a short distance of the Caribbean.

I stopped in Santa Marta and sought directions for a recommended hostel -

Hostel Drop Bear - owned by an Australian, no surprise with that name. It is an incredible place and worth the visit. It is a huge mansion formerly owned by a drug cartel family. It has huge living areas and bedrooms, and upstairs balcony overlooking the swimming pool, and a bar on the ground floor. It was almost full, very popular and had a friendly feel to it. 

I met a few travellers and briefly met the owner but felt the need to push on in the morning. It was a beautiful coastal road with some small beach villages along the way.

I headed to Tayrona Park, a camping spot on the beach but needed to park the bike and hike for a while.

It was a bit busier than expected but my trusty hammock found a space.

It was a beautiful spot and I camped for two nights.

Ziggy was still in one piece when I arrived back.

I arrived in Riohacha and besides having two cars pull out right in front of me…seems my brakes are working now…I had a really good feeling about the place. It was right on the Caribbean coast with a beachfront lifestyle that was clean and organised. 

I took a walk along the malicon and came across a travelling motorcycle and met Agustina and Fabio from Argentina. 

They left Buenos Aires in February last year and are travelling two up on an old 1990 Honda NX250 which has a 6 speed gear box and raised the suspension by 6cm. They are loaded up with home made aluminium boxes and not carrying anything much regarding weight saving. They are making jewellery and handcrafts along the way to keep funding their trip. Agustina speaks English very well and translated between me and Fabio. They have been travelling north through Chile, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador and now Colombia.