I Saw Venezuela Today

Sunday and Monday, Aug. 20-21, 2017--Santa Marta and Side Trip to Palomino

Notice I said, "SAW."  I did not go to Venezuela, but I was able to see the mountains in it about 67 miles away.  More on that later.

The weather actually was fine yesterday morning, but I was in the room all morning. Sundays are slow days, plus I needed to check out late to minimize the time I would have been leaving one room and being able to get into the next at another hotel.  Then Sunday afternoon was rainy.  Apparently we got some remnants of Tropical Storm Harvey as it moved across just north of us headed for Central America.   When I booked myself into the first hotel, I only booked for 2 of the 4 nights I planned to be in this area.  I had thought I might go to Tayrona National Park and return here for a final night, or to Los Angeles, or to Palomino.  But the more I read, I wasn't sure.  Eventually, I decided to skip the park because it could not easily be made in a day trip (at least not guaranteed to be possible without rushing the whole day) and the only way to sleep was in a hammock or in a tent.  In terms of sleeping, the same went for Los Angeles which is just outside the park.  Palomino provided the choice of either staying there overnight one or two nights or making it as a day trip.  So I eventually reserved another hotel in Santa Marta for the last two days in the area (since the one where I was already booked was not available for adjusting the reservation to 4 days).

It's good I didn't plan on going yesterday and staying overnight.  It would have been miserable being in that rain without a good shelter.  It consisted of thunderstorms that moved through several times from about 12:45 until about 16:00.  So I was in the room at one hotel all morning and in the room at another all afternoon--reading, working on the computer, etc.  When I went out to eat after the rain subsided, the streets were flooded in many places.  Fortunately, the sidewalks were above the water.

My dinner started with a delicious soup.  It had white beans and was thickened with some of them mashed.  It also had a few bits of shredded chicken, grated carrots, onions, potatoes, pasta, peas, and spices.  I tried to order the fish fillet, but they were sold out (probably because fishermen don't go out on Sunday).  So I had the gallina--chicken that was the strangest I have had in some time.  I was served a huge piece that was a long leg attached to a thigh.  It was the darkest chicken I think I have ever eaten.  All the meat was a dark brown.  It was served with rice, fried potatoes, a salad, and a fruit drink (agua fresca).

Unfortunately, I am learning that Colombians seem to prefer their food rather bland.  They never have a salsa or much seasoning.  Omelettes are just folded fried eggs.  There may be cheese hidden inside, but nothing that gives them any flavor.  Scrambled eggs are just scrambled eggs.  Roasted chicken is just a big piece of roasted chicken served with plain rice and plain fries (no sauces of any kind for any of it).

Today (Tuesday), it was still dry (although the forecast for tomorrow is back to the same 80% it was yesterday).  Since there had been no more rain, I had my breakfast on the courtyard of my new hotel--Hotel Nueva Granada.  It was more generous than the breakfasts at the other places even though they served it--a large portion of scrambled eggs, arepas, granola with yogurt, toast or rolls with jam, papaya or watermelon slices, coffee, and fresh juice.  I made the mistake of saving the juice to have with my jam and rolls only to discover it was tomato juice and would have been much better with the eggs!

Anyway, I did not want to leave Santa Marta without a day trip into the forests and to the beach.  So I rushed up the street about 7 blocks where the buses leave for Tayrona National Park, Los Angeles, and eventually Palomino.  It's almost a 2 hour bus trip, but half an hour of that is getting out of Santa Marta.

There were huge crowds entering Tayrona National Park when we stopped there, and over half the people on the bus got off--all the tourists except me and maybe 1-2 others.  We had been driving through the park for the past 30 minutes.  It's a beautiful mountainous area that ends at the sea with a nice beach.

The bus didn't even stop at the road to Los Angeles.  That means no one had said they wanted off there and no one was there to get on the bus.  As I understand it, it is a very small private compound several miles off the highway right on the beach.

Palomino is the end of the bus line (although other buses from the main bus station continue to other towns and eventually to the Venezuelan border).  For many years, it was just a small fishing village.  But over the last decade or so, it has become the new hot spot for backpackers wanting to go to the "undiscovered" place.   The town is on the highway, but an unpaved road (with lots of water-filled BIG potholes along it today) heads from the bus stop to the beach--about a 20-minute walk or a moto-taxi (motorcycle driver who will take you seated behind him) will take people for less than $1.  I walked it because I wanted to explore what was along the road which turned out to be a good decision.  The undiscovered hot spot is developing.  The road is lined with restaurants, souvenir shops, hostels (ranging from very basic [sometimes just dormitory space and maybe tent space] to quite fantastic [with tropical gardens, pools, private rooms, dormitories, yoga lessons, etc.), and resorts [offering private rooms only along with pools, yoga, etc.].

The two most interesting looking places were Bikini Hostel and The Dreamer Hostel.   They both have large compounds, pools, and an exotic look.  The former is better in general, I think, but it isn't as close to the beach as the latter.

At the beach, I turned one way and walked all the way to the Palomino River which people come down in tubes, kayaks, and canoes.  I met a young man walking on the beach carrying his tube with an attached Go-Pro Camera he had used to film his trip.  But the river was a bit fast today due to the rainfall yesterday, so there were few people brave enough to try going down it.  The beaches were full of people, both local and tourists, though.  Turning back, I continued past where I entered and went as far as people started petering out.  Then I returned to my starting point again and exited.

It's too hard to try to go swimming when there is only one of you.  It's not wise to leave one's things unattended on the beach, and I had my passport, a camera, a cap, my eyeglasses, an umbrella, etc.  But I was happy just to see the beautiful area--a very nice beach with a thick tropical forest starting right at its edge--and watch the people.

Back in town, I caught a bus leaving immediately.  That got me back to Santa Marta around 16:00.  I went immediately to eat at the same place as yesterday and got the fish fillet today.  It was a big one and much better than the chicken--golden on the skin side with moist, flakey flesh.  The soup was the same as the one yesterday.  So were the accompanying rice, fried potatoes, and salad.  The juice was a good one.  The whole meal cost $3.70.

Some random observations:

1.  One reason Americans may be fatter than ever before is because we don't have to "work" to eat our food.  Today, my fillet was de-boned.  But I had to work to get that chicken off the bones yesterday and to get the beef off my soup bones two days ago.  That slows down the eating and gives the body time to say "You've had enough," before you are over-stuffed from eating boneless chicken breasts, boneless pork  chops, boneless, steaks, etc.

2.  I guess it is common now to to put growing fruit in protective bags.  The first time I encountered that was probably in the 1980s in northern Mexico northwest of Chihuahua where the Mennonites had put bags on all the apples on their trees.  But now I see bags on grapes in vineyards, bananas on palms, etc., as they grow to the right point for harvesting.