Traveling Orphan Enroute To Parque Tayrona!

I arrived back at the lobby of Solymar Hotel after my excursion to Cabo de la Vela. Freddy, the guy who runs the hostal says, "ah, si!" He shows me to my room, apparently, he has decided I was now worthy of a room on the top floor with a view as he proudly showed me! The next morning, I showed up at the doorstep of the Magic Tours office awaiting my trip to Playa Crytal in Parque Tayrona. 9:30AM ish, I was instructed to follow this guy wearing a soccer jersey. I followed him closely through the busy streets of Santa Marta and after about 5-7 minutes of walking, we stop at a corner to wait for my bus. Shortly before my bus arrives, he buys me an apple, makes a phone call and sends me into the bus. Okay...that wasn't strange at all! I enter a bus party full of Colombian families and 3 younger guys that stuck out. I sat next to a Colombian woman named Carmen who quickly decided to adopt me to join her and her family today. For the majority of the trip, they kept track of me and made sure that I didn't get lost. In other words, I was their orphan for the day. They even cautioned when they thought I was swimming out too far in the clear blue waters. I left out the detail about my background as an Ironman triathlete. It was all very sweet. They spoke a few words in English and I spoke fewer in Spanish but hand signals have gone a long way on this trip!

Our bus arrived at the gateway of Parque Tayrona..I see bright green iguanas running through the roads and am glad I am on a bus vs walking on foot. We took a short boat ride to the beautiful Playa Crytal beach where we spent the majority of the afternoon. It was there that I befriended one of the 3 younger guys. Alec was on crutches and I asked him what happened during our boat ride. I expected some grand story about how be injured his foot while doing some gnarly river crossings on the Ciudad Perdida trip but instead he said he stepped on some glass at a bar. Alec, if you're reading this, sorry, but it was true, I was expecting a more impressive story :)! Alec is from Boston and the two guys he is traveling with are from France. They met in Rwanda last year and this sort of their reunion trip. Alec mentions that the roads here runs him of Africa; I would agree.

Towards the end of our afternoon on the beach, we take the boat back to the beach which actually had gold sand (like Sayulita) and back on the bus to Santa Marta. Once we arrived in the outskirts of Santa Marta, myself, Alec and his two buddies were ushered out of the bus and into a cab. The cab was to drop us off at our perspective hostels except two blocks away, the taxi driver signaled me to walk after having dropped the boys off. Luckily, I walked myself into circles my first day in Santa Marta earlier this week that I knew my way around town now so it wasn't an issue. 

Last night, there was a pretty angry thunderstorm happening. I am going off the grid for a few days heading up to the Sierra Nevadas this morning to a town name Minca. I've been in Colombia for almost a week now and I still can't believe how nice and warm everyone here has been to this non-Spanish speaking gal. My friend, Ray was right in that the people make this country special. The host of this hostal, Freddy, is a sweetheart. He has gone above and beyond helping me with logistics. Thank goodness for wifi and my language translation app! I would highly recommend Solymar Hostal to anyone making a stop here. The people who run it are great and it happens to be next to a sex toys shop so you can't miss it! Funny, but true. I made plans to meet up with Sandrine in Minca, I hope we find eachother. Alec and his friends are off to Punta Gallinas. Alec says he hopes they meet a "Jim" on their trip, I hope so as well  as I think every traveler should experience one... especially on a journey like Punta...at least for entertainment's shake!

Much gratitude to my Colombian family today! Be in touch in a few days, ya'll!