Santa Marta and Parque Tayrona

So, I am losing track of the days, but I guess that is what is supposed to happen when you are at the beach :)

Santa Marta is a beach town 4 hours from Cartagena. My hostel, La Brisa Loca is a spanish style house with a pool in the center from which you can watch movies on the big screen... so needless to say I spent 3 days just lounging at the pool, watching movies, and eating at the Mexican food restaurant next door where I'm already a regular and the lady just smiles and asks 'same thing again?'.
I had heard so many wonderful things about Parque Tayrona so I decided to head down there on my own. From the park entrance its a 45 minute hike through genuine jungle where there were 8 inch black centipedes everywhere, blue morpho butterflies, bright turquoise/green lizzards, and a bright red squirrel. It was a very nice walk to the campsite, Arecifes, where I rented my hammock and set out for the swimming beach (the beach in front of Arecifes says 'more than 200 tourists have drowned here, don't be part of the statistic'). The first beach is in a little cove surrounded by trees, so I set out here and finished reading my murder mystery novel. The sun sets promptly at 6:30 and after that it's just a matter of entertaining yourself until you can fall asleep. I was worried about the bugs because there was no mosquito net, so I tried to cover up my whole body that night in the hammock. Of course, when I woke up I had tons of bites on the left side of my chest, on my hands and neck- the only parts I left uncovered! Those bugs are viscious!
The next day I met some boys from Ecuador who were my age as we were walking to the beaches, and I joined them to walk on to the next beach called La Piscina. It was absolutely gorgeous, calm, and relatively deserted. We were really enjoying it and commenting on how it was straight out of a postcard, and they said supposedly the next beach is even better. I thought, how could it get better than this? But decided to accompany them on to the next beach. The nice thing about the park is that to get from beach to beach you have to walk through the jungle and work up a sweat. We reached Cabo San Juan and I saw that indeed, it was the best beach out there! There is a hut for hammocks on the end of the peninsula, 2 bays framed by palm trees and tall jungly mountains, and the water... the water is the perfect temperature (refreshing but you can stay in it for hours without getting cold), it is super clear, and it is literally the color of emeralds. Yes, I was in heaven. That day I read Dances With Wolves and thought back fondly on all the times I had watched it with my parents- I really enjoyed the book a whole lot. We walked on a little further to check out the nude beach, but cabo san juan was nicer so we returned.
That night in the hammocks there was a fantastic storm, but I was kept mostly dry underneath the thatched shelter. The next morning as I was sleeping, someone nudged my arm and I thought it was my friend, but when I opened my eyes it was a Donkey...no joke. After breakfast of fruit and coffee- and a parrot coming and stealing my fruit, I walked on to Cabo San Juan. Another great day at the beach.
If only Bookpeople and Whole Foods could open up a store right there, I would definitely stay forever.
Now, back to Cartagena for a day!