Travels thru Latin America: Santa Marta and Taganga

I came to Santa Marta as a base for the Ciudad Perdida expedition, but have spent far more time here than I had originally planned, as I injured my back during the expedition. More about that in the next post! I came back here and have been waiting for my back to become strong enough to carry my backpack once more. It was sort of amusing, as when I arrived back at the hotel, the dueña said to me that she would give me a massage which I gratefully accepted. After getting me to lie down on the bed, she splashed my back with cold water, which was excruciating, as it just made it want to spasm, put a bit of olive oil on my back at certain points and then knelt down on the bare stone floor and prayed. Afterward, she was trying to get me to say "In the name of the father, son and holy ghost", but I only said "in the name of the father" she tried to get me to say it several times and to make the sign of the cross, and when I told her I didn't know, she sighed and did it for me. She wanted to repeat the therapy the following day, but I avoided it, even though she meant well with all her heart. I just felt the mumbo jumbo was more for her benefit than mine, and I never got the promised massage. When she asked me how I was the next day I could tell her "a little better", but I didn't add because I was dosed to the eyeballs with voltaren and ibruprofen!

Santa Marta is an old port, which is still very busy, with a lot of large container ships coming in and out every day. The historic centre is small and unremarkable, but the gold museum of the Tayrona though small is extremely well presented. I visited this as a precursor to visiting La Ciudad Perdida of the Tayrona. The seafront is a curious mixed homage to the indigenous and colonial past, with statues of steel suited founders and conquistadors as well as of large chunky semi naked indigenous wrestling. The town itself is lively, but not pretty and prostitution rife, which I guess is natural for a busy port. Most tourists seem to stay in Taganga a small fishing village village to the north, where prices are about double, but alt leas the beach is marginally better and there seems to be a better range of restaurants. I did visit there to get a massage on the beach yesterday, which after initially making me feel a lot worse, seemed to have done the trick by this morning; my first without pain and with much better mobility.

The store owner just down the road from Hospedaje Casa Familiar (again!) , with his pet iguana, which seemed blissfully happy and enjoyed being stroked