Time to relax! - Palomino

06/02 - 10/02

After four days of hiking through the jungle, our legs were a bit heavy. However, it wasn't as bad as we feared, so we were ready to continue our journey.

We asked at the hostel for the best way to get from Santa Marta to Palomino since we couldn't find any useful information on the internet. They told us to go to Mercado Central and take a bus from there. So we walked there, and when we arrived at the market, a young local approached us and asked where we were going. We said 'Palomino' and he led us to the right bus. We got on and had to wait a bit before it departed. During this time, we witnessed an attempted theft: There was an older tourist sitting behind us on the bus, and her bag was between her and the open window. A guy tried to steal her bag through the open window from the street. However, he was immediately caught by another Colombian and reported to the police. Five policemen quickly arrived and took his ID card, escorting him onto the back of a police truck. Some Colombians came to the bus window and asked the lady if she was okay and if anything was missing from her bag. We were pleasantly surprised by how helpful and considerate the Colombians who witnessed the incident were towards the woman.

Soon after, the bus started moving, and we immediately noticed strange squeaking noises from the back of the bus. It quickly became clear what was causing the noises: There were stacked boxes filled with chicks in the corner. It was a shock for Emi, so she soon put on her headphones as she couldn't stand the squeaking. However, this unpleasant source of noise was quickly replaced by another. A young woman with a small speaker and a microphone boarded the bus and turned on music to sing along. I couldn't help but think if that would be a good side job in Austria. I imagined what it would be like to perform my singing skills uninvited in front of a full audience on the Railjet at 6:30 am from St. Pölten to Vienna. But I believe Austria is not ready for that yet...

We endured a few songs before she finally got off, and for the rest of the journey, we were only bothered by various sellers. In Palomino, we were dropped off on the main street and immediately took a mototaxi to our accommodation.

Palomino is a small town on the Caribbean Sea between Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta and Tayrona National Park - the jungle practically ends at the sea. There isn't much to do here, but the town has gained popularity among tourists, especially backpackers. The tourist life mainly revolves around the beach and the road that leads to it.

At first, we were confused about why the hostel had a pool when there was the sea nearby. In the afternoon, we took a walk to the beach and immediately understood why. The sea was extremely rough, and there were very strong currents - swimming and surfing were out of the question. Nonetheless, we walked along the beach in the water for a while, and on our way back, Emi suddenly stopped. She noticed a small sting in the sole of her foot. We still don't know exactly how it was possible, but apparently, a bee was washed ashore with a wave, and Emi had the 'luck' to step on it at the right time. So, along with the countless mosquito bites on her legs, she now had a bee sting that quickly swelled up. That was the definitive end to any activity for the next few days because she could only walk with a limp due to the swelling. And her collection of bites almost expanded even more: One evening, when Emi was taking a shower, she suddenly called me over in a state of hysteria. She pointed to the floor in the bathroom of our bamboo hut, where a fist-sized spider lay. It was already quite beaten up and crawling half-dead over the pebbles. Apparently, Emi had stepped on the spider without realizing it and had severely injured it. Fortunately, she was wearing her flip flops; otherwise, she might have gotten a spider bite as well. It was up to me to finish off the poor creature and remove it afterwards...

So for the remaining days, we joined the other guests who lounged around the pool on sunbeds or hammocks. This program was just right after the Ciudad Perdida tour, and we could fully recover. We only left our hostel in the evening to eat at a restaurant nearby - Emi couldn't walk long distances. So most of the time, we just enjoyed doing nothing and passed the time splashing around, reading, studying, and watching series until 5 p.m., when the cocktail happy hour started. Two Mojitos for €4.00 - you can imagine how we spent our evenings...

One of the guys responsible for the bar was Esteban, a young, fully tattooed Colombian who also took care of the musical accompaniment. Through him, we discovered a few new catchy tunes: from Swiss reggae to typical Colombian reggaeton hits. Esteban told me that he is very interested in foreign languages, and hostel guests keep showing him new songs from different countries. He also knew a bit of German and proudly demonstrated his knowledge to me: 'I want to drink! I want to get high! I want to f***!' - he's already well equipped for a night out in the German-speaking area... ;)

In Palomino, there are some strange characters wandering around. Our highlight was an older, slightly deranged gentleman who always came to our hostel at lunchtime and 'played music' on various instruments. He started his session with a pan flute in his left hand and a drum in his right. There was no melody on the pan flute and no rhythm on the drum. Then came the recorder, on which he desperately tried to produce even a single note. The grand finale was a performance on a type of ukulele - his guitar was smaller than usual and had more than six strings (I don't know what kind of instrument it actually was). He always played two chords, randomly switching between them and mumbling along because it couldn't be called singing. But surprisingly, every day, it was the same two chords, so there was some kind of system that only he understood. One day, during his performance, we observed a couple who were having a meal. The girl couldn't believe what was happening right next to her and burst out laughing during the ukulele show. For some reason, that made me think of my imaginary performance on the Railjet again... After his show, the guy even dared to ask for money. I looked at Emi in disbelief as she actually gave him some coins for this performance.

When Emi was able to walk again, we decided to do the only tourist attraction in Palomino: tubing. It involves floating down the Rio Palomino river on an inner tube. Together with Daisy, an Australian we met during the Ciudad Perdida hike and happened to meet again at the hostel, we set off. Many Colombians were already waiting with the tubes next to our hostel, ready to drive tourists to the starting point on their mopeds. Each of us was assigned a driver and had a tube placed around us. After a bumpy 10-minute ride, we were dropped off in the jungle and had to hike uphill for a while. Daisy's driver, David, seemed to be our guide as well and accompanied us the entire way. We walked for about 30 minutes until we reached the riverbed. There, we positioned ourselves on our tubes in the water one after the other and held onto each other to form a tube package. David constantly guided us in the right direction and pushed us along shallow areas. The ride took about two hours, and of course, there wasn't much to do during that time. We simply enjoyed the wonderful surroundings and the warm sun rays on our skin - being on the river had a very calming and relaxing effect. Sensibly, I had also brought a cold beer with me... :)

Our guide turned out to be a Spanish teacher, and he tried to teach us new words and phrases. At the same time, we tried to expand his limited English vocabulary. He spoke very slowly and had a beautiful Spanish accent, so we could actually understand almost everything. It was the most productive and effective Spanish lesson we've had so far - learning Spanish can actually be fun like this!

In the evening, we walked up our street again and wanted to eat at the highly rated pizzeria. However, it was closed, so we had to find an alternative. Not far away, we stopped at a place that looked anything but inviting, but there were always many guests sitting around the clock - usually a good sign... We sat at an improvised wooden table and were immediately greeted by a completely hyper waiter who could easily pass as an ex-convict. The wiry, well-trained bald man in a white undershirt and worn-out jeans that hadn't seen a washing machine in many days handed us the menus, and a while later, a young Colombian woman came to take our order. The guy was constantly rushing around and doing countless things, but somehow, he forgot about the essentials. At some point, he wasn't a waiter anymore but a pizza maker, enthusiastically kneading the pizza dough. The longer I watched him, the more certain I was that he was on cocaine. The rest of the staff in the restaurant were only marginally better. Apparently, they all go to the same hairdresser, who doesn't understand much about his craft, as it seemed totally random where the head was shaved bald and where hair was left. There was also a small display case in front of the pizzeria where all the accessories for stoners were sold - I'm really curious about what was in those small brown bags...

Emi was somewhat disgusted by the whole ambience right from the beginning. When her lemonade arrived - she was given a 1-liter hard plastic jug filled with yellow-brown liquid - she had already given up. Although it was just lemonade based on overly strong black tea, it looked really unappetizing, like gravy. Emi didn't feel like eating the pizza anymore and managed to choke down only about half of it somehow. I didn't find my pizza that bad...

Conclusion:

Although we couldn't do much and the sea in Palomino wasn't very inviting, the quiet days were just what we needed. The small town on the Caribbean coast doesn't have much to offer, but if you're looking for a place to relax, you've come to the right address here.

Hasta pronto

E&L

>> Next stop: Barranquilla <<