Relaxing in Santa Marta 12/26

On the road to Santa Marta, pickup at 7, by the time we picked up everyone in their hotels we left by 8. We were in a minibus w aircon which was really nice and comfortable for the long haul. The woman at the hostel said the bus terminal was an hour of town. I wonder if that's her way charging us more for these buses. Whatevs they are comfy. 

We drove past police and a Navy base. All the guys on duty are really young and bored.  I guess things aren't bad here when the men on duty are playing w their hats and phones. 

We drove past the countryside, lots of palms and trees, then a long stretch of road that was on a sliver of land connecting islands. We stopped a couple times to pick up people en route. At one our the pit stops a dude on the bus asked me if his was the direct bus because we keep making a lot of stops. I think this is direct for Columbia. The bus driver asks me where we are going. Uhh, I don't know. I guess you need to know where to drop us off. All these plans. 

We reach Santa Marta around 1, 6 hours after our departure. The poor guy was told 2 hour. The town is nice. Not Cartegena nice, but there aren't hawkers trying to sell you shit every minute, the stores aren't as fancy but I'm not shopping, and there's a park and small beach. I'm guessing the beaches get better the farther east you go. Still not big or nice enough for me to get it in. I'll wait for tomorrow. Plus it's a lot cooler here and I don't feel like I want to pass out. That's a plus. Heat doesn't work w me. 

Lunch was a pizza and really bad white wine. Noted we aren't in wine region anymore so I'll have to drink beer. Grr. 

We sat in the hostel's courtyard and watched the men cut down the trees limbs away from the phone/power cords w the locals. I read. Taking it easy. We got some food for tomorrow. We are hiking over the hill to the beach. Apparently there's no food and we can sleep in hammocks. I'm not too sure that thrills me but I guess we'll find out.