10/05/2019 – Beach day, Taganga, Cololmbia

We woke up really early (around 0500) absolutely sweltering and drenched in sweat, there was no power and therefore no a.c. We later learnt this powercut was across the whole village, there had been crazy rainfall overnight. I had read that powercuts and water shortages often happen in this little village that has become quite touristy, there are usually far more people here than the infrastructure is built for! We walked into the shower and lay on our towels on the bed in order to try and cool off but nothing really worked so in the end we just got up and out. Due to the rain and the power cuts the place felt pretty dead, and different to the evening before! We managed to find a beachfront café for some coffee and eggs before wandering around the village again. Even on an overcast day, it is so picturesque here. It is a little fishing bay, with lots of little boats moored up, surrounded by mountains.

Taganga Bay.

The houses are very small and basic, with no frills attached. We arrived back to our hostel and Joan, the young guy here that runs the hostel (within the family home, it is more like a casa really) told us of a little walk over the mountain to get to another beach. We went for a beachfront coffee and snack before heading East over a little mountain pass to Playa Grande, it was another secluded bay (you have to either take the mountain pass or catch a boat from Taganga as far as I could work out) but with jetskis and Kayaks and water skiing and a few bars along the front. Josh and I hired a double kayak and spent an hour paddling around, it was so much fun! Before we set off, the kayak guy told us swimming was forbidden in some of the bays around the corner (we couldn’t quite work out why but I said Piranha and he nodded so I was petrified! We later found out these are freshwater fish and so it definitely wasn’t because of Piranhas!!!). After our hour we paddled in and paid for a deckchair and read our books for an hour or so, Josh got a coffee from one of the ladies selling them on the beach (they literally walk around selling them from their thermos flasks.) We saw a big white/see through crab with one eye it was so weird! Then it started to spit with rain so we walked back over the mountain pass to Taganga and went to a couple of tourist information’s for information on day trips to the Tayrona national park. We also passed a scuba dive shop recommended by lonely planet so we popped in and had a chat with the lady there about what was on offer. Apparently Taganga is one of the cheapest places in the world to scuba dive, plus there is meant to be some nice reefs and fishes around! We went back to the casa to grab some money and then went to one of the beachfront cafes for a carbonara, Josh’s favourite! Then we went to Babaganoush again for a homemade brownie that we had been too full for yesterday, it was nice and gooey. We headed back to the casa for a shower and an early night, the power and the a.c. is back on, so we are hoping for a more comfortable night!