Santa Marta Colombia

Would you believe we are in Colombia?  No, no, no, we're pinching ourselves.  A great sail from Aruba over 2 nights, OK a little bumpy and the headsail pole changes (that's from one side of the front end to the other, Pop!) took their toll, but we arrived into bright sunshine and a modern dynamic city full of so many surprises.  Marina and water front are modern, but scratch the surface and you find true Colombian hospitality and local life.  The Santa Martan markets are something to behold.  We discovered them by accident when travelling up into the mountains - and that is the coincidence of the Century, I mean it!  Little yellow city taxis in the town are no more than £1.50 (pesos 7000) and then collective 4x4 ride 45 minutes to Minca, a small village in the foothills of the mountains another pesos 7000 each, cramped 8 into a Toyota Land Cruiser with chickens on the roofrack!  And then a 'moto taxi', a euphemism for a Honda 90 motorcycle pillion ride up a glorified dirt track, another pesos 7000.  Keep the small change handy!  £4.50p for 2 hours of hilarious travel.  And then to 'La Fuenta' run by Duncan and Lady.  More of this later.  So, back to the markets.  A cross between the street produce markets of North Africa, the bazaars of Istanbul, and supermarkets of the Eastern Caribbean.  Such a wealth of variety, quality and price.  But so spectacular!  Difficult to know what not to buy, so we ended up with very little.  We almost even bought what we needed (chain for the dinghy and, what was that other thing?).  Some architectural features of the old town, and lovely streets to wander through. Overall, just an eye open!  After 4 days which turned into 6 (a little Colombian bureaucracy thrown in) we sailed at sunrise on Wednesday for Carthegena via an overnight anchorage at Puerto Valero.