un toque de viajero

Well well, another few days have raced by, and many adventures!
Let`s see. I think we left of on the second day in Valledupar. The third day there (I stayed longer because I liked it so much) I did an epic bike ride (12 km) on a little country road to a small village called La Meza where there was a community of indigenous Arhuacos. The ride was hot and I burned the top of my knees and was bright red when I arrived. Well worth the ride, though. Down a gravel road from the main strip there was a small resguardo of Arhuacos, just about 20 houses surrounded by their fields of plantains, papayas, yuca, and cattle. The houses were beautiful, built with earthen walls and huge hatched palm roofs. There were justt a few young people around, but they were willing to let me have a look around and answer my questions. Then I checked out the river, another one with big rocks, clear water and deep pools, good for diving. The next day my friend Nata and I went to a little eco-park near the river that had lots of reused things like tires and phone booths converted into playgrounds for children, and also a series of pools where they do massages and mud treatments (they smeared our faces with mud and it left our skin looking nice).
Let`s see, so from the lovely Valledupar, I headed to Cartagena, the tourist hub second only to Rio de Janeiro in South America, the ancient port where the gold came out and the slaves went in. I had my doubts about going, knowing it`s very touristic, but I thought, hell, gotta go, you just sort of have to.
And . . . it was as bad as I had feared. I stayed in a packed hostel with lots of Argentines, which was fun. But let`s see, how to explain Cartagena? Really, you have to speak of 3 Cartagenas. You have the historic center, surrounded by stone battlements, with castles, churches, and colonial houses with big balconies full of flowers. That part is maybe 20 acres, pretty, packed with tourists, and rather expensive. Then there`s the part with beaches and huge shining high-rise hotels. Also packed and expensive. Then there`s all the rest of Cartagena, which is basically a giant, sprawling slum with trash in the streets, poorly built shacks, big time drug trafficking, etc. The poorest places I`ve seen in the country. And you can feel it in the air. Just an unhealthy energy in the air, partly because of the overload of tourists, and partly the festering inequalities. So, I spent half a day wandering in the historic part, saw some nice museums, then the afternoon wandering through the packed beaches, and then deciding to get the hell out as early as i could the next day.
That took me to my next stop, Santa Marta, also an historic and touristy city, but with a completely different vibe! Santa Marta is much smaller, much more relxed, and has much prettier beaches and the mountains of the Sierra Nevada right behind. I arrived in the afternoon, met up with Will, a fellow ETA, and we wandered around the bay. They took us out on a motorboat ride past the port, and then we wandered about the sleepy city, enjoying seas breezes. Today we went to Taganga, a famous fishing village and beach a half hour down the coast. It was beautiful, but packed on the larger beaches. We ended up on a bit less crowded beach, swimming in the bright blue water, which was cool and refreshing, and lounging in the shade. Unfortunately, since last night I`ve been having stomach troubles and loose stool (I blame street food in Cartagena), but I`ve been taking it easy and drinking lots of fluid and yogurt, so with any luck I`ll be better tomorrow. Tomorrow our friend Rachel arrives and the plan it to head up into the Sierra Nevada, where there are crystal streams, and indigenous villages, and after that to the huge desert beaches of la Guajira. So stay tuned for the latest from those exotic destinations. Good night, and good luck.