A week in Taganga

After 4 days relaxing on the beach, we decided it was time to brush up on our Spanish. We found a great place to stay called Casa Holanda, run by a Dutch guy, who also set up a language school. The school was actually set up as a charity to give money back to the community. Schooling is not compulsory in Columbia, and a lot of people can't afford it, so this language school gives 25% of the money it earns back to the community to sends local children to school, so we decided to support the cause and enroll in an intensive 1:1 Spanish course. We both had our own teacher so after 4 hours of Spanish (8 - 12pm) we were both mentally exhausted, so it was time for a beer on the beach or a siesta out of the hot sun. It was about 38 degrees most days we were there.

On the Friday night we went out on the town. We had a couple of drinks at a hostel called 'Mirador'. Whilst we were there, the D.A.S (Immigration Police) turned up checking passports to see if anyone had overstayed their visa, however half the bar didn't have their passports on them, so instead of escorting us back to our hostels, they sent us to get them on our own and when we finally got back to the bar, the D.A.S were gone. Not really a good system if they wanted to check everyone's passports.....

We had a great week in Taganga, here are a couple of other highlight worth mentioning (and of course they are about food)! If you are ever in Taganga you must go to Casa de Felipe, which is a hostel with a great chef. We both had one of the best Fillet Mignon's in a long time. You wouldn't think you'd have to go all the way to Taganga, Columbia for that. Also there was a great Baguette place, called 'Los Baguette de Maria', opposite the football pitch, where we ate lunch every day, they were large enough to share. A definite must!

The main street off the beach.

Our language school.

A few of the local fishing boats.

Tayrona National Park

After leaving the big smoke of Bogota, we needed some down time. We caught a flight from Bogota to Santa Marta, a rather large shipping port in North Columbia on the Caribbean Coast. We met a couple from Brisbane, Tara & Al, who were on the same flight. We had all heard there`s not much to see in Santa Marta so we shared a taxi to Taganga, a small fishing village where we spent the night. We stayed in a local hostel and went out to the locals nightclub, El Garaje, (basically in someones backyard). There was lots of Salsa dancing and drinks flowing, so it ended up being quite a large night.

A little hungover, the 4 of us jumped in a mini-bus to Tayrona National Park. The bus dropped us off at the entrance of the Park and we had to hike 1 hour to the first beach. All very primative, we slept in tents, although we did have mattresses so we weren´t doing it too tough. We spent the afternoon on the beach and the evening with a few beers, playing cards, not such a bad way to relax.

The following day we walked a further hour to a beach called Cabo San Juan, with its picture postcard beaches - white sand, coconut trees and crystal clear water - although still doesn´t live up to Australian beaches!! We again slept in tents and there was one restaurant serving breakfast, lunch and dinner, quite a monopoly and the prices confirmed it.

We spent 3 nights in the National Park and then caught a hour boat back to Taganga, was pretty intense, the swell was quite large so the boat was moving around quite a lot. We made it back to Taganga in search of Spanish lessons and our next adventure.

First stop - Bogota, Colombia

We touched down in Bogota, Colombia on 5th August 2009. The first stop on our South American adventure.

Bogota is a sprawling city, with a kind of organised chaos, as cars, motorbikes, buses and people move around everywhere (in all directions). On every street corner there is someone trying to sell you some crap, from knock off handbags, to tuperwear, cheap sunglasses, right down to individual cigarettes. It's not a beautiful city but it has a certain charm. We stayed in an area called 'La Candalaria', with cobbled streets and more of an old world feel.

Touring the city you see huge contrast with the nicer areas having all the latest shops (Prada, Gucci, Zara) and BMW's and Audi's rolling the streets, right down to shanty towns built from concrete and rusted steel (with most places looking half finished).

We checked out Museo del Oro (Gold Museum) and Museo Historico Policia (National Police Museum) which included a (very large) section on the tracking and killing of Pablo Escobar.

So, day 1 in Sud America, and our first obvious hurdle was Spanish, with the old "habla ingles" getting a pretty good work out. Definately more work required in this area!

We´re off to Northern Colombia, on the Carribean coast, in the next few days!

The city from the streets of 'La Candalaria'

Bogota has everything.....

New York City

We stopped off in New York, on route to South America, for a week.

Our good friends The Doughty's (that is Alex and Clair of the Upper West side) kindly turned their daughter Chloe's bedroom into a guest room for the week (big thanks guys).

While both Victoria and I have been to New York before, it's always somewhere worth visiting again. We spent the week, catching up with family and friends, basically eating and drinking, with some sightseeing in between.

Our sightseeing included a ride on the "Circle line" (not the yellow underground line in London), it´s a boat cruise around Manhattan Island, starting at West 42nd Street wharf, going anti clockwise, pasting the lower west side, battery park, the Statue of Liberty, Ellse Island, East side, Yankee Stadium (New and Old). We hit the MET for some culture, cruised around SoHo and walked Wall Street.

A few dinners out at Dylan Prime (Tribeca), Double Crown (On Bowery), Morandi (West Village, run my Keith McNally of Pastis), Mizu Sushi (Gramercy) and a few drinks at Kingswood and Macao Trading Co. Alex and I also enjoyed an epic american BBQ ribs diner, called 'Rack and Soul' on the upper west side.

A couple of jogging sessions thru Central Park (to work off the dinners).

Check out a few snaps below (or click the link)

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=102645&id=500060686&l=1d0cab0175

Hannah, Alex and Victoria post dinner at Dylan Prime in TribecaJD rollin' Times Square

Greek Islands - July 2009

We spent our first day in Greece touring Athens, we visited the Acropolis - to be honest it was a lot of rubble but worth the visit. Took a walk in the evening, had dinner at an overpriced restaurant, we witnessed some road rage which turned into a street fight, followed by some very expensive gelato. What a first day! The following morning we were up at 5am, and headed for the Islands.

First stop Mykonos where we spent 3 nights - beautiful sunsets, great beaches and very relaxing. We hired a scooter, the best way to get around the island and gave the opportunity to go off the beaten track. Our favourite beach was Elia, there weren`t too many people and the water was crystal clear. We also hit Paradise beach for some Euro-trash clubbing as the sun set. An afternoon trip to Super Paradise was rather confronting when we discovered full nudity was not only acceptable but encouraged! Needless to say we sat around in our speedos (people watching)!

Our next stop, Naxos for 4 nights, it was a much less touristy island, more authentic and easy going. We stayed in Agios Prokopios, a cute beach town 5km´s from the main town, our accomodation was rather family friendly (we were the only couple without children, good practice for Justin!). We again explored the island by scooter, looking for adventures (as one can only lie on the beach for so long), we tried to climb Mt Zeus but never quite found the right track, much to Justin`s disappointment or should I say annoyance, it was quite a defeat. We found a Greek restaurant on the beachfront, with great food and traditional live Greek music. Eating at 8pm we always found ourselves sitting amongst the young families, are we getting too old?

Final stop, Santorini for 2 nights - sunsets, sunsets and more sunsets. We stayed at a place called Remezzo Villas, in a little village called Imerovigli (3km´s from the main town). All the tourists go to Oia for the sunsets but our village gets the best view of the Caldera (with the same sunset). Most of our time was spent sunning ourselves by the dipping pool.

So as you can see, we had a very relaxing 10 days!

Check out the photos on Kodak Gallery (click on the link)
http://www.kodakgallery.com/ShareLanding.action?c=18yfen8h.95v0ybyl&x=0&y=xah528&localeid=en_US