When we published our last blog entry we had just arrived in Santa Marta, Columbia after a very sporty 5 day sail. (Well it is was about 3 hours shy of a full five days for those who followed our sail via our tracker). After cleaning Che Figata from stem to stern we treated ourselves to an evening out on the town which made a very favorable first impression. We enjoyed a great (and inexpensive) dinner in Santa Marta’s old section which is very European — lots of narrow alleys strewn with lovely pint sized cafes and filled with street musicians and buildings covered with the most magnificent murals. Our first meal was at a restaurant called LamArt which had no more than 10 tables, 5 on the street and 5 inside, and was located on a particularly vibrant street with interesting decorative features (e.g., umbrellas that appeared to be suspended in the air above our heads) and hanging colorful lights. As we dined, we were treated to a rotating group of street performers — a saxophone/violin duo, a bongo player accompanied by a lead singer who was a doppelgänger for the young Johnny Depp and a single saxophone player who moved about the street dazzling us with his jazz. It was a great introduction to Santa Marta and we couldn’t wait to explore the city and its surrounding towns.
Following our first evening in Santa Marta we had 4 full days to play tourist before we had to get ready to set sail and we were determined to make the most of our stay. We joined a tour organized by the people who run our rally that took us to the Simon Bolivar museum (Simon Bolivar was the liberator of Columbia) and the old gold museum. This 3 hour tour provided us with a really nice overview of the history of both Santa Marta and Columbia. We were particularly interested to learn about the 4 indigenous tribes (the Kogi, Arhuaco, Wiwa and Kankuamo) that continue to thrive today. Unlike many Caribbean islands where the indigenous people died out due to harsh treatment by the European explorers as well as from the diseases that the explorers brought with them, the indigenous tribes in Columbia were able to escape up to the Sierra Nevada mountains where they could not be reached by the new settlers. Today these tribes are treated like a national treasure. We were so fascinated by their history that we arranged a tour to one of their villages. Though, unfortunately, that tour fell through we had an incredible experience with the tour guide who took us to the town of Minca. He was an expert on one of the tribes — the Kogi — having a long and deep personal relationship with the tribe’s spiritual and administrative leaders. Our day with that guide, Giuliano, was probably the highlight of our stay in Santa Marta and we will cover more about that below.
We also visited 2 very different seaside towns. The first to the North of Santa Marta, Taganga, is a old, picturesque and very sleepy fishing village that today is the center for scuba diving in and around Santa Marta. The village has lots of little artisan shops and many small and mid sized restaurants right along and on the beach. The second to the South of Santa Marta, Rodadero, was quite a contrast to Taganga. Rather than sleepy, Rodadero is alive with activity. The large and fairly deep beach that runs along the main drag of the town is filled with food vendors and street performers. It has a festival-like atmosphere — it’s no wonder that Rodadero is where locals go on the weekends to let loose after the work week. In between town visits we took a brief stroll through Santa Marta’s Public Market, a large traditional market with over 500 stalls selling everything from ready to eat meals and produce to clothing, accessories and electronics. There were also a lot of vendors selling natural remedies for every ailment or desired state of virility. Walking through the market is an exercise of sensory overload.
To see some archeological remains from the early Columbia tribal communities we took a tour to an archeological park where we saw the tiered foundation of an ancient dwelling. The tour was followed by a hike through the forest and down to the Rio Don Diego where we hopped in tubes and slowly floated along the river for 3 hours to the ocean, taking in the local flora and fauna. We saw many bird species, howler monkeys (they really are noisy with a roar that sounds more like what you would imagine dinosaurs would sound like if they were alive today) and even a alligator. The tour ended with a fabulous traditional home cooked meal served in what seemed more like the backyard of someone’s home than a restaurant.
Our final day of sightseeing (Monday, February 27) was the day we were supposed visit a village of one of the local tribes but we were advised the evening before that the visit would have to be postponed until the next day. Unfortunately, that was not possible for us because we were departing for the San Blas islands on March 1 and February 28 would be filled with rally briefings as well as our own passage preparations. Very disappointed, we worked quickly with a tour operator to put together a tour of the town of Minca which included a hike to some waterfalls, lunch in the village and a tour of a coffee bean processing operation, La Victoria. Though the tour was lovely (we were glad to get in lots of steps — it was another 16,000+ day — see the quaint and colorful town of Minca and learn about how coffee goes from plant to roasted bean), the real treat was our guide Giuliano Cavalli.
Though Giuliano freelances as a general guide with the local tour company we used to organize our tours, his primary job is leading groups of graduate students studying ancient cultures to visits with the Kogi tribe. As mentioned above, he has a long and deep relationship with the Kogi tribe. So much so that he is one of the few non tribal men to receive the “poporo” from the tribe’s spiritual leaders known as Mamos. The “poporo,” given to boys when they become men at the age of 17, is a small, hollow gourd that is filled with a powder made from crushed shells. When we shared that our visit to a tribe was canceled and that we were interested in learning more about their ways, he spent his day with us educating us on the Kogi beliefs and culture.
After 5 hours together we could practically fill a book with the engrossing information he shared. Though our posts can be tedious at times (really???) fortunately for you all we don’t have the time to record all of what we learned — despite how tempting it is. We will instead jot down some of the key themes that we believe really capture the spirit of these fascinating people. First, like many ancient cultures, their religion is not monotheistic but built around many gods that control various aspects of the heavens and earth. Unlike many other older religions, however, their belief system is not based on the concept of good and evil. Rather, it’s based on a system of debits and credits and everything we do falls in one of those categories. In other words, an act that we may consider “bad” or wrong is not judged by the Kogi (there is no judgment) but rather viewed as a debit which must be repaid with a credit. For a simple example, when we take food from the earth that creates a debit. You can repay that debit by planting more food. All debits must be repaid with credits before you die.
One story Giuliano told us really illustrated this well. He had a conversation with a Mamos once during which the Mamos shared that a relative had died after they were unable to get medical attention for this person in time. Giuliano, wanting to help, offered the Mamos a cell phone indicating that he would pay for the phone as well as a monthly basic package. The Mamos refused the gift because he said it would create a debit he didn’t know how to repay. Giuliano was quick to reinforce that this would be a gift so it would not create a debit — there was no expectation of payment. The Mamos explained that the cell phone was created from resources taken from the planet Earth and that act — specifically, the taking of these resources — is the debit that he does not know how to replay. How do you replenish those natural resources?
A second interesting fact — one that Jill particularly appreciated — is that in the Kogi culture property passes down through women. In other words, it is the female descendants of a family that inherit the property of the family. When a man marries, he must leave his family and join the woman’s family where he is expected to work his wife’s land, continuing to enhance it. What makes this so intriguing — aside from the fact that this is highly unusual (highly advanced in Jill’s opinion) — is that Kogi women are permitted to divorce and, if they do, they retain the rights to their property including any enhancements added by their husbands. This gives men a big incentive to be good husbands or they risk not only losing their wives but also all the investments they made — through grit and toil — in their land.
We could have spent days with Giuliano. Aside fro his knowledge of the Kogi people, he had an interesting back story. He left home (in Columbia) on his own at age 17 and moved to Seattle to learn English. From there he traveled to Europe where he lived in many different countries earning a living as a cinematographer. After returning to Columbia and forging a relationship with the Kogi tribe he used his skills to create a short science fiction film built around the Kogi culture. You can view it here: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=unTQroxG6-k. As we often say, while it is wonderful to explore new places to learn about their history, art and culture, it is the people you meet that give a place a personality. Our time with Giuliano underscored how true that is.
Some final, general, thoughts and comments on our visit to Santa Marta:
1. Santa Marta is filled with amazing restaurants. The city and surrounding areas provide a true gastronomical experience! Who knew!?! Santa Marta probably has the best collection of wonderful places to dine of any place we have visited in our now nearly 2 1/2 years as full-time liveaboards. Better, in our opinion, than even the French islands of Guadaloupe and Martinique and we had some great food on those islands. We already mentioned our meal at LamArt. Known for their salmon (which is what Zack and Mark ordered and devoured) the restaurant had tons of interesting choices. We also had a fabulous meal at a local Lebanese restaurant, Majito Ali, and an incredibly fun experience enjoying traditional Columbian fare at Qudres. At Qudres, Zack ordered the Columbian style ceviche (proclaiming it one of the best ceviches he ever had) and the tenderloin with pepper sauce that was cooked to medium rare perfection. In additional to wonderful food, Qudres had atmosphere on steroids. You arrive and the party starts! Flying paper butterflies descend from the ceiling at your table, musicians stroll between the tables and the hostess (in the costume of an elderly woman) tries to coax you up for a dance! And you are probably wondering what Jill had to eat. Much to our surprise — particularly after our experience in the Dominican Republic where it was hard to order a salad without meat — Santa Marta is practically a mecca for vegan food. Most restaurants had one if not several great vegan options and even the tiny 5 table restaurant where we had lunch in Minca — Duni — catered to a vegan diet. In fact, with Minca being a popular destination among backpackers most of the meal options at Duni where vegan and both of our meals were delicious.
2. Though Chicago calls itself the Windy City it has nothing on Santa Marta! A legendary low pressure trough sits above Santa Marta which creates really high winds. We had winds upwards of 50 mph in the marina! That’s gale force plus level. Unfortunately for us, our boat was positioned on a dock right across from a construction site with piles of sand and grit. The heavy winds carried that sand right to Che Figata leaving a film of grit everywhere (including our bed when we made the mistake of leaving our hatch open on our first evening) and depositing piles of sand in the corners of our cockpit. The sand and grit also got behind our fenders turning them into sandpaper that scratched our hull leaving very large light grey marks where the fenders pressed against our hull. (Ouch!) Fortunately, the kind marina staff polished our hull free of charge which mostly, but not completely, restored our original luster.
3. We could retire like royalty in Columbia. We’ve been fortunate to travel to many Central America and South America countries over the course of our lives but were still surprised how inexpensive everything was in Columbia. It was hard to have a meal including a cocktail, wine with dinner, an appetizer and main course for more that $35. Case in point: At LamArt they forgot to include Zack’s salmon on our bill so they had to charge us for that separately. His large and superbly cooked piece of salmon was $8 USD!
4. Columbia is safe and a great place to visit. We want to go back some day and visit many of the areas that time did not permit this go around, particularly The Lost City and Cartagena. Six days was not nearly enough time to explore the country! We barely scratched the surface of Santa Marta. Though those of us old enough to remember the tumult of the the 70s and 80s have an image of Columbia as violent, since the 1990s crime has decreased dramatically each year. Yes, there are places you should avoid — particularly remote rural and jungle areas and along the Venezuela border — the major cities and surrounding towns are quite safe. The peace agreement reached with the FARC in 2016 only served to further enhance a peaceful existence within the country. We took 3 separate tours and each of our tour guides expressed frustration with the lingering perception around the world that Columbia is a dangerous country to be avoided. Our tour guide Giuliano shared that he has a dual passport — both a Columbian passport (his place of birth) and an Italian passport because his grandfather was born in Italy — and that when he originally left Columbia as a 17 year old he told people he was Italian (despite the fact that he didn’t at that point even speak the language) because of the engrained negative views that most people had of his country.
We sadly left Santa Marta Marina on March 1. It was time to move on to the San Blas islands in Panama — a short 280 nautical mile passage. It may have been short — it took us only 2 days — but it was most definitely not sweet. After our highly bumpy sail from St. Lucia to Santa Marta we were looking forward to lower winds and less confused seas. Unfortunately, that was not to be. We sailed in winds that remained in the 25 – 35 knot range for most of the passage and the waves were so large that several breached the enclosure around our cockpit, creating a nice pool of water on the teak cockpit floor. The best was the wave that hit us broadside so hard on our first night that Jill was literally thrown off our bed onto the floor as she attempted to sleep following her watch. (That will wake you up!). A close runner up to that experience was our second night when Che Figata rocked from starboard to port with such force that our king size mattress — which fits snuggly within a teak casing — shifted off the bed frame and onto the floor while Mark was on watch and we were attempting to sleep. What happened to the easy downwind sailing we were promised as part of this rally?????
But then, at around 7 AM on March 3, we arrived in the San Blas islands and said a collective AHHHHH! What a beautiful part of the planet. The San Blas islands are an archipelago of 400 tiny, mostly uninhabited, palm-lined islands with fine white sandy beaches off the coast of eastern Panama. Though part of Panama, they are run by the indigenous Kuna people as an autonomous region. Upon arrival we anchored in the Coco Banderas Cays in between 3 small islands (2 uninhabited and 1 with a single hut) and enjoyed a swim to the closest of the islands. (The feature image for this blog post is the view from our “back porch.” ) A note of great importance: given the wild nature of our sail to the islands and the havoc it wreaked on our generally tidy boat, that swim only occurred after a Jill approved Che Figata cleaning. We didn’t want you all to think Jill was getting soft or falling down on the job! We will leave off this blog entry here and will detail our anticipated week long cruise around the San Blas islands, along with our passage to Colon, Panama, in our next post.
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