Colombia Trip Part 5 - Santa Marta
After Cartegena we were tired and grumpy, and the van ride to Santa Marta was supposed to be 3 ½ hours long and ended up being 4 ½ long. Lisa was close to screaming in frustration. But we arrived at the Decameron Galeon, outside Santa Marta and it made the trip all better.
Unlike the Cartegena, where the hotel is buried right in a touristy area, the Decameron in Santa Marta is out by itself. It’s remoteness works in keeping the hard core Colombian street vendors away. Here the beach is clean and private. It is a great getaway if you want to spend some time partying along a Carribean beach. Now THIS is the life.
Even the rooms were a big difference. In Cartegena we had a pretty plain hotel room. In Santa Marta it was a spacious suite with a private deck with a lovely view of ocean, beach and lush tropical foliage. If we could have made our entire getaway in Santa Marta, it would have been great! Santa is a wonderful place and we enjoyed the room, the beach, the entertainment and the extremely friendly staff. Plus, it costs less than Cartegena.
Most of the activities are down on the beach here, including the evening entertainment shows. One thing to know is that Santa Marta mostly caters to a Latin American tourist dollar, one reason why it is cheaper. We’re the only gringo’s there, but our Spanish was more than enough to get us taken care of. Most people at the resort were from Panama, Venzuela, Ecuador and other South American nations.
There are four major restaurants at the Decameron Galeon. One is the Rancho Parrillada (Steakhouse) which is great. There is also a lovely Italian place, MamaMia’s. Then there is a massive ship in the center of the complex. It is made of concrete but finished and painted so at first it looks like a wooden Galleon (thus the name, Decameron Galeon). It actually houses two restaurants. Inside the “gundeck” is an “international” restaurant that’s pretty good. On the top “deck” is an open-aired “Japanese” restaurant. Actually the Japanese place just serves a set meal of generic oriental food. It’s okay, but the Italian and Steakhouse are the much better choices.
It is also an all-inclusive place, so there is all the food and drinks all the time. Just ask, and it’s handed over with a smile!
The lone downside to Santa Marta is the remoteness. Santa Marta is all about the beach and the beach alone. Unlike Cartegena, there aren’t all of the city sights and historical attractions to see. This wasn’t a problem for us, because we’d done the tours in Cartegena. In 20/20 hind site, the best thing would have been to spend one night in Cartegena and the additional day in Santa Marta.
Also, there was no Internet service. And that pretty much drove me crazy. All my surfing was done in the water! Wow!
Unlike the Cartegena, where the hotel is buried right in a touristy area, the Decameron in Santa Marta is out by itself. It’s remoteness works in keeping the hard core Colombian street vendors away. Here the beach is clean and private. It is a great getaway if you want to spend some time partying along a Carribean beach. Now THIS is the life.
Even the rooms were a big difference. In Cartegena we had a pretty plain hotel room. In Santa Marta it was a spacious suite with a private deck with a lovely view of ocean, beach and lush tropical foliage. If we could have made our entire getaway in Santa Marta, it would have been great! Santa is a wonderful place and we enjoyed the room, the beach, the entertainment and the extremely friendly staff. Plus, it costs less than Cartegena.
Most of the activities are down on the beach here, including the evening entertainment shows. One thing to know is that Santa Marta mostly caters to a Latin American tourist dollar, one reason why it is cheaper. We’re the only gringo’s there, but our Spanish was more than enough to get us taken care of. Most people at the resort were from Panama, Venzuela, Ecuador and other South American nations.
There are four major restaurants at the Decameron Galeon. One is the Rancho Parrillada (Steakhouse) which is great. There is also a lovely Italian place, MamaMia’s. Then there is a massive ship in the center of the complex. It is made of concrete but finished and painted so at first it looks like a wooden Galleon (thus the name, Decameron Galeon). It actually houses two restaurants. Inside the “gundeck” is an “international” restaurant that’s pretty good. On the top “deck” is an open-aired “Japanese” restaurant. Actually the Japanese place just serves a set meal of generic oriental food. It’s okay, but the Italian and Steakhouse are the much better choices.
It is also an all-inclusive place, so there is all the food and drinks all the time. Just ask, and it’s handed over with a smile!
The lone downside to Santa Marta is the remoteness. Santa Marta is all about the beach and the beach alone. Unlike Cartegena, there aren’t all of the city sights and historical attractions to see. This wasn’t a problem for us, because we’d done the tours in Cartegena. In 20/20 hind site, the best thing would have been to spend one night in Cartegena and the additional day in Santa Marta.
Also, there was no Internet service. And that pretty much drove me crazy. All my surfing was done in the water! Wow!
posted by Unknown at 11:46 AM
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