After the Lost City Trek we were dropped off at the Expotur office in Santa Marta which just so happened to be a block away from our hotel (the fanciest hotel we’d be staying in)

My Uncle kindly decided to treat us to a two night stay at The Don Pepe Boutique Hotel. A luxury five star hotel. Ollie was freaking out telling me to change out of my trekking wear into something ‘acceptable’. It didn’t matter anyway. As soon as we arrived I knew they knew my Uncle had paid for it and we were two broke backpackers. I say this, as Conor was going back and forth with them on payment. Nothing is easy in Colombia and they wouldn’t let a third party pay for the stay.

The friendly woman at reception asked, “would you like the tour now or after you get yourself ready?” Excuse me, I think she was telling me to go take a shower. Probably. “After would be great”.

The hotel itself was small hence it being called ‘boutique’. All the walls were white and there was a beautiful pool running through the downstairs reception. Our room was huge but to our dismay there was no wall separating the toilet. This meant, the other was forced out onto the balcony when it was time to go. One of the best things was the shower. I think I had a 30 minute hot shower hosing my body and scrubbing head to toe.

On the first evening we decided against eating in the hotel (in hindsight a terrible idea) We ventured out to the centre which was so vibrant and honestly felt like Brighton beach. This is exactly it. Santa Marta is the Brighton beach of Colombia. It is the place where all of the Colombians go to holiday. I think I was more taken with it than Ollie.

Walking around we bumped into Leanne and her friend drinking cocktails. She had way more energy than me and she recommended a Mexican restaurant. It looked inviting and full so we went in. Ollie got a burrito and I had a few different types of tacos. About 2 hours later I had a spicy date with the toilet seat… this is why you should have walls! I also remembered one of the Danish girls back on our trek in Carpe Diem telling us she regrettably went to a Mexican in Santa Marta before the Lost City. I bet it was the same one.

The next morning we woke up but there was something about this bed that just made it so hard. I think Ollie even took a photo of the bed brand. Kindly my Uncle had included breakfast with the room. We were given fruit, a selection of breads, and then we could pick our main out of a number of dishes. Stupidly I chose the omelette which came with sweetcorn inside, my absolute worse nightmare.

The rest of the morning and early afternoon was spent resting by the rooftop pool. Heaven.

Suddenly I had this strong craving for ice cream and I dragged Ollie to a geletaria I had my eye on yesterday. I got chocolate brownie and arequipe. The arequipe was my favourite as was Dulce de ledge flavoured.

We really didn’t do a whole lot in Santa Marta and that was the plan.

In the evening, we had dinner in the hotel and it was the best we had had so far. We kicked ourselves for not having eaten there both nights. I got the langostine pasta and Ollie got a hamburger with plantain chips. Ollie even tried a prawn! Then we rolled out the hotel and went to a bar. One bar turned into many and next thing you knew we were strolling the streets looking for a club. Thank goodness it was a Monday and nothing was really open.

Hungover we made our way to Cartegena the next day.