Colombia (Lonely Planet, 5th Edition) - Jens Porup [132]
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Activities
Santa Marta is an important center of scuba diving. Most dive schools have settled in nearby Taganga, but there are also some operators in the city center, including Atlantic Divers ( 421 4883; Carrera 2 No 10A-38; 8am-8pm). A four-day PADI-certification course costs COP$550,000.
There’s some good hiking around Santa Marta, including walks in the Parque Nacional Natural Tayrona, though if you’re after some longer and more adventurous trekking, the hike to Ciudad Perdida is the region’s showpiece.
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Tours
For the most part, Santa Marta’s tour market revolves around Ciudad Perdida. There are now four main outfitters authorized to escort tourists on the six-day trek, two of which are based in Santa Marta (Click here for full details). You’ll also find other hiking options available.
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THE SIERRA THINKING MAN’S BUZZ
As you travel up and down the Caribbean coast, you might see Kogi, Arhuaco or Wayuu people hopping on local buses with bags full of seashells. No, they aren’t avid collectors. These people, all mountain-dwelling indigenous groups living all over the Sierra Nevadas around Santa Marta, are collecting the shells for a sacred ritual known as the poporo. The Kogi, for one, believe shells exist as a sort of spiritual middleman between the light of the sun and the dark of the sea, and they can tell the history of an area by interpreting the shell’s color and markings.
For the poporo, lighter seashells called caracucha are collected in great numbers and heated over a fire before being pounded into a very fine powder. While this is going on, the women collect coca leaves, called ayo, and place them in bags full of heated stones to dry them out (the aroma is said to smell like heaven). They take the dried ayo to the men, who place it in their mouths and put the fine powder of the shell inside a small vessel called a totuma (symbolizing the female being), which men receive as a symbol of reaching manhood. The men then collect small bits of powder on a small stick and place it in their mouths with the leaves and suck on the secretions for 20 to 30 minutes. The mixture causes the coca leaves to release eight amino acids and create a sort of thinking man’s buzz, a slow and meditative high.
It is believed the poporo instills knowledge, just as others would read a book or go to college. Over time, the leftover spittle from the stick is dabbled on the outside of the totuma, causing it to grow and symbolizing wisdom.
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Sleeping
Santa Marta’s centro is jam packed with small hotels and family-run residencies, most of them cheap and fairly laid-back. If the following are full, there are more options just a few steps away, though be warned this area is teeming with prostitutes and all that the world’s oldest profession attracts. It’s very seedy! Also, the streets around here flood like the Armageddon when it rains – bring your mask and snorkel!
CENTRO
Hotel Miramar ( 423 3276; elmiramar_santamarta@yahoo.com; Calle 10C No 1C-59; dm COP$8000, s/d without bathroom COP$8000/16,000, with bathroom COP$10,000/20,000; ) This is the quintessential gringo hangout, though that doesn’t make it the Hippie Dippy Ritz-Carlton. It’s well-equipped with an in-house tourism agency and its own restaurant serving substantial meals, but some rooms are barely above prison level and flies are rampant around the cafe. Guests are charged for the internet as well. It’s in bad need of a makeover.
Hotel Titanic ( 421 1947; Calle 10 No 1C-68; dm COP$10,000, r with fan per person COP$12,000) The rival hostel to Miramar, this is a step up in tranquility and cleanliness. You totally lose the good time vibe of the Miramar, but you’ll get a lot more sleep.
Casa Familiar ( 421 1697; www.hospederiacasafamiliar.freeservers.com;