Colombia!

Hola from Santa Matra on the coast in North Colombia! Safely made it over the venezualian border from Coro. It took about 12 hours in a bus, shared taxi (huge old chevolete) and another bus.. Every since crossing the border have been pretty impressed with colombia and is living up to the great expectations passed on to me by other travelers. People are super friendly and helpful here even for a gringo speaking broken spansih! And people actually smile here.. Coming from the border there were several military/police/and drug police check stops. All with heavily armed guys but really friendly and i generally feel much safer here than in Venezuala.

Funny story to tell. In the colombian bus as i was watching one of the many dodgy dubbed war/action movies that play on most buses in SA while there was some tank action on the screen I happen to look out the window to see a real tank parked on the side of the road!!! Was a little surprised and had to blink twice..

So far have spent some time checking out the beaches here and spent a night in the Tayrona National Park which is a huge park along the coast and has postcard beaches and mountain scenery. Hooked up with a couple of kiwis and a German and camped on the beach last night even though i was intending to only do a day trip in the park..It was just too damn nice to stay for only a day! Did some hell man body surfing in 2m of dumpy surf with Matt from NZ. It was great to be back in surf again. Access to the park is by foot but there are a couple of huge camping areas complete with restaurants, cafes and juice bars. Everything is brought in by horse. At first i was a bit 'oh my god this place is so packed out, i would never stay here if u paid me too' but after spending a night there and listening to some local musos play a session with everyone getting into it, i'm converted to camping in mass!

So that's about it is really hot here so am going to go for another dip followed by a couple of the local brews...

Tomorrow its off to Cartenga further west along the coast....