Up to Venezuela

I left Cartagena continuing along the coast as much as possible passed Barranquilla which seams to be booming at the moment, a lot of construction going on. In Puebloviejo there were a couple of guys in carnival customs, blocking the road with a slack line. I know this tradition from Germany where kids try to get some money from car drivers by doing the same but there, they use a thin paper strip. Puebloviejo is one of the dirtiest places I've seen in Colombia, it's hard to believe that people live in there.

Just a few kilometers away, as you pass Santa Marta it's a all different story, it's like changing country, things turn green on the way down to Tayrona park, it was already noon, I was thirsty and looking for coconut water, drove past the first possibility to get some and moments later found this wonderful desert place, managed by a very friendly family. After having my first coconut I asked if they had something to eat and they offered to grill some meat with salad, banana and something I didn't knew what it was but I said OK and guess what, it was the best meal I ever had on road side stall, excellent fresh food, I still don't know what the spaghetti sauce was made of but it tasted very good.

The Tayrona park was the first thing in Colombia that really caught my eye. I stopped on the road side to take a picture of a small river with the clearest water you can imagine.

After taking the picture, I looked down and saw this, how can someone discard garbage in a place like this?

Unfortunately for me the gates to the inside of Tayrona park were locked, so I drove further trying to get an opportunity to get to the ocean but all properties around here seam to be private property.

Later on I finally got my way in but it was a very windy day and the water was not clear so I decided to move further.

Almost everywhere in Colombia you've got fruit stands and stalls along the road, sometimes one every 2 meters for a kilometer or so but once you pass Riohacha the stands and the people on the road are trying to sell gas, you just can't imagine how much people spend the day on the side of the holding translucid soda bottles with in the air and waving as you drive by. And it is like that all the way to Maicao. The reason for this is that gas in Venezuela is nearly for free. After spending the night in Maicao, I started the my way back driving along the Venezuelan border, giving up this time visiting Punta Gallinas as previously planed. Colombia is on this side also very dry at the moment.

Stopped for lunch at roadside restaurant with the temperature reaching 39 degrees Celsius.

Even at such high temperatures you see people burning things down.

Here's a road sign that I still don't know what it is supposed to mean.

Further down you can see how the sierra de Montilones holds the clouds from moving west.