TagangaPersonal travel impressions in stories and pictures from Taganga, Colombia. Click on the pictures to enlarge, send as a free e-card, or download for personal use. You can locate Taganga and navigate the world using Google Earth Show on map
N 11° 17.909
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When I drove towards Taganga in the late evening, after having just arrived from Bogotá, I immediately felt the difference. The climate, obviously: balmy weather, a breeze, humidity - a pleasant change after the chilly nights of the highlands. But also the atmosphere where it came to people: it had a Caribbean feel about it. Relaxed and laid back, when time does not seem to be much of a factor anymore. People lazing away time on their doorstep, chatting to each other, or under a tree, on the beach.
Another difference: more foreigners. After hearing only Spanish all the time, now I suddenly hear many kinds of other European languages. Likewise, apparently to please their taste, I also hear western music again - and wonder how that energetic Colombian salsa could not be fine for foreign ears. Taganga originally was a fishing village, beautifully located in a deep bay just north of Santa Marta, but while fishing still is an important industry in this village, tourism clearly has become one. There is a multitude of restaurants, hotels, agencies organizing tours in the vicinity, internet cafés, and diving schools besides the many fishing boats bobbing in the Bay of Taganga.
After getting used to the distinctly coastal atmosphere, I enjoyed a few relaxing days on the coast. A few dives in the morning, in nearby Tayrona National Park, with low visibility but still interesting enough to keep me coming back, a tasty lunch, and lazing away time exploring the coast and walking towards Playa Grande and beyond. Being there in the afternoon when the fishing boats came back with their catch - the entire village seemed to have come to the beach to get their share of the many fish that had just before been swimming in the Bay of Taganga. Ending the day with, well - a delicious dinner with fish. Fresh fish.
