BoldspiritTravels on a budget: Playa El Rodadero in Santa Marta, Colombia. [Solo backpacking on a budget in Latin America]
Unfortunately, I had to leave Cartagena de Indias. After all, I had my scuba diving course to attend to! I was excited because it would be my absolute first time to scuba dive! I didn’t know what to expect.
I left Cartagena and took an early evening bus. I arrived very late to “Playa El Rodadero”, a small holiday location in Santa Marta area. I called the hostel where I had my bad booked (yes, as always, in a dorm) and made sure they will let me in that late. ;)
A little break during my morning jogging along beach side.
I wake up early in the morning. I was a little stressed because I didn’t yet find a company that organizes scuba diving and I knew it would be a pain. In other words, I procrastinated, I literally waited until the last moment. Why? Because I felt like I want to have the best possible experience, but on the other hand, I couldn’t pay much. I mean I had to make sure the organizers had high-quality equipment and very good opinion. All this and with the average price range. Challenge accepted! ;)
But first (remember that I was in a procrastination mode;)) I went jogging to let off steam and detach a bit. It is also a good way to discover what the location has to offer. The village was rather small but very touristic, with many high buildings and hotels. There was a nice, not very long beach so I directed myself there. The sun was raising up sluggishly, the place was still deserted.
I started running on the left side of the beach. Unexpectedly I ran into some old ramshackle concrete buildings. Below you can see some photos of them that I took on my way back.
I continued running but the view didn’t want to change, there were human traces everywhere. I changed the direction. At this time some people started to arrive at the sunny beach carrying baskets with breakfast. I saw groups like that, all of them big (Colombian?) families with both grandparents and little kids running and screaming like crazy ;)
On the other side of the coastline, there was a little “mole” where fishermen were selling their catch. Some of the fishes’ size was really impressive I must admit. And yeah, where there are fresh fishes, there are pelicans! Luckily the market attracted some buyers because it was seriously super hot, so I cannot imagine how much longer those fishes could have stayed fresh...
When I came back to my hostel I started looking for scuba diving schools in Santa Marta, which was located around 6 kilometers away, around 30-40 minutes with local transport.
I didn’t stay long in Playa El Rodadero, it was too crowded and touristic to me. The next day early in the morning I left and I directed myself to the diving school that I choose the day before.
Thank you for being here with me. I hope until next time!
Pura Vida and enjoy your journey! 💛
More about me here: You can travel without being wealthy aka a girl from a "struggling" family chasing her dreams!
Some of my recent stories from South America:
Boldspirit and the death road - la ruta de la muerte - Bolivia # 1 and # 2
BoldspiritTravels on a budget: Climbing Monserrate - the mountain overlooking Bogota in Colombia [Solo backpacking on a budget in Latin America]
BoldspiritTravels on a budget: “CICLOVÍA” - when bikes take over the city! Weekly! 😍 💪🏻 Bogota (Colombia) [Solo backpacking on a budget in Latin America]
Well done .. the place looks nice
Post great, enjoy with diving
Thanks for sharing
It seems very hot and nice there. Nice shots! Hope you will enjoy the diving classes and have a nice weekend :)
Thank you! the diving classes was great and i enjoyed it a lot! have a great week!:)
Nice pics. Hope you have great moments and my self to have time for travelling since Im in same place for last six years
i hope you will be able to travel soon! :)
A tiring journey, hopefully all the problems faced can be resolved properly, this becomes a disappointing thing in a journey, vacation. The problem is what we want to enjoy not get maximum results,
hopefully the days ahead can be a fun that can be enjoyed with joy, I am happy to follow your journey
Thank you for telling us something interesting and a new perspective for us all in Indonesia, for a preparation for visitors to be able to spend a beautiful day later. @k-a-s-i-a
greetings from me from aceh province indonesia
Hello, thank you for the comment. I like your nick btw! good luck to you.
Those are really looking Lovely..... Thumbs up
Nice place 🌹
wow! what an adventure. nice photo and hope u had a great time@ k-a-s-i-a?
the place looks really nice@k-a-s-i-a
wow ... beautiful place
wow this is really amazing