The oldest city in Colombia, romantic Santa Marta is fringed by delightful beaches and the stunning mountains of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta range.  Santa Marta is a beautiful little seaside town filled with shops, eateries, bars, discos, malls, and lots of street vendors  It is easy to navigate around, exceedingly clean, and very friendly.  The marina, an IGY marina is very large and provides several amenities including showers, laundry, mini-market, security, WiFi, and good customer service.

At 1800 there is an impromptu happy hour where the cruisers gather to share their stories and watch the sunset.

Sunset from IGY Marina Santa Marta
The XVIII Bolivarian Gameswere being held Santa Marta during our stay. It is a multidisciplinary sporting event that takes place at a regional level every four years among the Bolivarian nations, between November 11 and 25, 2017.

Santa Marta Olympics and their mascot.

Athletes from 11 countries compete in 34 sports disciplines.  Competition in golf, volleyball, tennis, mixed equestrian, diving, weight lifting, sailing, soccer, rugby, baseball, boxing, judo, and karate.

All water sports start and end at our marina.

Gorgeous Tall Ship with teams on the rafters singing!

Across from the marina are a lot of eateries.  There is a bank of cafes right as you exit the marina and then across from the marina is a handful of other tasty treats.  We decided to enjoy sunset from the rooftop bar called “Sunset.”

Sunset at Sunset’s bar.

Along the streets of Santa Marta you will find a lot of vendors selling their wares, but you will also find many fun street performers – everyone is trying to make a buck.

Yikes, bad photo, but these guys were amazing street dancers!

Our friend Barry, from Adventures of an Old Sea Dog even got into the action – here is performing one of his original songs.

INSERT BARRY VIDEO

Barry took us to one of his favorite street vendors.  It was down a dark alley with a few other food carts.  We stopped at the first one and had burgers (I had a chicken burger and they had beef) along with cheese fries and it was amazingly tasty!  All for 8,000 pesos ($2.50).

Matt and I are stocking up before we head to the San Blas Islands where grocery stores are non-existent.  Food is very cheap in Columbia, but you do have to shift your thinking.  They don’t have the same brands or types of foods so you must improvise.  In fact this grocery store, Jumbo is located inside Ocean Mall.  Always fun pushing a grocery cart through a shopping mall.

1 million 300 hundred thousand pesos later – our grocery run of staples. ($400). Shopping at the largest market which happens to be inside a mall.

Some basic staples to fill the bilges for San Blas islands.

Life in the marina includes:

• Daily walks to fresh fruit and veggie market.
• Easy access to loads of restaurants with tasty, cheap food.
• Close proximity to many cruisers which creates an instant community.
• Most noteworthy, nightly happy hour.
• Daily showers.
• Laundry twice a month.