YIKES it's hot along the coast - time to head to the mountains!

It sure has been a hot tour along the north coast!  After we left Santa Marta we continued going east and got to a little village of the Wayúu people, Dibulla.  Lots of indigenous people living here in the village next to the sea. We found a nice spot to park right on the beach again, but this time the beach is very nice. Reminded us of our place in Honduras. 

Lots of thatched roof houses, houses made of mud and sticks and then also concrete houses. Where we parked is close to Marakarita's BnB. Marakarita (Wayúu for Margarita) is a transplanted Colombia from Bogota who moved here 2 years ago. She also runs a small pizza and beer place. Both of which we tried 😋. Parking where we are is free.

We set up camp for 2 days and enjoyed watching the sea since after this spot we are going inland. We could go further east but have decided it won't be much different and we are really hot here! Since no power to plug in to use the a/c we have just the roof exhaust fan and the 12v fan we just bought. Both actually keep it bearable inside at night. 

This is a nicer road to get to the beach site. 

Our spot for a couple of days 

View one way along the beach 

And our view the other way 

Just after the rain we see a rainbow over Marakarita's place 

Tonight's dinner are pork tacos with guacamole, pico de gallo and sour cream 

Ummmmmm they're good!!  LOL!!!

Had the solar panel out the 2nd day to recharge the batteries to use the 12v fan and roof fan.

Our new clip-on 12v fan - works great!!

We put our Careful of the Dog sticker on that we had made when we were in Comox- should keep us safe 😊

As you can see no one is around us :) 

We even got the shower tent out and had a great shower :) 

Next day one of the local girls came over to visit. Denise Sofia :)  she's 9 years old but doesn't speak any English. So we tried our best to converse in Spanish. Oh course she wanted to see the inside of our van - and she just smiled. She also showed us how she could do the splits and bend over backwards and flip. I had cooked up some arepàs so we shared with her. We then needed to go to the store to get some ice for our beer bag. She came along as far as her house and then went home. We continued on to the store where we bought ice in foot long plastic bags about 3" in diameter. Actually pretty good because once melted I could put one of them in the freezer and reuse. The other leaked out :( 

Denise Sophia - she always said both names :) 

A visitor along the beach 

Later in the afternoon a Wayúu lady comes by to sell woven bags that we've seen lots of hanging for sale in Santa Marta and along the highway to Dibulla. The ones the woman carry are of bright colours and the men carry darker coloured ones. I bought a nice bright orange and yellow one :)  She then asked for some water - don't blame her since it's stifling hot to be walking around selling stuff - even she's sweating!  After we gave her a glass of water she asked that I pick out a key ring with bubbles on it, told I didnt need one, no it's a "regalo" a gift :)  How nice. Unfortunately I forgot to get a picture of her and her goods :(  

My new bag

And my key ring regalo :)

On Tuesday we headed out. We were going to go see if we could see the flamingos that are about 30 minutes east but it was already 9:30 and very hot. So figured we would have had to start really early to have been able to see them. Marakarita agreed with me when I said goodbye. I'm sure we will see more somewhere along our trip 😉

Houses along the roadway going out.  The pink is for one of the candidates running for mayor.

We have to head back towards Santa Marta to turn onto the highway going south towards Bogota.  On the way we look for a place that shows on IOverlander to get water since we are almost out. Found it and filled the tank for 5000COP ($2) Then a stop at a tire shop to use the air to fill the rear airbags.

While we are there a van parks beside us that is from New Zealand - more Overlanders! :)  They are Tanya and Paul and have been in SA for 4 months. They actually bought their van in Santiago, Chile with Washington plates but put a New Zealand sticker over Washington! Said it's been easier.  So we chatted awhile - they are going to go as far east as possible - they had thought we would have been there already. We give them one of our cards and they will email me to give their blog info. I'm sure we will meet again since they will be heading south again because when they were in the Patagonia area in June it was to cold! They also gave us a good place to go in Ecuador to see the Blue Footed Booby bird without paying the expensive tours to the Galapagos! Just what we are looking for :) 

We then head into Sant Marta because I have to get to a Claro store to get my phone registered otherwise it will be locked and I can't use it. Not sure why?? I've tried registering it myself online but it wont accept my passport number. 

We find a mall with both Claro and a grocery store plus a food court so we can get everything done in one trip. Get to the Claro store and they even had problems trying to register my phone (no one spoke English in the whole store and there must have been 30 employees in this store!!) But seems like they finally were able to do something with my driver's license and said I should get a message later that it's registered. Ok....  Which I did about 2 hours later, so hope I dont get anymore messages saying I have to register my phone to continue to use it!

Then we have a quick lunch in the food court - just chicken and fries and McD's ice cream cone for dessert. Off to the grocery store to buy a few things then back to the van. Stop for gas and a water outlet to fill our 20 litre drinking water bottle and we're back on the road.

We drive along for about and hour when all of a sudden traffic is stopped both ways. We see a couple of ambulances pass us. So this may be a long wait if its a bad accident. Eventually we are moving slowly - seems they must have one lane open because traffic is now coming from the opposite direction. So its a stop and go for another hour!  As usual the locals make the best of this situation by walking along selling water and snacks :) 

Once we get going we cant see where there has been an accident so not sure what the delay was for. And I think ambulances here are like in Honduras, they just drive around with their lights on all the time passing traffic! But this delay has put us behind and we aren't going to get to a nice spot I found that had a pool! The closest place is a hostel still 1.5 hrs away. Should get there before it's dark. 

We find the hostel around 5:30 and ask if we can park next to their building - no problem. Also another free spot for the night. But we are right next to the highway where lots of trucks are going by but that should end by around 10. But this place being a hostel - lots of truckers park here and stay in the hostel. So it wasn't long before the parking lot if full of trucks! Oh well tomorrow we'll find a quiet spot :)  

This morning I got an email from Paul and Tanya and they also use Polarsteps which is great because now we can follow where they have been and where they are at :)  I was also able to add our Polarsteps to the blog so you can see exactly where we are and have been 😎.