While many travelers stay in Santa Marta on their way to visit Parque Nacional Tayrona, we opted to go one stop further along the coast and plant ourselves in a small town called Taganga.
Taganga is very much a tiny beach town, reminding us a lot of Utila or Caye Caulker in Belize. The beach front is lined with hotels, restaurants, and mini-markets.
The main drag in Taganga
We chose lodging a little ways up the hill at the end of the beach so that we could relax and get away from the crowds. The beginning of the week was fairly mellow, but by the end Semana Santa was in full force and it was fun to watch the huge crowds of people at the beach from the tranquilo rooftop pool at our hotel.
The hotel was actually more of a house with three rooms that can be rented, a full kitchen, tons of open air space for laying around in hammocks, and like I said, a rooftop pool. Definitely a luxury we weren’t originally planning on, but worth every penny in the end!
Looking back at our hotel from the beach. The house we stayed at is the one in the lower middle.
By the way I think this picture was taken one of the nights we went out for filet mignon. The food in Taganga was excellent so we definitely took advantage!
The “living room”
So it wasn’t really the beach itself that was packed, more like the water and any inch of shade. It was fun to walk through and people watch. There were lots of Colombian families who brought everything except the kitchen sink. A truck would pull up, 8 people would pile out and then they would unload coolers, chairs, blankets, food, etc. It was fun to watch, but not necessarily where we wanted to chill out and relax.
So instead we spent a lot of time doing this:
And this:
We spent almost an entire week in Taganga, relaxing, sleeping, eating, and exploring Parque Tayrona a bit.
Alex relaxing in between dives in Parque Tayrona
Amanda and I went snorkeling from the beach so that we could see some cool fish too!
It was a wonderful break from school and just what we needed to help us make it through the next 2.5 months of school!
From Russia with Love 
Looks beautiful!
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