Taganga

Dec
01
2009

Taganga

Taganga, Colombia

After taking care of some business in Santa Marta like finding a working ATM and admiring the first Santa Clause I have ever seen on a beach…..we grabbed a 20 minute taxi across a sea cliff to the tourist village of Taganga, Colombia.

I gave the driver his $3 and paused for a minute to let my eyes drink in the scenery. Water the color of jewels, white albeit somewhat dirty sand, and lots of travelers…this was the coastal paradise that had me burning up kilometers across Ecuador for the past week.

We checked into the Casa Blanca, a Swiss owned hotel directly on the beach with incredible views but perhaps the most murderous, unfriendly bastards they could hire to staff the front desk (yes, I will tell you how I really feel).

There were cheaper and friendlier hostels such as the Dutch-owned Hollandia or the French-owned Casa Filipe where you can immediately smell the owner-chef’s latest creation when you walk in, but they were quite a ways up the hill away from the beach. If there is ever a time to splurge while traveling, your last week on the road in 2009 is the time to do it!

barbed wire around the beach

Even after 8 solid days in Taganga, it is still an enigma to me. I want to love it, but there are just too many reasons to hate the place. I want to hate it, but there are just as many reasons why I like the place.

After closer examination, Taganga seems to be a foul parody of paradise. One of those places that look picturesque from the top of a cliff, when you are still too far away to see the ashtray they call a beach or the condoms floating in the water.

Rusted bottle caps and gravel make up the beach rather than sand and shells. POW camp concertina wire and broken glass decorate walls rather than colorful murals. There is no reef so you spend your swim time looking at interesting rubbish artifacts on the bottom and avoiding the plastic bags that drift around like white jellyfish.

At night, even on weekends, there isn’t an abundance of nightlife. Strung-out travelers and locals mix uneasily in front of the shops in a sullen murmur, sitting on steps and drinking rum or eating hamburgers and hotdogs. There are cheap offers of cocaine hissed from every shadow while you walk.

If you have been to Taganga, go take another look before sending me my usual dose of flaming hate-mail when I write something the way I see it. The place has apparently changed radically in the last year from what my 2005 Lonely Planet calls “a quiet fishing village” into what will probably one day be the drug raped Gili Trawangan of South America.

There is rampant construction going on all along the waterfront and even the extra bricks of the new walkway and other construction waste still lay around in plain site - it doesn’t take forensics to realize that things have changed here very recently. Trash is already piling up because apparently the bins are stolen as fast as the government puts them out!

Beach in Taganga

Tourism is new here. The fishermen are apparently long gone because a simple fried fish with rice bought right on the beach within eyesight of the boats can cost you $8! Needless to say, prices here for eating, partying, and anything in between are brutal. The food will sadly make you watch the clock in dread of lunch and dinner, unless you pay the price in one of the hostels listed above for something more edible.

My last and worst complaint are the locals. In 23 countries of travel I don’t think I have ever encountered a more hateful, unfriendly, miserable bunch of people in my life. Whether they be shopkeepers, hostel workers, waiters….I can honestly say that these people would rather stab you in the face than attempt to smile. I can’t put a finger on it, maybe it has something to do with the recent construction, or maybe there is a local mafia shaking things up - but with someone getting very rich and within eyesight of the Caribbean, it really is surprising behavior.

Pretty much every day you will be ignored in queues to pay, even with money in hand, ignored by your waiter who will bring you the wrong order then run like hell, given disgusted looks, shouted at, all but spit on when you try to conduct transactions as simple as buying a bottle of water. So many times I busted someone giving me the wrong price or incorrect change. Expect to fight for the smallest amount of respect.

Even though I am ranting, it wasn’t all negative.

On the flip side, Taganga has a rugged charm that kind of grows on you like a fungus. I enjoyed it because it was one of the first places I have been able to interact with lots of other travelers in Colombia. The weather was a perfect 90+ degrees every day and the sunsets are impressive.

After a week here you either learn to start liking the place with all its rough edges, or run like hell from all the red-eyed backpackers that moved here for the cheap blow.

I spent an incredible and extremely lazy 8 days here in Taganga, which after all the hurry up and wait lifestyle of exchanging night buses for day buses, feels totally unnatural. It was a great place to sit on the beach, get lost inside my own head, and absorb some of the things I saw in 8 different countries this year.

This beach gave me time to get centered, prepare myself for hitting home during a busy Christmas season, and to enjoy the end of my third year of vagabonding. For this reason, Taganga will always get a special place in my heart.

Posted in in: Colombia | |

4 Comments »

Felicia

Such a pity. When we were planning our Colombia trip, I was really looking forward to getting our dive licenses in Taganga.

Hope you’re doing well dude! Happy New Year!

Comment | December 31, 2009
Simon

Hey Greg!

Wow you had it rough! Although I notice this negative tone in all your writings on Colombia.

Some people like some cultures better than other and I think, and please don’t take this bad, you expect everything to be the way it is in Thailand.

I believe every continent/culture has its own vibe and rhythm, and South America is way stronger/aggressive/inyourface than South East Asia where everyone is under the Buddhist influence.
Also the amount of time a country has been exposed to tourism makes a huge difference, and people learn that
tourists are precious.

Personally I don’t like Taganga, too many Israelies and gringos getting wasted in every way they can.
I only go to Taganga for the diving, which is good if you know where to go to, and I don’t stay over night.

Just personal thought coming from a traveler friend

Simon

Comment | January 7, 2010
Laura

Greg,
I was doing some research for a project and stumbled across your blog. I have been in Taganga now a little more than a week and I can not wrap my brain around your negative experience with the locals. I think that they are lovely people, and are dealing with the invasion of foreign tourists with as much grace as one can. I am sure that they can feel that their home is changing as the bus loads of tourists pour into the youth hostels. God know what will happen to the town in the next 10 years. Seems like in no time the Hilton will be trying to buy up the one little piece of public beach and make people pay to use it.
There are probably just too many foreign jackasses coming to Taganga to exploit its people by buying drugs and sex and not to simply watch the sunset and swim.
Try to understand where people are coming from and not just label them as a “hateful, unfriendly, miserable”
That is just not fair.

Comment | January 21, 2010
Greg

I’m glad you had a better experience in Taganga than I did…maybe it was the time of year (Christmas) or some other variable that I don’t know about, but I can assure you that when I was there (and other friends met there will confirm) that the people were anything but lovely.

I don’t like writing negative reviews, but in a 5 year tradition of keeping this blog completely personal and honest, I have to stand by what I wrote. I went to Taganga with an open heart and mind and really was not received well. It wasn’t at all an “in your face” problem, I appreciate that attitude after traveling China, Egypt, and even places in the US. It was plain and simple rudeness.

Keep in mind that someone speaking good Spanish, or in Simon’s case being from Colombia, probably makes a huge difference in the treatment. I did meet a lot of jackass gringo travelers there for the drugs, and no doubt they have jaded the locals.

Comment | January 24, 2010