Taganga Fleet
Traveling without a set itinerary or doing anything more than a bit of cursory research on the country where I plan to visit gives me an opportunity to decide at a moments notice what each day will bring and the ability to go with the rising tide! Visiting the Caribbean tourist town of Taganga, Colombia was no different, as others where I was staying in Cartagena said they were taking a bus 5 hours out of the city I threw my name in and joined them.
Taganga is a small town outside of the larger town of Santa Marta, it was explained to me that both Santa Marta and Taganga was the one-time base for the marijuana trade, the best in the world being Santa Marta Gold. The height of prosperity here came in the years of Pablo Escobar and they have each experienced a massive economic downturn since. Taganga is mostly now a homeport for offshore fisherman and a partying backpacker community.
After my daily travel routine of running, working on my website, and reading, I strapped on my camera backpack and ventured out to explore the local culture. The beach is lined with these fishing boats, as the men come in from a day spent working the waters they have their catch inspected by officers on the beach and walk up and down the waterfront and beach selling fresh caught fish. There are also small restaurants and stands that they sell the days fresh catch to. As the developed world moves at an astonishing pace, a simpler way of life passes here. Salsa music wafts through the air coming from a local house, the scent of the dirt roads mixed with the hot tropical salt air fills your senses, and the stress of modern world begins to fall away fast; one just has to slow down to let it!