Post: #1

Hi guys,

I ve read all the posts on santa marta but still dont know if its better to stay in el rodadero o santa marta itself ?
i plan in going in mid june for one month.
also any help to find a studio-appart for one month, cheap ?

thanks a lot !

Post: #2

I was in Santa Marta for 4 days last winter after the Carnaval in Barranquilla and I wasn't too impressed. The beach sucks; the sand is grey and the water murky, there's also a large industrial port right beside the beach where you can watch big tankers unload shipping containers as you lay on the beach. Its also hot as balls there with very high humidity, I was sweating like a pig all day and the sun was intense, make sure you get AC in the apartment.

The only bar I went to was called la puerta, its downtown around calle 18 and carrera 2, not far from the beach, there's also a decent strip club close by. There's a few other bars and decent restos around the big church and main square downtown, quite a few people there at night on the weekend.

Also, I remember sitting down on a busy street in Santa Marta to people watch and thinking to myself, damn, is this Colombia? The women there are a lot less attractive than in other Colombian cities. Also, I don't know what your level of Spanish is but I found the Costena people very difficult to understand.

Santa Marta is ok for a couple of days but I wouldn't stay an entire month, I'd say the surrounding areas such as Tagonga and Tayrona are better but I didn't make it up there, partied too hard during Carnaval!

Post: #3

(05-17-2012 06:38 PM)fab Wrote:  Hi guys,

I ve read all the posts on santa marta but still dont know if its better to stay in el rodadero o santa marta itself ?
i plan in going in mid june for one month.
also any help to find a studio-appart for one month, cheap ?

thanks a lot !

You are going to be bored out of your mine unless you plan on shacking up with one of the very few good looking chicks that live there. The vast majority of hot chicks in Santa Marta will be on vacation and just aren't going to be available to you.

I'll be in Cali from June 20th until July 7th....a friend of mine will be meeting me there a day after I get in....feel free to send me a PM if you want to give Cali a try and I'll see what I can do.

Post: #4

(05-17-2012 06:38 PM)fab Wrote:  Hi guys,

I ve read all the posts on santa marta but still dont know if its better to stay in el rodadero o santa marta itself ?
i plan in going in mid june for one month.
also any help to find a studio-appart for one month, cheap ?

thanks a lot !

stayed there 3 months, hard to find a place in SM much easier in Rodadero. Liked the diving, but other than that the place was boring to me. Took me almost a week to find a place and I was busting my ass looking and got lucky.

For logistics of getting ass SM would be better than Rodadero I think.
All my info is at the end of the Santa Marta Datasheet that Dash put out.

Post: #5

I would ditch Santa Marta and stay in Taganga. It's a nice place, safe, good hostels, good beaches, and a good base to go diving, go to the Tyrona park (which is *beautiful*) or just hang in the tourist beach.

As for women, I agree: costenas (girls of the coast) are not as hot as the cachacas (girls of the "interior": Bogota, Medellin, Cali, the Eje Cafetero). However, if you insist on it, for day game, I'd head over to Santa Marta. You can find datasheets in other threads. Also, for going out during the night - the same. Santa Marta or the Rodadero area.

Taganga is a good place to find European and American tourists, sometimes some Argentinian tourists as well. There's lost of inter-tourist sex that goes on there. Europeans and Americans bore the hell out of me, usually, but if that's your piece of cake - go for it.

Cheers!