I had never seen Cactus before in Colombia.It looks dry in Santa Marta but feels hot and humid.
We stayed at the Decameron Galeon.Its about 10 miles west of Rodedero,has a private beach,not much else out there.
The Decamerons are a chain of all inclusive hotels,everything included.Room,3 meals,drinks.Drinks that is if you don't mind standing in line for a 4 ounce beer.Just get back in line again,you will drink it before you get another one.I was particularly unimpressed with that.Just sell me a 16 ouncer,don't waste my time.
Kind of vacation by cattle car.But the price was good,545,000 pesos each for 3 nights including air fare from Cali.The only other hotel I could get much imformation on the Irotama,also all inclusive but twice as much,making the hotel itself about 4 times as much after you figure air fare cost in.Actually the Decameron package was cheaper than last miniute air fare so I thought I could always just kiss off the hotel and go to another one.But it was not that bad.Food was OK,but you have to wait arount their schedule,dinner at 8.30.The room was OK, like 3 star maybe.The beach was not crowded,and NO vendors.A Colombian we met said there is actual sewage in the water at Rodedero and our beach was much better.
One afternoon we went to Rodedero.Big hotels.only a couple without at least a road between you and the beach.Some beach vendors,not as bad as Cartagena.We also went to the city of Santa Marta.Kind of ordinary except for the several blocks of beach front.
So,a little disapointing.When someone tells you the best part was the price there is something lacking.But the beach was nice.The water was nice,seemed clean if not clear.My girl liked it,said all she wanted was to sequester me to herself anyway.She is a real good girls,works real hard as a nurse for not much money,gets 2 weeks vacation a year but couldn't afford to go anywhere.Never gives me a miniutes hassle about anything,just real easy going but always right there for me.So she diserved a vacation.
Don't think l I will be going back for awhile.I like Cartagena and even San Andreas better.And all inclusive leaves me wanting the better service I can get by paying for it at the time I want it.
Funny,they wanted to give us some sort of a pitch for timeshare or buying some future pachage of benefits.Well you kow me from recent posts here,I wouldn't do that if I LIKED the place and wanted to return.
But,especially for money straped Colombian families it giuves then an opportunity to stay somewhere half way affordable.A good alternative?Renting a condo that will sleep 8 for less than the cost of a hotel.Kitchen included,don't eat all meals out.Seeker gave me a name of a woman with contacts in Santa Marta,,I couldn't contact her.I do know a guy that does that in Cartagena.But how do you find these places easily?
My current project with my Colombiano partner,a real estate web site for Cali.We will include vacation rentals to all the major Colombian vacation destinations.Hooking up people who want to rent with people who have places sitting empty seems like a good idea.The guy I know in Cartagena gets 40% of the rent to manage the condos.How he gets his renters or owners I don't know.We are thinking of a mailer to all the owners of certain condo buildings in primo locations,then putting them on our web site.We will do lots of little adds in newpapers directing people to our web site.More coming soon on the web site soon,its just about ready.
There is a world wide web site for vacation rentals,vrbo.com but they have nothing in Colombia.But for other locations check it out.I used them once when my ex and step son wanted to take our dog with us to Lake Tahoe.There is a little paw symbol if they take dogs.Beats lots of e mail questions and lots of no's.And you can rent houses that will sleep 6-10 people for the price of an overpriced hotel.Some really luxurious places.
Next vacation?To the states late June.This time I plan do do what I didn't last year because of a medical issue.Buy a car in the south,spend amonth traveling the US,sell it in California,hopefully pay for the trip .I used to do that yeer ago in the states for fun,then it became a business with overhead,a mistake.Wish I had a girl with a tourist visa.Hmm,maybe I should advertise?
Pete
