Travel article: Minca

From Cartagena we decided to spend some time on the Caribbean coast. First stop: Minca! 4 hours of bus, one taxi and one colectivo later we arrived in the mountains of Minca. One member of the team was missing: my hat! Stolen in the bus !

We discovered a not so clean hostel (the worst of the trip...) so at night to feel better we treated ourselves with an amazing French dinner at a restaurant I forgot the name of! The steak was perfectly cooked, the pepper sauce reminded us our childhood in Paris and the mash potato was divine. It felt like a gastro restaurant after 5 months in Central America! There was also a bakery selling « pain viennois », so good!

We came here to hike the mountains and get some fresh air after the humidity of Cartagena.

To do so a motorbike driver took us on top of the mountain, these were the longest 30 minutes of my life... Bumps, holes, dirt and all of this at 50 km/h. Cedric’s driver was even faster ! What a relief when the motorbike stopped.... Definitely the scariest drive of the whole trip.  We arrived at Los Pinos, welcomed by guerrilla members (not sure which party) and we left straight away to hike the 18 kilometres down the mountain.

Beautiful scenery on the Sierra Nevada mountains and the sea, many birds flying around, nobody in sight and majestuous waterfalls of Pozo Azul and Marinka. We also stopped at Casa Elemento where we rested on huge hammocks. So cool!

A great little break from the hot temperatures, we sure loved Minca and it’s peaceful atmosphere!

# from Cartagena: take a bus to Santa Marta terminal (25,000 pesos), a taxi to el mercado (8,000 pesos) and then a colectivo (8,000 pesos)  that leaves when full to Minca. Total of 6 hours roughly.

# don’t stay in Akainoe. Really dirty.

# don’t miss the French restaurant in Minca. Amazing!

# you can ask a local to drive you to Los Pinos for 15,000 pesos and start the hike (25,000 to Casa Elemento). Be mentally prepare though, it’s a tough ride...

# 18 kilometres hike. Not so hard.


       

   

  

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