Quick thought. Did nobody in Colombia have shoes a few months back and now they are trying to make up for lost time? Every second store in the cities seems to be a shoe store. Every 3rd or 4th street vendor sells shoes too. And socks. What is with the street vendors all selling socks? Do the regular stores not sell them? No judgments, just thoughts.
We left Santa Marta a little later and did our short 2 hour ride to Baranquilla, a larger port city where the Magdelena River meets the Atlantic. We spend quite some time riding on a long isthmus spanning a floodplain of the Magdelena delta. This was another area where some of the inequalities of Colombia show. Typically quite a clean country, some of the shanty villages had streets covered in garbage, homes made of mud, steel or bamboo, whatever may be available. Colombia is the 7th most iniquitous country in the world, and at times it shows. Still, a beautiful area and the people living there all seemed happy going about their day.
Arriving in Baranquilla, mostly just a stop for the night, we stay at the Atrium Plaza Hotel. A beautiful place for a reasonable price, but in the heart of the city, where few tourist spots or restaurants exist. We cruise the streets for a few hours, visit a mall (always interesting) and then search dinner. In the end, we settle for streetside pizza, which wasn’t too bad considering it’s price. Was quite something to watch the pizza maker going about his job while loads of people waited for a slice on the street.
We had one bar near us, which for some reason seemed to be the hot spot in. Baranquilla for a Sunday. Packed from about 4pm on, loud music, people dancing. Even congregating on the street surrounding it. It seemed like all of the activity for a couple blocks was concentrated around the one place.
Ended the night back in the hotel. I tuned in the Seahawks game in Spanish before heading off to sleep.
Colombia Motorcycle Ride 