You must not know what a party town is then.
[QUOTE=Bowerboy; 1104158]Yeah El Rodadeo is a real party town. Rty that placei mentioned callled Club Ibiza, two of the girls were amazing.
I stayed at Betoma Hotel. Fantastic place. 1 block back from the beach (on Calle 8).75, 000 per night with seaview balcony and wifi. Great rooms and hot water too. Still really loud though with musicfrom trhe beach. Awesome beach scene though and seems noise inescapable anywhere in rodadero.
Was in Banana tonight at 10:30pm and it was a huge improvement over the previous visit 3 nights ago. But still nothing compared to Club Ibiza.
Google Betome hotel. It gets great reviews[/QUOTE]I live about 3 months out of the year off and on in Rodadero, as I own a condo at Condominio Santa Maria del Mar, and Rodadero is far far and far from a party place. Most bars or discos you are lucky to find any customers in them. It is actually a very quiet place accept for the beach at night. Beach scene? You must be taking some really good drugs, as there is very little action in the way of girls on the beach. What you will find is mostly families, or couples on vacation. If anyone takes the time to read back through other posts, you will also find others talking about how quiet the place is.
This shit pisses me off when I see false information being posted. If you want beach action or a party atmosphere go to Cartagena, or otherwise you are going to be very disappointed. There are only 4 working girl bars in all of Rodadero and Santa Marta. Those looking for an apartment instead of a hotel, all you have to do is stroll across the beachfront. It has several apartment buildings with many rentals available, or you will find people standing everywhere with signs for apartment rentals. Most of these rentals are in Condominio Santa Maria del Mar or in Edificio Karey, as these two apartment complexes are basically next to each other. You can normally get a one or two bedroom rental for fifty to sixty dollars a night, and these are oceanview / beachfront facing properties. The cost for Christmas / New Years, and Semana Santa week are more. Bowerboy, if yiou are going to post information, post accurate information, or do not post at all, or get the frick off the drugs that you are hallucinating on.
Where should we stay while in Santa Marta?
My buddies and I are stopping in Santa Marta on the way to CTG. Anyone have suggestions of a high end place where we should stay that's near some chica action? At our ages, we realize that P4P is the way we will have to go, but we like to do it well. Any suggestions are very much appreciated.
Dave
Rodadero / Parque Tayrona Report
Sometimes I feel like I'm done with Colombia (even though I really haven't scratched the surface) , tired of lies of Colombianas, the hustle for your money. I'm ready to go on an adventure somewhere else. Then one chica can change that around in a hurry, restoring your faith in Colombiana-dom. That happened to me the other day. The following is both a travelogue of Rodadera / SM / Taganga / Parque Tayrona and a chica-logue. Lengthy, so chopped up in several parts.
Travelogue.
Using Blackhawk69's document on Santa Marta as a guide, I spent 2 1/2 days in Rodadero, trying to do as much as I can without overdoing it, pacing myself. Took the Marisol bus from CTG for 40K, which dropped me off at the Marisol station in Rodadero, instead of my hotel, the Betoma on Calle 8 in Rodadero, but it was only a 3 block walk.
Checked into Hotel Betoma. It was immediately obvious that this isn't high season, as it seemed like I was only one of a very few customers in the 6 story hotel. As per Blackhawk69's suggestion, I got a room that didn't completely face the beach (to avoid the beach noise into the wee hours) , but faced Calle 8. The hotel is a bit old and worn around the edges, but for 50 bucks a night it was well worth the price. Even the staff is old, but actually that is a good thing, they're well seasoned service people, and all in all, they were excellent. They have a giant safe in the back of the lobby as the only safe box in the hotel, and you have to open your box with your key and their key, sorta like the basement of the Fed or a missile silo. Fresh water supplied to the room every day, saving the planet from more wasted plastic bottles. Magic jack telephone at the front desk to call the USA for free. Structurally Betoma is 3 stars, in service 4 stars.
Arriving in mid afternoon, quickly unpacked and headed to the beach. It was easy to note that Rodadero is very much a family vacation place, a west facing beach (great sunset!) , the usual sabanas / carpeterias to rent, but much less agressive vendors than CTG. Immediately in the mood to explore, I went to the righmost (northern) part of the beach, up and down a flight of stairs across an inlet, to get to the launcha area. This is where you can buy tix for a boat to get to the next beach, more isolated, called Playa Blanca. It is 40mil tique for 1-4 people, and because I was travelling solo, that was expensive. So 10 of us in the launcha put on our life jackets for a 5 minute ride to playa Blanca, which sits just around the bend from a rock-outcropping from Rodadero beach, very isolated. It is a south facing beach, so you better bring your sunscreen white boy! Thatched huts behind the sabanas to serve your every drink and food need. Again mostly Colombian couples / families. Got my first glimpse of relatively clear Carribean water (but nothing in comparison to Parque Tayrona beaches).
I stayed till the last launcha is supposed to return at 4:30, which in Colombian time, is actually 5 to 5:30. Don't know what happens if you miss it, but I can think of worse things than being stuck on a tropical beach overnight. The sand is not really white (blanca) , but very light brown and clean, very nice.
Aftering dousing myself in Aloe Vera lotion, I cleaned up and went to dinner at Donde Chuchos, about 3 blocks north of Hotel Betoma. Great place, great food, great service, two enthusiastic thumbs up, especially if you're in the mood for seafood.
Afterwards, I walked through the little markets, malecon and the beach area of Rodadero for a few hours. Circles of folks gathered on the beach to sing Vallenato and other forms of Latin music, with heavy drumming and accordians, of course, to the wee hours of the night. Since it was off season, it wasn't as loud or crazy as I thought it would be, but it's the kind of fun atmosphere that you rarely see in gringo-land. People wanting to dance all night on the beach and have a good time. No notice of SWs or any kind of similar activity in the beach area, except for a friendly wave from some giggly teenyboppers, which kind of weirded me out, actually. Discovered those little coffee vendors with 300 peso shot of sweet coffee dr*g for an instant perk-up.
Expected the worst when I went back to my hotel room, the noise was really nothing. The sound of a nearby disco was much worse than the beach, but a good pair of 34db earplugs took care of that. A relief, since I wanted a good rest for my first foray into Parque Tayrona the next day.
Getting up earlier than usual (but apparently not early enough) , had an American breakfast at restaurant Suize, on Carrera 2, half block north of Hotel Betoma. Hopped in a cab and settled for 15 mil pesos ride to the fishing village of Taganga, a lauching off point for excursions to the beaches of Parque Tayrona. Hooked up with Hector, a launcha middleman on a hill overlooking Taganga, and I purchased a launcha ride to Playa Grande for 25 mil pesos round trip.
It's a beautiful ride in the launcha boat, and you begin to get a glimpse of the rocky shore and outcropping of Parque Tayrona. The outcroppings are like fingers and the beaches reside between the fingers, big long fingers, with crystal clear Carribean water smacking into the rocks, unleashing the blue-torquoise color of the water. The whole background of Parque Tayrona are large mountains coming right down into the sea.
Playa Grande is a very nice beach, and if you go no further than that, you are certainly not being robbed. Big beach of about 300 yards. Many thatched restaurants behind the beach, lots of chairs for rent, shade provided by lotsa trees on the beach if you get too cooked by the sun (not hard to do). Just happened to be parked by a group of four bikini clad woman. 2 nice ones, two truck sized. I noticed even the serious pregnant wear bikinis in Colombia. Hector tells me the 2 nices ones are independent putas from Santa Marta. I filed that piece of info in short term memory as I had other immediate plans for the day.
This beach gives you the first glimpse of the clear Caribbean water. Because of the finger-cove effect, the water is shallow for a stretch with no undertow (NOT true on some of the other beaches, caveat emptor). I walked up to my neck in the water, and could see the bottom perfectly clear. Watched white Angel fish swim around my legs, very cool!
Had lunch in one of the restaurants. Hector comes out with a lunch tray with 3 dead fish on it, just caught that day, Morrita (tilapia) , Pargo (red snapper) and a 3rd, can't remember the name, but it was cool to pick out from the daily catch of that day. I went with the Pargo, with papas fritas, coco-rice and salad, with guayanaba juice sin leche (with leche is much better, but I'm avoiding milk). Washed the grease off in the salt water.
But I was itching to explore some more. However, Hector and some of the others tell me that it would be impossible to get to the eastern end of the Parque at this time, which was a bummer to me. Shoulda got there earlier (note: the first launchas launch 8 or 9AM). Undaunted, and knowing that money talks, I rented an entire launcha myself to go as far eastward as possible to hit the beach (es).
But no one warned me what was to come. As you go more eastward in the park, and you get beyond the tip of the fingers, this is open sea, and the current flows from east to west, which means my little launcha of me and my driver were heading into some really tough waves. The scenery was spectacular but the boat, with only two folks in it, was very light. Over and over, I or the boat took some serious air, landing on my butt. It was about 90% exciting. 10% scarey. I started singing to myself 'a 3 hour tour, a 3 hour tour. The tiny ship was tossed. '. I was also hoping not to get tossed into the drink, nor my camera. When you're in a wave trough and you see that you're going to smash the next crest, higher than the boat, it is anything but boring. The main point is that if there are any breezes in the Caribbean Sea that day, it is daunting task to go eastward, though you may have more success in a fully loaded launcha boat of people. Took about 45 minutes to get there, and made me love the land under my feet that much more!
Finally, we got past the open sea into more baylike conditions, heading to Playa Concha. I could see the mountains around the beach went from arid to a more lush, jungle-like condition. When we landed, it was awesome. A 400 yard beach with about 20 tourists on it. Had a whole section to myself. Being on an nearly isolated beach was a goal of mine, and I finally got there. The water on the beach was just as clear as Playa Grande, but it fell off into much deeper water very quickly. Settled down and fell asleep in the sun, burning various parts of my body where I forgot to put sunscreen. Made friends with a beach cat. My driver Jose and I agreed that we'd go back to Playa Grande in the late afternoon. He re-iterated the fact with the nature of the sea breezes that day, it was not a good idea to go any further east.
The trip back was not nearly as troublesome, going with the current, and had more time to enjoy the scenery and take some movies, though the waves were just a big as previously. We went right through a school of flying fish twice, very cool. Jose, my driver, took me all the way back to Taganga.
Taganga is part fishing village, part young-people-wannebe-hippie-with-daddy's-money hangout. Saw the boats come in with loads of Bonito and Pargo. Someone caught a 6 foot shark also. Hung around, went to a coffee shop run by a Swedish guy, and enjoyed the hippie-fishing village vibe till I got a cab back to Rodadero. Not 100% of my goal, as I was hoping to get to Playa Cristal, but way more than satisfied. I really was thrilled by the whole day's experience. I'd come back here in a heartbeat.