New York: Day 2 – Greenpoint, Williamsburg and Brooklyn Markets

We decided since we weren't staying in Manhattan, we should give this side of the East River a try.  Luckily it was also a Saturday which  meant market day!

We thought we should try walking the area but this turned out to be a stupid idea as for one thing it was 12 kilometres of walking, ONE WAY, and secondly, I was wearing new shoes which I was sure by the end of the day would be filled with blood.

Anyway we set off to have breakfast in Greenpoint, a suburb of Brooklyn just north of Williamsburg.  By the time we actually made it there it was closer to lunch so I felt less guilty when breakfast came with a bloody mary.

On the way to Greenpoint

59th Street Bridge

View across to Manhattan

Just in case anyone is looking for one - and you don't even need your spouse to sign!

View from the Polaski Bridge across to Manhattan

The next stop was the Williamsburg Flea Market.  It was a cute little market in an old warehouse full of overly trendy and too cool people.  I felt thoroughly out of place in my blue jeans (which I wasn't wearing ironically).  By this stage my foot was one giant blister so I made the executive decision to catch the train the rest of the way.  Brooklyn Flea Market was amazing.  There were so many beautiful pieces of furniture and randomness it was heartbreaking not to be able to buy any of it.  We decided to head home purchase-less (except for the maple bacon mini cup cake) and rest up before heading in to the city.

View of the Chrysler Building from Williamsburg

Looking across at Manhattan from outside the Flea Market

That day was also a very important day as it was the Macy's One Day Sale.  A momentous occasion.  If my mother had been with us she would have gone to the preview day the day before, hidden all the good stuff then run in either really early in the morning or late at night when there were less people.  We had hoped that by going in the evening it would a little quieter and since the sale finished at 11pm we thought a 9pm arrival would make things nice and pleasant.  We were wrong.  It was still kaos.  Bags were flying everywhere, shoes were being snatched out of peoples hands, hair was being pulled, floral print satin was being purchased.  It was a nightmare.  We quickly got in and out and then thought we should check out the lights of Times Square at night.

As it was a Saturday and a lovely warm night, the place was even more crowded than usual.  I made Marc take his pictures and soak up the atmosphere as quickly as possibly before shoving him down into a subway station to make our way back to the calm and peaceful LIC.

New York: Day 1 – getting our bearing and our shop on

Our first full day in New York!  Marc was super excited about EVERYTHING.  We are staying in Long Island City (“LIC” – look at me with the local lingo) in the borough of Queens.  I have never thought of staying here before but I am glad we are.  We found an apartment through airbnb staying with a lovely artistic couple and their super fluffy cat.  The apartment is close to the subway and only two stops from Manhattan.

It's a pretty big apple.

Our train station over in LIC

We woke up early with the plan to shop for all the essentials we had been missing from South America.  Namely, an iPad, fashionable clothes and soy milk.  We caught the train to Lexington Ave (first stop in Manhattan) and hit the chain stores, Urban Outfitters, H&M and my beloved Zara.  We then zig zagged our way down to Times Square. 

Marc of late has become obsessed with the NBC TV series 30 Rock, so we made a stop at Rockefeller Centre and of course the Lego store there.  On our way to Times Square we stumbled upon Magnolia Bakery, conveniently no longer in just one location!  For the boys, Magnolia bakery is known for its cupcakes (often credited with starting the cupcake craze) and was made famous by the HBO series Sex and the City (amongst other TV shows and films).

The lego version is much cooler.

That Magnolia Bakery bag contained 2 flourless chocolate cupcakes and a tub of their banana pudding.  Soooo good!

After feeling thoroughly overwhelmed by the crowds in Times Square we made our way down Broadway to one of my favourite buildings, the Flat Iron building on 23^rd Street.  Here we wandered through the awesome food markets and planned the rest of the afternoon.  We decided we needed to get a little more shopping out of the way and Marc needed to replenish his white Hanes t-shirt stock so I suggested we tackle Century 21.  For those of you who have not had the pleasure of experiencing the marvel that is Century 21 let me try and explain it to you.  It is like the Boxing Day sales combined with the hype that was Krispy Kreme when it first came to Australia.  EVERY DAY.  It is like a button down shirt and vest sale in Fitzroy (hipsters go crazy for that shit).  Or any kind of sale combined with Asians.  Pure vicious pandemonium.

Once all wholly necessary items had been purchased we started to make our way home.  I wanted Marc to experience Whole Foods Supermarket (I have a thing for supermarkets) and we thought we would grab a quick healthy dinner whilst we were there.  We went to the Time Warner Centre in Columbus Circle and again were overwhelmed by the number of people too lazy to cook for themselves.  Our final stop before we made our way back to LIC was the Apple store on 5^th Avenue, which in case anyone is interested, is open 24 hours a day every day of the year. 

We were both utterly exhausted from day one in NYC so we had an early night in preparation for day two!

Taganga and Tayrona

So I think the only reason one would go to Taganga is to go to Tayrona National Park.  The town is small and cute-ish but it doesn’t really have that much to offer in my opinion.  The beaches are only ok, it’s a little dirty, and due to the high number of tourists visiting the area, the price of everything is a little higher than it needs to be.  But the people are friendly and helpful and there are worse places one could find themselves (like North Korea, Yemen, New Jersey).

Taganga

Mmmm, so clean.

 Marc and I went to Taganga with Kate and her mates with the intention of doing the lost city trek (6 days of hiking in the jungle and in the heat) but once we did the math we realised we were running out of time (strange to have that feeling on a nine month holiday but trust me, it happens).  So we decided instead to spend a few days in Taganga and then head to Tayrona National Park.

Tayrona National Park covers around 12,000 hectares of land and is fairly well untouched except for the camping sites, restaurants and amenities set up for hordes of tourists trying to “rough it”.  There are a few luxury cabins but mostly it is camping or hammocks.

The walk into the park takes around an hour.  The paths into the park were poorly maintained to the point where we didn’t really have a path to walk on.  The park is owned by airline company Aviatur, who spend a lot of their time building luxury accommodation, ignoring park entrance quotas, profiting off beautiful natural environs, and ignoring any maintenance of trails or amenities.

The main reason people flock to Tayrona is for the beaches.  They are beautiful and the swimming beaches are nestled into calm little bays surrounded by palm trees.  We stayed at Cabo san Juan, probably the most popular with the tourists.  Our accommodation was in a large hut built on a rocky outcrop where you can sleep in hammocks whilst listening to the waves crash underneath you.  It really was quite lovely but I am glad we only stayed for one night.

The hut where we slept

Our hammocks

The quieter beach a little further on from Cabo san Juan

Cartagena

After a rather uneventful stop in Medellín, we decided we needed to hit the Caribbean Coast and get some much needed sun.  We were relieved to get off our bus after 14 hours in antarctic conditions.  The relief was short lived when we stepped out of the freezing bus into 35 degree heat and 80% humidity.  The long pants, jumpers, scarves and beanies didn't help either.

Accommodation was hard to come by so we had booked only one night in a cute but air-condition-less hostel.  Marc conveniently became sick and required some pampering and creature comforts to recover.  This was when we booked ourselves in to the Charleston Hotel.  Possibly one of the nicest places I have ever seen.

Our lovely hotel for two nights

The internal courtyard, also where we had our delicious buffet breakfast with obligatory omelette station.

The rooftop pool.

View down to Bocagrande, the modern rich end of town.

View into the walled city.

The hotel at night

The main thing to do in Cartagena is wandering inside the beautiful and historic walled city.  And visiting a 15 metre "volcano" which spews up mud.  So these are the two things we did!  We were also lucky enough to meet up with a friend from work, Kate, and all her travelling buddies who we spent a few days with and travelled with them to Taganga.

The "volcano" or more just a hill with mud in it.

Waiting my turn to enter to mud volcano, and questioning my sanity.

Mud massage

Being manoeuvred out of the way 

The aftermath

Marc trying to get out, much harder than trying to get in.

The mud was EVERYWHERE. 

Post mud bath wash where nice women wash ALL the mud off you.
Left to right: Paul, Florian, Kate, Penny, Kurt, Marc, Leigh, Hannah

Marc hanging out on the wall

The wall, with the Caribbean on the left and the city on the right.

Cafe del Mar bar which sits on top of the wall.