I almost died, like 700 times – trip to Santa Marta

You’ve probably heard that driving anywhere south of the boarder is dangerous.  Well apparently the further south you go, the worse it gets…  Every bus on the road is beat to shit (I know, I really shouldn’t talk), and after my first bus ride it’s easy to understand why.  I think an accident happens on the roads of Colombia every 10 seconds, with a horn being honked nearly constantly.

I used one of those private bus company deals, takes you door-to-door and is only slightly more expensive than a traditional bus.  I read and slept while we picked up the other travelers, and got out of the city for our 4 hour bus ride up the Caribbean coast.  I awoke from my peaceful slumber with the driver cursing in Spanish (obviously I’m assuming his words here), straddling the double yellow line (creating what I can only assume in his mind is a third lane) on this busy two land highway, with cars and buses speeding past in both directions.  I reached for a seat belt, found nothing but air, and tried to reassure myself that this guy's a pro; he’s just at the office right now.  I was also reassured (I guess reassured is the right word) by his arrogance, that although he had a seat belt, he chose not to use it, only pretending to put in one when we encountered the Colombian police.  I read it as ‘yeah, I can handle a bus…’ 

But just as advertised, I was safely dropped at the front door of La Brisa Loca, my home for the night.