the .raw story : Santa Marta, Colombia
Santa Marta. Beautiful chaos on the Caribbean.
Santa Marta was the first city the Spanish colonized in all of South America. They arrived in La Guajira on the peninsula, moved west from the desert and stopped when they hit jungle. And now you have Santa Marta - a rustling port town and fun fact- also where all of your Colombia cocaine used to leave the country from. But since the war on drugs, the towns quieted down and devotes its time to tourism. It has morphed itself into a quaint beach town nestled in the foothills of the tallest coastal mountain range - the Sierra Nevadas of Santa Marta - home to the descendants of Tairona civilizations.
I’m currently reading One River by Wade Davis @wadedavisofficial after coming back to the states and I can’t put it down. It’s very surreal to read a book mentioning exact locations where you just left from and him describing the exact feelings and thoughts I’d been having but couldn’t form into words. If you’ve been enjoying these photos & stories from this trip and hope to come on the next one, I highly suggest reading his book and listening to his ted talks. And next I’ll be reading One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez - a famous Colombian author. If you’ve been to Colombia or have any book recs on the indigenous I would LOVE to hear them!! I'm struggling to find more on the country!
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Photo number two is the first two story building in all of South America. It’s two blocks from the sea. And the church pictured is the first church in all of South America.
Candids and real life moments are my favorite thing to capture. Every single photo in the series just brings me joy. This beach was beautiful & a ton of real Colombia life happened here. There were fisherman, kids, families, lovers.. and you can’t forget all the doggie humping we saw... don’t ask. These photos were taken on day 2 in Colombia so it was a great way for me to break the ice with my fumbling Spanish. The man in photo 2 was just stoked that we were so interested in his fishing and the boat. He held up all sorts of fish for us and taught me a few new words. I talked to the adorable man with the bike for a bit and he was so happy Americans were here in his country. He was so bashful about having is photo taken but loved it when I showed it to him! I always always always ask permission for photos! Please remember this when you’re in a country or place different than your home. It’s just respectful. And the last photo was the last photo I took of the evening & probably my favorite. This man is a peddler, he sells trinkets on the beaches to tourists. And what fascinated me, was at this moment, everyone was on the beach watching the sun go down... even this man stopped what he was doing in his tracks to appreciate the beautiful place he lives and just enjoy the silence for a second. At that moment.. everyone was looking at the sunset over the water.. EVERYONE. It was truly a magical. These are my favorite photos to capture. Real people doing living real moments. ✨ When I go back, I’m determined to be able to share more life stories from the people I meet and not let the language barrier stand in my way.
