Week 32: Colombia

After an amazing week packed with fun adventures with friends, we set off for a quieter week of wandering around an old town and exploring beautiful beaches!

We spent a few days exploring the city of Cartagena and it’s old walled city. The narrow streets lined with colourful buildings, bright flowers, and vines growing up the buildings reminded us very much of European streets. We wandered through shops and cafes, churches and squares. There were many people in the streets selling fruit and various souvenirs. The city also has many beautiful parks, perfect for listening to live music and reading on a bench. We were thankful that some people here spoke English, but we were still heavily reliant on hand gestures, very simple sentences, and Google Translate!

We broke up our time in Cartagena with a few days on Playa Blanca, a lovely white sand beach lined with backpacker hostels. We stayed at Eco Hector Hostel at the far end of the beach, in a room overlooking the water. Falling asleep to the sound of crashing waves never gets old! We enjoyed exploring the beach, reading on lounge chairs, and swimming in the warm, turquoise water. The only downfall to the beach was that the restaurants only offered western/tourist food that was very greasy. However, there was amazing fresh mango being cut and sold right on the beach throughout the day!

We also spent a day touring around the Rosario islands, having the opportunity to check out the many private islands (including one owned by Shakira, of course). We couldn’t understand most of what the guide was telling us, but we saw a whole lot of beauty. We snorkeled in the clear waters around the islands, spotting many brightly coloured fish. We saw a few schools of fish, as well as some parrotfish and some fish with florescent blue polka dots. We hung out with others in our group at Cholon, one of the small islands, before setting off for some beach time at Agua Azul.

Back in Cartagena, we spent quite a bit of time in Centenario Park. This peaceful park is home to a beautiful fountain, as well as iguanas, tiny monkeys, and sloths! We returned for a few visits with a mama and baby sloth. They were so slow, but so darn cute!  

Cartagena is a very enjoyable city to walk around, so we spent a lot of time wandering and getting to know the city. We even got used to the many police officers that roam the streets, and felt very safe during our time here. While we were sitting in one of the parks in the evening, many police came around confiscating alcohol and giving out tickets. It was a bit unnerving to watch, but they never bothered us at all. In fact, we recently saw a sign that read, “Colombia: the only risk is not ever wanting to leave” and we wholeheartedly agree! Well, aside from the mosquitos that have continued to love us…

On our final day in Cartagena, we ventured off to the Vulcan del Totumo. We climbed up this small mud volcano and floated around the mud bath inside! After our soak, we washed off in the river and returned to the city for an afternoon of parks, coffee, and sloths!

We returned to Bogota for our last day in Colombia, where we did some planning for the other areas we’d like to visit in South America. We are so glad we got to see a few different areas of Colombia, but there is so much more to see. We are saving Amazonas, Triángulo del Café and Parque Nacional Tayrona for our next visit to this amazing country!

Acts of Kindness: we continue to be so grateful to each person who has helped us to communicate in Spanish. This week, we say muchas gracias to two great guys on Playa Blanca that helped with booking our snorkel trip and telling us more about the country.