My first venture to the Caribbean was short, but memorable and beautiful, as expected! With the excuse of attending Desi and Carlos' wedding, several of us hopped on planes from various points in the world and ended up together in Colombia in December! It felt like an extreme summer with blazing heat (28-34C through the whole trip, if not more!), beautiful scenery on the coast and wonderful company. It's odd to see lights, trees and Christmas decorations out in the street when you're wearing flipflops and t-shirts.... :)
Colombia is a country full of natural resources and has lots of potential to be a top tourist attraction, but still lacking international visitors, mainly because of past problems that has given the country a bad reputation. During our trip, yes we did see zones of poverty and people without much in their lives, but we felt safe and welcomed by all of those we met. The locals seemed very happy and gives you the sense that they value living in the moment a lot, especially if that involves a nice cold beer and blasting the salsa music! :)
Within a week, we could only skim the surface of what the country has to offer, let alone the zone we were in, so here's a sampling of the trips we did and wonderful things we experienced!
Bogota~
Plaza Simon Bolivar in Bogota
Maybe these llamas help the Three Wise Men deliver gifts?
Caribbean coast~
Fresh-caught fish being sold on the beach
A little iguana "reserve" near our apartment...just hanging out in the sun!
Beautiful colours, strange shapes and deliciously juicy fruit everywhere!
The view from our apartment in El Rodadero
Jingle bells, jingle bells, right out on the beach!
Typical breakfast food--arepas con huevos, which are like little corn pockets with a fried egg
Cartagena de Indias~
This market stall looks precarious....
With that heat, I'm not sure how long you should leave the fish out without ice!
This lady was selling something on the street corner but I couldn't see what it was....
Crazy traffic in Cartagena--this is the main road where the "market" is that we drove through!
Poor little sloth was lost! It was sooooo cute with its smiley face, and calm manner (of course....) and no it didn't attack/bite/scratch/pinch. Just chilled out as it was passed around by the police who were going to take it to a vet. :)
View of "little Miami" (la boca grande)--the luxury area, from the Spanish fort overlooking all of Cartagena city
Tunnels within the fortress
Cartagena old town--beautiful colonial style buildings!
Uhhhh....the people didn't pay attention to the poor driver who wanted to get through
Shaved ice is super popular!
Anyone know what kind of bird this is?? It has a forked tail, but they were too far away to identify....
Pelicans pouncing on the fishing boat coming back in
Took all these guys forever to get the boat out to sea
Wedding day in Santa Marta~
Look at all the beautiful people waiting for the bus!
The newlyweds with their dads
Colombian groomsmen know that white is the best for this heat!
Desi and us bridesmaids
All the men with the newlyweds
The locals checking out the entertainment (us!)--we must have been quite a sight, all dressed up in the centre of town, from a multitude of countries, and speaking a mixture of different languages!
Looking for their photo to sign and write a message
El coco loco! (The drink.....)
Dinner will be out by the beach!
Joanna and Charlie
The newlyweds with the ladybird table
La hora loca--we were led in dancing and singing for a crazy hour!
Almost like Carnaval
Video of the dancing and merriment in la hora loca! :)
Bahia Concha in Parque Tayrona~
A chiva, which is sort of like a school bus with no windows, for blasting salsa music as you cruise (bumpily) down the street.
Scientific experiment in progress: a watermelon floats, regardless of how heavy it may seem! :D
Eating gritty watermelon on the beach....the wind cools you off but there are downsides to it too.....
Who needs to go out for mariachi if they will come to your home? :)
Good thing we got there on time or else they close it off once they hit capacity for the day, in order to protect this area of the park
Siete olas....can you count them??
What a big left bicep! :)
This one isn't alive--we just arranged the shell to look like it
Coconut and panela (sugarcane candy) left out by the old fisherman (see below)
He lives in the middle of the park, and has an incredible view from his house (right on the beach, of course!)
The modest quarters of the man and his wife
Escaping from Desi's reach...
Feisty little guy wouldn't stay put for a photo
Put 'em up!
Don't think the beer stayed cold in the warm water...
Christmas "restaurant" on the beach!
Santa Marta city~
The liberator
Good rules to live by
I don't think people paid attention to the plea
The Colombian police are often very very young because it's part of their military service too. In this case, there were many out in Santa Marta because the new mayor was going to give a speech in the main square.
Merry Christmas!
Not sure how this man can just sleep there with all the noise and movement around....the private security guy couldn't care less
Beautiful sunset in El Rodadero (my camera is pretty good despite it's small size!)
Group dinner on the last night--count and name the nationalities and languages!
This is where the Santa Marta airport in located!! What an incredible view as we landed amongst the palm trees, with the sea just in front of us......
Local going for a stroll
I needed to dedicate a special section to the amazing fruit we learned about and tried. Too many to choose from and no idea what to do with them all (eaten as is, juice with water and sugar, mixed with milk etc etc....)--you need a book to do it all properly. We bought random ones from the supermarket, and thanks to a couple there who explained things to us a bit, and additional advice from Carlos, we tried a few:
Zapote--yummy eaten as is or in juice
Granadilla (or the brains as I call it)--crunchy and sweet eaten as is!
Curuba--a yellow, banana-like one that was very sour but good when mixed into a juice with sugar
Maracuya, AKA passionfruit--I preferred it in juice
Pitaya AKA dragonfruit--I had only seen pink ones before, but didn't see anything but yellow there. Very sweet and yummy just as. This was my favourite to eat!
Tomate del arbol--not really a tomato, but looks sort of like it. Sour so mixed into a juice it was!
Now we look wistfully back on the amazing trip and think, we have to go back and see more of the country, find more animals and try more juices!! :D
