Providencia - an untouched paradise

Providencia is just amazing!!! I can't find the words to describe how beautiful it is, the ocean is just crystal clear, around the island you find corals which makes the water turquoise, the white sand beaches are quiet, and there are no big hotels anywhere to be seen. It feels like the island is living its own life, which is true. The locals speak their own language, creol, which is a mix of Spanish, English and French. We thought that we understood some words here and there but to understand what they were talking about was still too hard. 

The most popular area where to stay is Fresh water Bay; there you have a super market, "many" restaurants (more os less the only ones..), you are close to the main beaches and you can book everything from there (trips, snorkelling gear and tours, scuba diving tours etc). This area is also known for it's crab migration, there are thousands and thousands of big crabs moving up from the beach. I have never seen so big and so many crabs in my life! We stayed at a new hostel which had opened only a month ago, The Blue Almond Hostel (bluealmondhostel.com), which we thought was perfect. It's located in Fresh water Bay, the room was quite big and cozy with a small loft, you had a swimming pool, air conditioning and a small dock from where to enter the ocean. 

You don't really need to plan ahead what you want to do, it's really a "mañana-mañana" atmosphere on the island. It's so easy just to walk to a beach and forget about everything and you don't even realise the day is passing by. I liked best the beach in South west Bay, it was so quiet and relaxed. This beach is also a bit covered from the ocean so there are no big waves and wasn't really windy (the time we were there). 

It's relatively easy to go around the island. You can rent a scooter or a golf cart, hitchhike or wait for a "collectivo" to pass (you never know if there is one coming or not). We rented a scooter for 60 000 COP (25 EUR) for 24h. It was so much fun!! I have never really driven a scooter, only tried a few times like 10 years go.. Well, we managed to make a scene only once when we (or I) almost drove the scooter up-side-down because of using too much gas and breaking with the front wheel at the same time.. We laughed a lot because there were so many people coming to the rescue of the two lost blondes :) 

During our few days we had we tried to do as much as possible, even though I feel like I missed out on a lot of things, well, I can always do them the next time.. Santa Catalina is a small island where we went snorkelling. The walk there is really beautiful because you walk next to the crystal blue water and you can also see how the locals live. The beach was quite small, I still think we didn't find the real beach, "Morgan's head", only a small version of it, but it's okay we were still very happy. Betty even got to hold a lobster, which we probably had for dinner later that night.. We also drove to the "best beach" according to all tourist guides, Manzanillo Bay, it was fun to go there because there is a must-see bar called Roland's place or something, he is a typical local who really doesn't worry about tomorrow. This beach was  more windy and here were also more waves so it was a bit harder to just float around in the water. 

On our last day I went to the Peak, it's a hike up to the highest point of the island. Betty wanted to stay and relax so I did this hike alone, with a guide so I wouldn't get lost. The hike up to the peak takes more or less one hour, it's quite tough since you walk uphill all the time. The view from the peak is breathtaking and beautiful! It's just one of those views you can't catch on picture, even though I tried my best.. From the Peak you can see all the island, and all the corals. My guide told me that during a clear day without the fog you can see San Andres and even the coastline of Nicaragua! Walking up I took my chance and asked a lot because he is a local and he knows best about the island. Some of the facts he told me was that there is a lot of boa snakes in the woods, I really wanted to see one but without any luck.. There was also a lot of orchids growing in the wild, it's funny to see since back home this flower is one of the more expensive ones and here they just grow in the wild. He also told me that during this time it's forbidden to catch any crabs from the streets, if you do it you get a fine of 120 000 COP (45-50 EUR).   

I could just post all my pictures but to relate to some of the stories, I have selected a few ones to more precisely describe our adventures.  

View of the beach in South west Bay

Beach in South west Bay

Behind the scenes of my blog ;)

To the left is Betty enjoying the sun

Above is one of our many fish-dishes. 

A normal house in Fresh water Bay, all the houses were so pretty and colourful

On the road

Walking over a brigde to Santa Catalina 

"Must-do-pictures"

House on Santa Catalina

Santa Catalina

The small beach we found on Santa Catalina. Here we went snorkelling in the crystal blue water. 

Betty caught our lunch

Found a small dock where we took I don't know how many pictures

We had to stop the scooter to take a picture of this beautiful coral reef

Manzanillo Bay

Found some swings on the beach.

Lobster on the beach - YUMMY!

Coco Loco - basically a coconut
filled with all the alcohol you can find..

    

Here is where I started my journey up to the peak

The Peak

 

Above you can see a blue iguana, very pretty. Below you can see an orchid growing on a tree 

This is how we enjoyed the last afternoon

San Andrés and Providencia - an introduction

We decided to visit San Andrés and Providencia during Betty's first week in Colombia. When we were deciding where to go I was thinking about Cartagena or Rioacha, before Mateo asked me why don't we go to San Andrés? Good question!! I keep forgetting about the islands since they are so "far away". They are closer to Nicaragua than to Colombia and the flight tickets are usually more expensive than for example, Cartagena. In the end, the flight tickets we found were almost the same as to the coast and  the flight took only 30min longer. 

We arrived in San Andrés very late on a Tuesday evening, which was no problem since we had booked a catamaran to take us to Providencia early the next morning. The only way to get to Providencia is by taking the catamaran (www.elsensation.com), which operates every second day or taking a small plane (www.satena.com). In San Andrés we stayed in a hostel called El Viajero, which I would not recommend to anyone, it was dirty and the staff a bit rude, but it was very convenient since it was close to the airport and 10min walking distance to the harbour. The catamaran leaves at 7 am so we had to be there very early, when we arrived to the harbour they had a stricter security check than at the airport and it took twice as long. It is stuff like this that I find quite funny, why have such a strict check between two very small islands.

We were vey excited about getting on the catamaran, we were planning to sit outside in the sun and maybe even see some dolphins jumping next to the boat… The staff ordered everybody inside and told us time after time that the ride is not convenient if you have some heart problems or if you are pregnant. We thought they were exaggerating… When we got out on the sea we understood why… The waves were so big and the boat went up and down - side to side for almost 4 hours!!! I don't know how many people got seasick on the boat but many. I'm quite used to being on a boat but even for me it was quite a bumpy ride!! Believe it or not, when you get to Providencia it is all worth it!!!

Where the islands are - in the middle of the caribbean sea

Welcome to Providencia

My first Finnish guest

This is all very exciting - I had my very first visitor coming to see me in Colombia!! Betty brought a lot of delicious things from Finland, yumm! Obviously not everybody has the same taste as me. I got some Finnish black sweets called "Salmiakki"and I have so far only met one Colombian who did not make any funny faces or spit it out right away.. The good thing is I get to eat it all myself :)

The very next day we were invited to a friend's graduation barbecue just outside Bogotá. We went there to have lunch in a place called El Tambor, and against all odds it was really sunny as well. We had a typical colombian BBQ with some colombian beer, a perfect introduction for Betty. 

Betty obviously wanted to go someplace warm and since Mateo's family has a "summer house" close to Bogotá we decided to take our guest there. I don't know what could be a perfect name for this place, maybe weekend house or vacation house.. It's called Puerto Peñalisa and it's located about 130km south-west from Bogotá. While driving there you realise how the climate changes, again because you are driving down the mountain. We stayed there for 3 days since Monday was a national holiday. Funny thing about the national holidays here: there are like 15 in a year, perfect for weekend trips!! 

Peñalisa is located close to a town called Girardot, almost 300 meters above sea level, and there it's 30 degrees celsius all the time, I love it!! The fact that it's only a 3-4 hour drive away makes it even better.

Okay, so what to do in Peñalisa? Well, there is a lot to do but we usually do more or less nothing.. We lay around the pool, we play in the pool, we drive around in the golf car, we read, relax and we eat a lot! It's like a mini-hoiday!!

Picture on the left - Finnish Salmiakki
Picture above - Betty and me enjoying the lunch

Tatan and his harem..
Can you spot the two non-colombians in the picture..?

Typical Colombian breakfast
Left: Tamal
Above: Calentado con huevo y arepa

Happy Betty

The pictures above describes our pool, the golf court and us driving the golf cart.

Group picture

Sunday Funday

Cartagena de Indias

Last week I went to Cartagena for the second time, it is probably one of the most beautiful and most visited places in Colombia. The city has quite the history, it was first founded in 1533 and due to a fire which destroyed most of the wooden houses only stones and bricks were allowed to be used as building materials. Cartagena has also suffered from a lot of pirate attacks through the years, since the harbour was used as a storage place for all the goods until they were shipped overseas. Yes, quite an interesting history.

Well, anyways, Mateo's parents went there for one week to participate in a medical congress and I decided to tag along. Seeing the city from a tourist point of view, it's mostly divided into two areas; the old city and the new city. The old town is protected by thick colonial stonewalls, meant to protect from outsiders. Inside the walls there are idyllic small streets with colourful houses with their pretty flowery balconies. It just makes you happy walking around the old town and it's the best (the only) way to get to know it. The hotel where we stayed is called Hotel Santa Clara. It is really beautiful and it has everything you need; big pool, great service and even a resident toucan called Mateo. Santa Clara is a former monastery from the 17th century, completely remodelled and one of the best hotels you can find it Cartagena.

The new part of the city is on the peninsula of Bocagrande, which is filled with luxury apartments, hotels and all the food- chains you can imagine. We went there one day to walk around and to have lunch at the famous "Kiosko el Bony". It's a small restaurant on the beach, nothing fancy, but the food is amazing!!  

Unfortunately all the pictures I have are taken with my phone, since my camera suffered from some moisture-accidents thanks to the strong AC in the room and the humidity… I will write more about Cartagena another time!

Hotel Santa Clara

Pictures from the hotel and Mateo the toucan resident

Pati, Mateo's mom, and some pictures from the old city

  

The beach in Bocagrande, next to Kiosko de Bony

Kiosko de Bony