Beach Bums

After a brief absence we can finally update you on our adventures out here in the wild west. We lost our internet connection at the hotel and after much ´manyana...manyana´ from the Spanish equivalent of Basil Fawlty at our hotel we finally had to make alternative arrangements.

Our trip to Santa Marta, on Colombia´s northern Caribbean coast is a two leg, two hour trip from Cali. The resort is on the edge of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta national park, which contains some of the most spectacular beaches and ocean views in this part of the world. Since the area is both mountainous and very dry the hills are filled with giant cactus. It only rains here very briefly, in November and December, each year. Santa Marta is a sleepy village really, famous in Colombia as the place where Simon Bolivar spent his final years. In South America he is the revolutionary hero who helped liberate many countries from Spanish control and put them on the road to independance.

We took the short flight from Cali to Bogota, and then onwards to Santa Marta, our day started early, 3am, but getting the first flight out of Cali meant we could be at the hotel in time for breakfast and on the beach by 11am. Charlotte wasn´t too impressed at being woken that early, but seemed to enjoy her first flying experience sleeping through most of it. Our trip took us to one of the hotels in the Decameron chain which are very popular in Caribbean. It was bright and clean, although the main hotel had probably seen better days, dating from some time in the 60´s or 70´s by our estimation. With an all-inclusive resort like this one though, there is little to worry about except for showing up to the restaurants on time. In the end we got exactly what we came for, 5 days on the beach and a change of scenery for Charlotte.

She LOVED the beach, and most days happily slept the day away on her towel or rocking in a hammock with mummy. She dipped her toes in the sea with daddy and also went for a splash in the the hotel pool. Our challenge was keeping her entertained whilst we went for dinner, which usually involved lots of roaming around in our stroller before we fell asleep. She was also very popular with everyone we met on the beach, reducing at least one Colombian lady to tears because she thought she was so cute!

We did have time to take one very nice trip to the beautiful outdoor aquarium which was just around the coast. After a bus ride, and a short trip in a boat (another first for Charlotte), we spent the afternoon being entertained by dolphins and seals, and marvelling at their collection of wonderful sea creatures including sharks, giant turtles and even clown fish! Charlotte´s liked the sea turtles best and got very excited every time he swam by her in the tank. We bought her a lovely carved sea turtle, made from soapstone to put in her room to remind her. We spent the rest of the afternoon on a golden beach called Playa Blanca and Charlotte had another chance to run her toes through the sand.

Our time passed, like any good beach holiday, too quickly. Before we knew it, it was time to head back to Cali. We were all a little sad to leave, but excited also since our adoption judgement is getting closer. Charlotte managed to catch a summer cold and is now oozing green snot, poor dear. Learning how to blow our nose is not easy, so mummy and daddy have been helping. We did find out that Charlotte had pneumonia in December which she had picked up whilst at the orphanage. She was very lucky, and recovered after a brief spell in hospital and some antibiotics. We will take her to see the Doctor at Chiquitines when we get back to Cali. Hasta Manyana!