Swamps, Sushi & Street Wedding

Over breakfast, the family strategised seating arrangements on our 2 hour boat ride back to Cartagena for maximum sun avoidance. We needed have worried about getting sunburnt...it started to rain about 45 minutes in and we were drenched instead. The previously calm seas also became noticeably more bumpy!

This photo summed up our morning

We returned to the same hotel, dumped our bags, grabbed some lunch and was picked up by Gustavo, our guide for our time in Cartagena. Today was meant to be a free day, but in lieu of our not so ideal day in Minca, the local Colombian travel agency had offered a tour of the La Boquilla Mangrove as a gesture of goodwill. 

La Boquilla started as a small fishing village but the area now has the 2 extremes of Cartagena. The area is one of poverty but has contrasting luxury apartments & hotels vying for the endless stretch of beach access. There is a small stretch that is protected from building which included a mangrove forest which opens up to the sea. That was our destination. One of the local fisherman took us on a tour of the Juan Polo swamp. By now, the clouds had disappeared and the sun was shining with a vengeance. Surprisingly, our time within the mangrove forest was mostly in the shade! It was a lovely and peaceful way to spend the afternoon, away from the hustle and bustle of Cartagena.

Back to Cartagena

Felt so weird to have a regular just driving on the beach...

Getting into our boat

The "mouth" going towards the sea. After big rains, it would join up

The water was so still there was perfect reflection!

Plenty of wildlife

If I remember correctly, this one was the tunnel of love

A demonstration of how they cast their nets

At first I thought it was litter, but it was marking their crab traps!

On our way back

Dinner was at El Rincon for Japanese food. Sushi rolls were good and Elliot rated the poke bowls as being better than Missing Spoon back home. Big call! As we were dining, we heard drums beating and saw crowds surging past. It was a wedding! Maybe it is a Caribbean thing, but there was a procession led by the bride and groom and dances dressed in white. Pretty fancy!!

Sushi roll

Sorry that was the best photo I got!