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!

R & R

Today's learning. Iguanas can swim! At least the one that we saw could swim in the ocean...

Welcome to my office

Morning tea

Enjoying the cool morning ocean breeze

Our last romantic candlelit family dinner

Happy 22nd Elliot!

The Birthday Boy continues his streak celebrations in exotic destinations! Minimal photos today as we mostly left our phones in the room. We'll have to see if the go-pro has some decent footage!

It appears that most people don't wake up early. We took the opportunity to kawak around the island. It was an opportunity we should have declined. Even though the island was small, kayaking for 40 minutes straight was exhausting!!

The other excursion of note was a visit to Tintipán lagoon. Honestly, it was a bit eery at first as we were in a motorboat very close to the water level and it was DARK. The lagoon has photo-plankton which glows when your skin makes contact. This light was apparently not capturable (is that a word?!) in photographs. It was cool but not cool enough me to jump into the salty water to have to take a shower before dinner. Lara, Elliot and Jonah thought the same so only Mal jumped in. Onya Mal!

Still the sweetest boy! Happy Birthday!

Our morning hangout

It looked like tofu but those square chunks were cheese!

A very large cake that we couldn't finish

Merry Christmas From Mucura Island

Punta Faro's beach area

Merry Christmas from Colombia! Today was the first of 3 nights at Punta Faro, an all-inclusive resort on Mucura Island, part of Corales del Rosario National Natural Park, off the coast of Cartagena.

We were picked up and taken to the pier where we may have died in the heat momentarily and looked in horror at the speedboat that would take us to the island. When we first heard that the boat ride would take 2 hours, we inaccurately conjured a mental image akin to the inter-island ferries in Greece. Umm...no. The speedboat was open air and fortunately for us the sun was directly overhead and so most of the ride was in shade. Again fortunately, the seas were calm, and our ride was smoother than expected.

Punta Faro was a family run resort, whose facilities were similar to a 3-trident Club Med. Most importantly, the rooms had good a/c, and we didn't have to think about meals! Alcoholic drinks were extra but it was not too expensive, and neither were the water sports equipment rental. There was no pool but the water clear and warm. Meals were buffet style, and we did question the efficiency of their system! However, staff were friendly and helpful so we just sucked it up and stood patiently behind indecisive people... 

Posts over the next few days will be super short. We were all looking forward to some "down" time before we hit the hecticness that is Walt Disney World. 

Wishing our family and friends the most joyous Christmas and a fantastic New Year!

The breakfast station at Santa Catalina

Christmas day family puzzle time!

Breakfast arepa. Looks interesting but taste was only so-so. A bit dry!

It was SO hot waiting for the "ferry". We only waited for 15 minutes...but it felt like 15 hours

Our "ferry"!

What can we do other than smile?

My view for the next 2 hours...

Yay we're here!

Our welcome fruit juice

Our home for the next 3 nights

We chose the cheapest rooms. Clean and comfortable

No view but we were the closest to the dining rooms!

Lunch time

The beach

There were many lovely pockets of shaded areas. But I see how this game is played...I can play the "0700 put your towel down" very well!

Merry Christmas!

There was multiple partitioned off sections of daybeds. Genius use of space really

View, shade and breeze!

I went for shade

He went for sun

The kids went for pina coladas which were only AUD10 each

Dinner was on the grass which was meant to be "romantic" but honestly it was just a date with the mosquitos

The buffet style meals

Cartagena Christmas Eve

Another move, another short post! 

We farewelled the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta to continue southwest towards Cartagena. Our driver truncated the 6 hour drive to 5 hour and 10 minutes thanks to only 1 short loo stop and overtaking like a demon possessed. He did offer to stop at the giant, golde, statue of a bikini-clad Shakira when we passed Barranquilla, the city where she was born, and was aghast when we declined! 

We were only in Cartagena for one night as our final destination was Múcura Island and we would not have arrived here in time for the ferry ride over. Cartagena was by far the prettiest city but as a result also the most touristed. I hated that they were vendors constantly asking me to buy stuff. I will reserve judgement though, until we return and have a proper introduction with a guide. For now, we walked around exploring and enjoying the Christmas cheer. We get a well deserved sleep in tomorrow on Christmas day as our pick up will not be until 11am!

Hips don't lie! That is Shakira

View from the hotel pool area

Our colourful lunch! Things were definitely more expensive here

View down to the old town of Cartagena. We're within the walled city

Our rooms with a/c. Hallelujah!!

The quest to find a spot for a family Christmas photo begins!

We took a few...

Had to say Christmas and Colombia. Tough ask

We decided on this one!

Gorgeous architecture

Doing crosswords together as a family has now become a meal time routine