¡La Caribé!

We just got back from a WONDERFUL 3 or 4 day (can't remember how long we were there) adventure to an island about a 2 hour bus/walk/moto ride/ferry away from Cartagena, called Playa Blanca. Carribean. Carribean. The water was cristal clear with star fish and coral and white sand. It was gorgegous. Like a commercial. We camped down the beach away from the tourist loading area, where they all get off the boat and stay without exploring the rest of the island. I woke up before sunrise every morning and walked on the beach to watch the sun rise and keep the no-see-ums from eating me alive. At night and during the day the bugs weren't bad because of the breeze, but right before the sun came up, the wind would die and the no-see-ums would creep into the tent. La dueña of the hostel we're staying at in Cartagena, loaned us a big pot and we cooked all our meals over the fire.
yesterday, a fisherman brought in lobster and we bargained with him and got 4 lobsters, for us and our neighbors, for 10,000 pesos. About $5. Oh! Que rico! A guy from Brasil and his australian girlfriend were camped next to us and we cooked and ate and played music and spoke in portugeese. Rubén speaks portugeese (yes i am aware i am spelling portugeese wrong) since he lived in Brasil and Natalie, the girl from australia spoke a little too, so all our conversations were a blend of spanish and portugeese. I followed along quite well. Portugeese is very similar to spanish and i found myself understanding.
A girl from denmark let us borrow her snorkel and mask and Rubén and i went down to the far end of the beach yesterday and snorkled until my back was as red as the lobster we ate for dinner. THe water was even more clear down there than it was where we were camped. I found like 5 HUGE starfish, all different colors. There were lots of fish too. We're back in Cartagena for the night and tomorrow we're going to the Imigration office to see if we can get an extension on our time in colombia and then going to Taganga to meet Gato and his girlfriend Nicole. There's a national park a little north of Taganga where we're gonna go camping either tomorrow or the next day. It's also on the carribean and i hear there's lots of snorkling and beatiful beaches, but not as nice as Playa Blanca. It was so cool to live on the beach for a bit. No showers. Only swimming in the ocean. My hair is almost dreaded. If we like Taganga, Rubén and I have been talking about renting a house and staying there for a month. The Brasilero was telling us that he and about 12 other people rented a one bedroom house for about 150,000 pesos for a month. That's about 5,000 pesos a day, about...$2.50 a day. It would be cheaper and it would be nice to settle somewhere for a bit. It's tiring to constantly be moving and travelling around. I'm ready to be stagnant to a little while. Hopefully, tommorrow we can get an extension on our visas. WE're also talking about taking a cargo boat up to Panamá. But we're not ready to leave Colombia, yet.

A fisherman brought in 2 sharks and was selling them for 40,000 pesos each. About $20.

Rubén and René, our Brasilero neighbor.

Cartagena from the ferry.

The Carribean!!

Cooking a Brazilean breakfast.

The Lobster.

Sunset at Playa Blanca.

Nuestra casita.