One of the touristy things to do out of Cartagena is to take a speed boat out to the Islas Rosario and Playa Blanca. Not remotely above being tourists, we spent Thursday afternoon walking around town looking for a good tour. We settled on one sold by Optitours. They pick you up from your hotel, take you to the dock, and take you on a speed boat out to the islands and Playa Blanca. There, they give you lunch, beach time, an hour of open bar, then take you back to Cartagena. Sounds great!

Well, not really. We’ve both been around enough to have pretty low expectations of all of this. But, it was like $50 all total, and it gets us to a beach and gives us a fun boat ride, we figure. Plus, lunch is free.

Yet it managed to come in below our expectations. Getting on the boat was a total zoo (this was not unexpected, at all). We ended up being the last two people to get on our boat, which meant we didn’t sit together, which sucked. It also meant when the tour guide on the boat came and started talking to me in Spanish, I didn’t have my Erika-crutch. Dios mío!

The boat ride, though, was great and totally beautiful. We got great views of the city!

A la Playa

Then we got to the beach and… whew. We had to jump off the front of the boat, landing among the teeming masses of humanity on the shore. The beach is obscenely crowded. In the main area, there is just a small strip of beach between the water and the endless huts of beach chairs and restaurants. If you turn left and walk far enough, eventually it opens up some, which is what we did and eventually got a little space for ourselves. I imagine if you keep walking, it probably gets even better, but we were constrained on time because we had to eventually walk back to get our lunch.

Would you like some flies with that?

Lunch was supposed to be from 11:30 to 12:30, so we got there at 11:30 and… the tent was damn near empty. Were we at the right place? The one person we recognized said that yes, we’re at the right place. They just took forever to get themselves together. Eventually, lunch arrived, and we spent the next 20 minutes taking turns eating while the other of us swatted away all the flies. Relaxing!

The open bar was an hour later. But, to take advantage would mean hanging around until then, or coming back for it after finding a spot on the beach again. We just wanted to spend time on the beach, so the bar got skipped. Oh well, we can have rum and cokes later.

A few more hours of the beach

We managed to eat our lunch… I daresay without the flies making us sick? Then we still had 2 hours left to enjoy the beach before getting on the boat to get back. Which really was lovely. I know I’ve been pretty negative in this post but we did have a good time (when we weren’t busy shooing away the incessant vendors). When it was time for the boat, we made our way back to catch it and rode back to Cartagena. The simplicity of that statement leaves out a pretty significant fact: Erika never threw up! She’d insisted there will be no boats, but here we were day four, on a boat, and she survived!

Well, she survived the boat ride, at least…

Dear God, what is that?!

So, Erika got sun burned. A lot. A lot a lot. And I didn’t. How the hell did that happen?! I get out-burned by no man, woman, or child!

But… yeah, now she’s consigned to outfits like this for a few days at least. I love the addition of my trekking hat, it really adds that certain je ne sais quoi. Note, also, the sunglasses that she bargained down from 120,000 pesos to 38,000 pesos, and still almost certainly overpaid for. You too can have Erika Sturm’s look!

What’s Next?

I’ll be putting up a gallery soon of some of the pictures I’ve taken and developed here in town. Then, we have a few more days in Cartagena, before leaving for the higher elevations, and milder temperatures, of Medellín. Thanks for coming by our blog and seeing what we’re up to, please come back soon!