San Andres y Providencia

Happy Easter! After fuelling ourselves with a Colombian staple called arepa, (a type of food made of ground maize dough, served with cheese, cuajada etc.), we were all set to start our day.

On our walk to Manzanillo Bay, it was very easy to see that the infrastructure is not well-maintained here. For instance, we’d be walking on the sidewalk, when out of nowhere it would come to an abrupt end and continue on the other side of the street, so we kept zigzagging back and forth. We also saw several unfinished buildings on our short 40 mins. walk to the beach. Of course the extreme heat and historical lack of investment play a role here. It’s not easy to get to, which on the one hand is why large-scale tourism has never taken root, but at the same time it’s also what allows Providencia to retain its astounding beauty and state of preservation.

In addition to the copious amounts of bright blue lizards that we saw on our walk to the beach, there were also tons of hens and chicks clucking along the roadside. I should also mention that Sean was a bit like Snow White, if there was a stray dog around it was sure to be following him. One even cozied up to us and found shade under our loungers on the beach.

We were completely off the grid. We claimed our beach space and enjoyed the better part of the afternoon soaking up the sun. The sand here was as soft as icing sugar (if you didn’t already know I like to bake, then I’m sure my sugary sweet reference was a dead give away). Sean also taught me how to play chess, which reminds me that we’ll have to play again soon so I can solidly the rules/kick his butt!

As there wasn’t much night life here, we too adopted the slow-pace lifestyle of this rural paradise. We had a seafood dinner at a restaurant down the road from where we were staying (which we walked to there and back in complete darkness), and then we spent the rest of our night in playing rummy 500. - KKRead more