Casa en el Agua, Columbia

Two hours off the coast of Cartegena is Casa en el Agua, a hostel on stilts in the middle of the ocean. It's a travelers paradise: Swimming, snorkeling, paddle boards, and plenty of hammocks. We planned to stay for three days, however shortly after arriving things took an interesting turn:

We were asked to be models for a huge house nearby. With the promise of free beer and food we quickly agreed. Along with two other couples, we made the short boat journey to the house. As we were motoring away to an undisclosed location by random Columbian guys and being bribed with beer, alarm bells started going off ‘...is this it? ...are they going to harvest our organs? ...wow, we are pretty stupid.’ Luckily that was not the case! We made it to the gorgeous house on the water! They are trying to rent the house and want to show couples having an awesome time... so that is what we did. We jumped in the ocean, sampled delicious cocktails, went tubing, snorkeling, and sailing. Our direction from the photographer was “act like your having a lot of fun.” News flash Oleg... we are having a ton of fun!

After a day of shooting, we went back to the Casa en el Agua for a night of salsa dancing. Andreas and I were both amazed with how fast the Columbians can move their hips!

The photographer told us they have another house in the area they wanted pictures of. We did some negotiating and agreed we would be their models if we could stay in the big house! So early the next day they collected us as well as the two other couples and we went to the new house. After a day of relaxing and a few close-ups, we went back to the original house and had a great time playing a traditional Columbian dice game called Concho. The guys were really cool and it was super interesting to talk to them about their lives. We also met two other great couples. It proves that sometimes you have to be spontaneous, throw your plans out the window, and say yes to strange adventures.Read more