Colombia - Caribbean island life and explosion of colors

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My Caribbean island escape is coming to an end and I gotta admit that time truly flies when having fun and/or being on holidays.. at the same time, as much as I needed this break from traveling - I was more than happy to not pack my bag after 1-2 days and leave to some place new - I‘m now refreshed and ready to go explore again, 2.5 weeks by the sea served me exactly what they were supposed to :)


In order to get to these islands, I needed 1.5 days of travel, as turned out that La Paz is not a great hub for flying across South America. (It would have been perfect to enter the South of Peru by bus, as per the original intention and route; but my need for a break and the political situation in Peru still being somewhat unstable, hence the change of plans). After everyone had been checked for narcotics three times at the airport in La Paz, a short flight to Lima with two hours to change, then Bogota with actual five hours overlay, eventually I made it to San Andrés island (total of 18h of travel) where I stayed one night next to the airport, only to take another 20min hop the next morning on a propeller operated 60-seater to Providencia, my base for 12 days. Seeing the insane blue colors of the reefs, I arrived knackered but so happy! 










Providencia is a tiny Colombian Caribbean island - actually located much closer to Nicaragua (apparently that‘s why the two countries fight about it as well) - that can be circled on a scooter in approx. 40mins, it‘s only 15kms all the way around. I was recommended this island by a few people and everyone told me it was "paradise". My first day on the island didn’t feel like that and on the spot I came up with five islands I have already been on that fit that description better: sadly a lot of the island still in a state of rebuild after a massive hurricane destroyed most buildings in 2020 (coinciding with covid tourism had come to almost a complete hold), the few restaurants and places seemed to be open whenever they wanted to and there were tons of nasty sand flies by the beach, internet not working.. not a great start to say the least. But, and that‘s a big but, the island totally grew on me and after two days I felt the island! With only 6,000 inhabitants and 200-300 tourists (my own estimate) around at the same time, meeting the same people over and over, had my inner little village self/teen very satisfied. Tropical temperatures, having the beach a 10min stroll away almost for myself, sipping on a fruit or coconut juice (of fruits I‘ve never even heard before like guanabana, mora, lulu, etc.), a friendly "ya man" from the locals (the language here is a mix of Creole, Spanish and English), reggae music playing, the most incredible sunsets with a fresh seafood dinner right by the turquoise waters of the sea - it was impossible to resist the laid-back vibes and palette of stunning colors. Exactly the place I craved and needed to recharge batteries, lying in my hammock and process 2 months of non-stop being on the road, connect to my self and eventually get to scuba dive; I haven‘t done much else during my entire stay here..





















The scuba diving was a blend of one deeper dive where friendly and very curious Caribbean reef sharks almost guaranteed and a dive in shallower waters around some reef structures that allowed to see sting rays, barracudas, schools of fish and the likes. I cannot recommend Anda di Wata enough as a diving school, I felt back to a tribe where I belong! 


To round off my time on Providencia I took a scooter around the island, visited Santa Catalina island and climbed El Pico, with 350m at least taller than the highest point of the Netherlands. Then it was time to go to San Andrés, very close by but the vibes and energy could not be any different.


San Andrés is the larger island of the two, a whooping 30kms in size of circumference. Some say the Mallorca of South America, it does have much more facilities for (beach) parties, duty free shops, any beach activity one can imagine, armadas of scooters and cars, so after the chill of Providencia a bit of a shock to me at first, overwhelmed by so much civilization 😂 What I could appreciate was a proper supermarket again and a range of restaurants to choose from, and admittedly the beaches are actually nicer than on Providencia and the shades of blue of the water are just out of this world. The most beautiful beaches are private though and you need to pay to access them. 










I‘ve spend five days on San Andrés, out of which two were dedicated to scuba diving (I was swimming almost all by myself with a turtle on my 100th anniversary dive 🤩) again, one with a scooter and two to chill and say farewell to island life. Filing my taxes and a bunch of watching Netflix confirmed my feeling that I was done with island life for the time being, and very much looking forward to exploring some other sites on the Colombian mainland - Cartagena awaits me tonight.




Hasta luego chicas y chicos,

Seb

Comments

gülben said…
"a whooping 30kms" 😂
18 March 2023 at 11:40
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