Tough Day In The Office

Tough day in the office on Playa Blanca

We're not really 'sit on the beach all day kind of people' but similarly we weren't going to miss the opportunity to catch the boat from Cartagena to the amazing Playa Blanca. We were a little nervous at first when we saw streams of tourists piling onto a party boat but luckily we were ushered onto a virtually empty one.

An hour later, after avoiding all the hawkers who strangely enough seemed really pleased to see us, we'd found an empty part of the beach which was as good as they come. Brilliantly turquoise and calm warm water with 30C sunshine for good measure. It must have been perfect conditions for Vanessa to keep throwing herself back in the sea and we had to keep pinching ourselves that we were in Colombia.

Nice hat?

It was a glorious alternative for the day because despite the 16th century Spanish city being a beautiful place it does become quite hard continuously fending off the hawkers who some actually thought we'd come off the cruise shop. Surely we looked far too long haired and scruffy for that? Stop on a street corner to take a picture at your peril but a minor inconvenience though.

After four nights taking in the captivating walled city we took a shuttle bus four hours up the coast to Santa Marta. First impressions, we didn't realise that Colombia could do tacky seaside towns as well as we do at home. The only difference was the hot weather but we soon warmed to the place once we found a fantastic Mexican restaurant. Despite the amusement arcades and the Christmas lights, Santa Marta will be our base for a few days whilst we explore Tayrona National Park and the hillside village of Minca.