The paradise that is Playa Blanca
Trip Start
Apr 03, 2003
1
4
16
Trip End
Oct 01, 2003
Cartegena,
Colombia
Monday, April 28, 2003
About a week ago we jumped on a boat in Cartegena to go to a beach called Playa Blanca. It had been recommended to me by a few people who had said it was beautiful, and man, were they right!
Its a white sand beach on the Caribbean coastline and its just gorgeous. We stayed in a place were you rent a hammock on the deck of a house to sleep in (the house is owned by a rich Colombian man and he allows a man to rent out space on the property when he isnt there but you cant go inside it)
The place is run by a friendly French man, Gilbert, who arrived 6 years earlier and just didnt manage to leave. Its very cool and while there were a couple of guys there on the first night we pretty much had the place to ourselves for 5 days (until the evil Israelis arrived)
Our days pretty much went like this:
8am - wake up in hammock due to incessant screeching of birds and occasional bite on the bum from the resident crazy dog, Fortuna.
8.05am - put on bikini (its already 30 degrees by this stage)
8.06am - walk the 10 second walk onto the beach and go for a morning dip in the Caribbean, which is the most amazing shade of green/blue and really clear.
Rest of morning: sunbathe, swim, snorkel, read, play with dogs, eat crepes in the 36 degree sunshine
Lunchtime: eat the fresh fish which Gilbert has caught in the morning along with rice, lentils, salad**
Afternoon: see Rest of Morning and repeat
Evening: eat dinner (usually omelette or similar), play cards, drink beer, chill and swing in hammock until sleep.
All in all a pretty cruisy place which we all feel completely in love with (we being me, Helen and Chris, the English couple who have adopted me!). The weather was great, the people were great, the beach was GREAT and I am now the proud owner of a Caribbean tan! For those of you that know me well, yep, I am a brown lounge monkey all right!
** But there has been one downside to my time in Playa Blanca. Despite eating healthily and consuming lots of lentils there has been one small problem. I cant poo! Its been 5 days now and my belly is growing bigger by the day. I have some pills and hope to rid myself of the big puku soon though. (Alex, only 3 entries and Ive already started talking about poo! Can you believe it!!) Anyway, Im sure I will be ok soon, but please send all relevant tips and remedies via email asap!
Well, thats it for now. We are off to Santa Marta today to check out the beach again and sign up for a dive course. Will write again soon! Thanks for all your emails, sorry I havent had time to reply as the connection here is really slow but I will email you all in a few days
take care
Amanda
x
