On Monday, my two Aussie buddies (brad and jon) and I hopped on a bus back to Cartagena from Santa Marta.
4 hours later we were back in Cartagena, exhausted from the previous night. After the all too familiar tuna sandwich for dinner, we headed to bed pretty early with hopes of waking up and getting to Isla Barú as soon as possible the next day.
We grabbed some granola, bananas, and rum, and headed off towards the port to find a captain who would take us to the island.
After some negotiating, and after paying only 50% of the original asking price, away we went.
Half hour later we arrived at the island. As we were disembarking, we were swarmed by 5-6 locals with buckets of oysters promising us the all too common Colombian punch line, "first one's free!"
This is a huge trap for tourists yet so easy to spot. On most Colombian beaches any given day, there are dozens of venders and masseuses ruthlessly bothering the beachgoers with "free" promotional massages. Even if a woman is laying on the beach sleeping or tanning whatever, they'll go up to you and start rubbing your feet. If you let it go on, they'll charge you for it even though you never wanted one in the first place.
Unfortunately the Aussies danced with the devil and ate about 6 oysters each, one "free" mollusk after another. By the time they were done, the locals were holding a handful of shells and demanding money. The Aussies were not budging because they claimed the vendors said each one was free before they indulged. The arguing went on for a solid 2 minutes, followed by one vender saying, "we have problems," while fiddling with his knife.
I finally convinced the Aussies to just cough the $.50 up so we can get on with our lives. Against their pride, they gave them the money and the situation dissolved.
I'm glad to say our welcoming was not a sign of things to come on the island. In fact quite the opposite.
We rented hammocks equipped with mosquito nets, and dove straight into the crystalline blue waters of Playa Blanca. Extremely white sand, palm trees, coral reefs, the works..
We hung out in the water, snorkeled, and played catch during the day, while we played cards, drank, and chatted around the bonfire at night.
The hammocks were really comfortable. Slept like a baby. Although after the rum, I probably could have slept just about anywhere.
We awoke the next morning with the sun, and had breakfast following the obligatory swim to clear out any cobwebs from the previous night.
The Australian boys took off to Leticia this morning, and I'm looking forward to a 15 hour busride tonight to the city that Pablo Escobar made famous, Medellín!
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