20 horas

Our flight leaves in about 20 hours. I can’t really believe it.

I originally bought my tickets for this trip in March. The end of July felt like ages away then. I changed the destination from Nicaragua to Colombia in May, and even then it felt like this trip would never get here. But now it is here, whether I’m ready or not.

The good news is, I think I’m ready. I packed all the things I forgot last time, and I believe I have everything that I can’t go find in a store.

I tried really hard to pack light. I think I succeeded. The temperature difference between Bogotá (50s to low 60s with rain) and Cartagena (low 90s) made that harder. Half of my small suitcase is filled with food and toiletries, so I had very little space to pack actual clothes. My son still uses a pull-up at night (and requires an insert to ensure he doesn’t leak) so he also didn’t have as much space for his stuff. The good news is we will be using up the food and diapers as we go, so we’ll actually gain space after a few days. This is good because I never leave a Spanish speaking country without some books. I’ve already googled book stores near our place in Bogotá and Medellín (it would be best to get them in Medellín so I don’t have to drap them to Cartagena and back).

On the coast our trip is centered on two nights in a national park that is supposed to be really spectacular. It’s also a pain in the ass to get into. We splurged to stay two nights in the park, in really nice cabinas, because I couldn’t bring myself to attempt hammocks or tents with the kids, nor did I want to hike in and out of the park each day (90+ minutes through a humid, mosquito infested jungle each way). Since we do have to hike in and out once, I rented a place in nearby Santa Marta for four nights, even though we’ll only be staying there for two of them, on either end. I did this so we could just leave most of our stuff at the place in Santa Marta, and hike into the park with only the essentials. While I’m sure we could have found a place to pay to keep our luggage, the $80 I spent for the extra two nights is worth the piece of mind, the flexibility, and being able to leave stuff out there if we want. Plus, this place wouldn’t have been available for one night stays.

You might be wondering why we’re going to the park at all. It’s a fair question. The main reason we’re going is to snorkel, which my daughter was my daughter’s one request and which she is SUPER excited to do. Inside the park there is a bay called “La Piscina” (the swimming pool) that is supposed to be a perfect place to go snorkeling with (inexperienced) kids. Much of Colombia’s Caribbean coast has strong currents that make snorkeling dangerous (you can’t even swim at the other beaches in the park), but this spot is well protected and it’s supposed to be amazing. The park itself is also supposed to be really cool, with ruins and wildlife. I recently talked to my friend who went and she said it’s one of the most amazing places she’s every visited in her life, and she is a well-traveled woman. I will admit I was anxious that the park would not be worth it, but hearing my friend say that makes me very excited to go. I’m also super excited to snorkel with my daughter, who could not be more excited about this underwater adventure.

So yes, we have a ton of adventures awaiting us. And I think pretty much everything is ready at home. It was SO MUCH EASIER to pack this time, because it was also so much easier to get the house ready, as it hasn’t had a chance to get dirty again and we didn’t even take out a lot of what we stored. I really like the house with less stuff in it, and I’ll be thinking long and hard about what gets to come back into our lives when we get back.

So wish us luck, especially between the hours of 1:35pm and 4:30am PDT. We’re going to need it.