Not a Wasted Word

I think people are getting a little sick of these travel posts. And I can’t blame them.

Today was our first full day in Medellín. We flew in yesterday on a full flight, which the man in front of me in line explained was because of Feria de las Flores, which is a VERY BIG DEAL.

I had no idea it was Feria de las Flores in Medellín this week when I made my tickets. It’s just a happy coincidence. I’m not sure we’re going to do too much related to the week long event, because crowds and lines and standing in the hot sun with young kids, but tomorrow we’re checking out a special Feria exhibit at the Botanical Garden, so that is cool.

I really like Medellín. A lot. I could see myself living here. It’s a beautiful city, set in the mountains, but with a strangely coastal climate. I love the metro, which is clean and efficient. I love that it’s warm but not too hot. I love a lot about it, and I’m really glad we came to check it out. I definitely want to come here again and stay a lot longer.

Today we hit up Parque Explora, a kind of science center that was recommended by every “to do with kids” list. It was a great spot and the kids had a good time.

They are definitely a little fried after being here so long and spending so many days in transit. We are all very ready to go home, but we’re also enjoying the city while we can. (If you closely at the above photo, my son is actually trying to punch his sister in the face. Also that text was written on the ground, it just looks like it was added into the photo later.)

I have to keep this post short as my kids need my phone to listen to their audiobook before bed, and the WordPress app only crashes on my pad.

I hope you’re all having a great first week of August. Thanks for hanging in there through all these Colombia posts. I know they are a lot.

The bus ride today suuuucked. Getting to Santa Marta from Cartagena with the same bus company was great, going back was a nightmare.

I don’t want to relive it as I retell it, but suffice it to say, it was an uncertain, and unpleasant 5 hours.

Now we’re at a different AirBNB in Cartagena. It’s a very cute place inside, but our room is at the front of the apartment, facing a VERY loud and busy street. It’s a Saturday night so I don’t think things are going to quiet down anytime soon. I’m so thankful the kids are in an inside room, which is much quieter, but I don’t know how I’m going to sleep. I haven’t slept well in days.

Tomorrow my husband flies home and we fly to Medellín. I’m really sad he’s leaving, and not a little jealous that he gets to go home. A part of me is sooooo ready to go home.

I revisited the “fun things to do with kids in Medellín posts” I tagged long ago, and it’s helping to get me excited about the last leg of this trip. I keep trying to remind myself of how much fun we had in Bogotá, just the three of us.

But it’s hard, with my husband heading home. I’ve spent some moments this past week thinking about all the obligations waiting for me at home. I start work the Wednesday after I get back. I have to set my my classroom before that, I have to plan and execute the back-to-school BBQ at my daughter’s school, with a much smaller PTA, I have to attend my 20 year high school reunion (that is actually two days after I get back).

I’m writing this, after all those post filled with beautiful pictures of idyllic beaches and reefs, as a reminder that it’s not all blue skies and white sands on a trip, any trip. There can be days when you just want to go home. And that’s okay. I want to put it out there honestly, so all the people who have those kinds of days know that even the people who make it sound like their vacations are amazing have those kinds of days and it’s okay.

Wish me luck tomorrow. I’m REALLY hoping our flight out of Cartagena isn’t cancelled like the one coming in was.

Friday was out last day in Parque Tayrona and check out was at noon. Since walking there and back took an hour total, and breakfast also provided lunch for the kids (so we couldn’t miss it), we knew we weren’t going to have much time at the beach.

We did a good job of getting to the restaurant right when it opened and ordering quickly. Then we were out the door before by 10am. Unfortunately we got lost on the way to the beach (still not quite sure how that happened) and lost about 20 minutes finding out way back. But eventually we made it la Piscina.

We were actually all pretty sunburned (I think my “reef safe” sunscreen was not sweat proof), so we weren’t so sad to have limited time in the sun.

About 30 minutes into the morning, I saw people out at the rocks where the waves break on our side of the bay, and I wondered if maybe the snorkeling was good out there. My husband said I could swim out and see and so I did. And sure enough, it was amazing.

I swam back in as quickly as I could and asked if my husband would mind packing us up so my daughter and I could go back out. Like he had so many times before on this trip, he said yes so I could do what would make me happy, even though it caused him stress.

My daughter and I suited up and went out. The coral was incredible and we saw so many cool fish. Unfortunately I was trying to take videos on the GoPro so I could later grab still shots from the videos, and none of them came out quite as I had hoped (I really wish I’d had an opportunity to play with the GoPro more before we left). Still, I managed to grab a few good pictures from the videos I took.

We only stayed out there about 15 minutes before high tailing it back to the beach and then back to the cabaña, where my husband was struggling to pack up our stuff. I helped and we got checked out just under the wire.

I went back and rinsed off in the camping showers and changed into my grimy hiking outfit, and we were off.

The hike our was hotter and harder than the hike in (a lot more up and mush less down). Our sunburns compounded the misery. But we eventually made it out. Woot!

When we got the the entrance a cab was dropping off a couple, and since he had to drive back to Santa Marta anyway, he offered us a cheap ride. It wasn’t much more than the combo of small bus, big bus and taxi we would have had to take, and it saved us a good hour. We felt like we had won the lottery.

Back at our AirBNB at Santa Marta I took the happiest cold shower of my life. Then my son and I hit up a local aquarium (seriously weird spot but he was happy and that’s all that matters) and got cash and headed back. I appreciated the opportunity to see the beach on a weekend, when the insanity was at full steam.

I went out again later and found the bus terminal we’d need on Saturday to get back to Cartagena. I also got dinner for my husband and me.

After eating we watched a few shows on the iPad then passed out. I don’t love this cheap place we got in Santa Marta and am thankful to get out of here. Cartagena, here we come (again).

Thursday we started the day with breakfast at the restaurant, which was included. We got the kids pancakes, which they ate 1/4 of and we saved the rest for their lunch (and ingenious idea if I do say so myself) and my husband and I got a typical Colombian dish. We were allowed to order anything we wanted, there was no limit! It was amazing, and another reason I loved our cabaña reservation.

After breakfast, we booked it to the beach, but not before I asked someone about the snorkeling. He told me that it was best at the beach farther down from La Piscina – Cabo San Juan. I was flummoxed. Every site I read said the snorkeling was good in La Piscina.

So when we got to La Piscina, my daughter and I immediately kept walking to get to the other beach, which was an addition half an hour away (so an hour total). When we got there I saw a sign saying there were snorkel tours at 8am, 11am and 2pm. It was 11:07am and a Guy was waking by with a group in snorkel gear. He motioned me to a spot where we paid and then the woman was nice enough to walk us out to the spot where they were starting. And guess what, we were in La Piscina, just at the far end, and only accessible from the other beach. It was all starting to come together.

The snorkeling trip was definitely a lot of fun. The coral and fish weren’t as bright as we were expecting but we say lots of both, and the fish were all sorts of different colors. The reef was right next to a spot where the waves hit some rocks that form a barrier around the bay (which is what makes it a good place to swim) so the water was choppy and the currents could be strong (evidently the water has been choppier the it is normally), but we saw a lot and had a great time. (And I was still learning to use the GoPro so the pictures really don’t do it justice.)

Cabo San Juan was a really pretty beach, it’s actually the iconic spot where most pictures of Tayrona are taken. I’m glad we saw it (though I’m bummed I only had my GoPro and not my phone to take pictures).

By the time we got back to La Piscina, it was 1:30pm and we had been gone for three hours. To say my husband was happy to see us would be an understatement.

We hung out at the beach for another two hours, and at the end, a school of fish came right up the shore and swam all around us for the longest time.

My son was obsessed with touching one, so he actually put on his snorkel gear (previously he had been uninterested or down right resistant) and swam around looking at the fish for a while.

Then a woman told us that there were a bunch more fish on the other side of a giant boulder we’d been swimming near for the past two days. So we al put on our gear and went around the giant rock and sure enough, on the other side, there were all kinds of different fish, and even some coral!

I was so excited that my son went snorkeling, and that my husband got to go as well. It was the perfect end to a great day.

Actually, the perfect end was when we went out in the one last time and the fish came back, and one actually swam up and pecked my son on the finger. He was so thrilled that not only did he get to touch a fish, but one kissed him! You should have seen his face.

We hiked home (me without my shoes, one of which broke on the way back from snorkeling), showered and ate at the restaurant again. By 8pm we were all in bed.

We didn’t have cell service or WiFi in Parque Tayrona, so I wrote some stuff in Notes and will post it over the next couple days, as we make our way back to Cartagena.

…

We have no Wifi and no cell service in Parque Tayrona. It’s an odd thing, to turn on WiFi in your settings and see NOTHING, not one locked network that you can’t join, just nothing. I kind of love it. (I’m typing this in notes so I can paste it into WordPress tomorrow when we get back to Santa Marta.

Thursday is our only full day in the park. Wednesday we left our little apartment in Santa Marta with half our bags and way less than half our stuff and got a cab to the bus to Tayrona. At the entrance we had to buy medical insurance coverage for $2.50 per day per person and then park entrance and stay (which ended up being $90 for 4 people for 3 days).

The hike in was rough, but the kids did great. My husband and I struggled to keep up with them with two backpacks each. About half way through our daughter picked up a backpack after a rest and insisted on carrying it. She sounded just like me as she said, Nope! Nope! every time we asked for it back. She never once complained about it for the rest of the hike.

It took us about an hour to hike to our destination, where our reservations in the nice “cabañas” suddenly made everything nicer. Someone brought out ice cold agua frescas for all of us while we checked in. Even though we got there at 1:30 they immediately took us to our cabaña (check in was at 3pm). Our place is really nice, with two single beds down stairs and a queen and single bed upstairs. There is also a hammock inside and a hammock outside, which the kids love.

The “windows” are full length shutters so when you open them, one whole wall is open to the park.

There is no AC but there are fans and honestly that was just fine on our first night. It’s hot and humid here but not excessively so.

After we dropped off our stuff, put on our suits, and ate a make-shift lunch, we headed to the beach.

It’s another 25 minutes walk to “La piscina”, the spot where it’s best to swim with kids and snorkel.

It’s also incredibly beautiful. So, so beautiful.

I immediately went out to try to find a good snorkeling spot, but all I could see was sad and sea grass. I didn’t see one fish! To say I was disappointed, and confused, would be an understatement.

My daughter was unfazed by my inability to find the amazing snorkeling I had read about. She was loving the beach and the water and having a grand time. I decided to do some investigating when we got back to “our village” (as my kids called it) that night.

When we did go back we showered (our cabin had legitimate hot water!) and ate dinner at the restaurant. We couldn’t hike in food so we basically had to eat at the place by our cabin. It was definitely expensive ($100), but for four cocktails, two aguafrescas, and four entrees (all of which were big and very good) it wasn’t excessively so (at least not by US, or maybe SF standards).

After dinner we passed out, and hard.

Our flight yesterday was cancelled and they put us on a much later flight instead, so we ended up spending eight hours in the Bogotá airport for a one hour flight. That’s what you get for booking a budget airline I guess.

My husband was waiting for us in the Cartagena airport for three hours before he turned on his pay-as-you-go international cell service and saw my messages. I helped him get to our AirBnB without us (he speaks no Spanish) and he waited there for us until we landed at 10pm.

Our place in Cartagena was really nice and we spent the morning swimming in the super pretty pools and taking hot showers. But at noon we had to be out of there so we high tailed it to the bus station and by 1pm we were on a bus to Santa Marta. It’s supposed to be a 5 hour bus ride and we’re all full so we aren’t stopping for anyone else (which can add a lot of time) so hopefully it really will be five hours.

Tomorrow we take another bus (only 1 hour this time) to Tayrona, and we get to leave most of our stuff behind at the AirBnB so it shouldn’t be too bad (I paid for four nights, even though we’ll only be sleeping there 2 – this is absolutely the most expensive leg of this trip). I will admit, getting around with this many bags is a pain in the ass.

We are on the bus now. The kids are sitting together in front of us and my husband and I are behind them. We’ve struggled a bit to find each other on this trip. Traveling is not my husband’s strong suit, especially not in a country where he doesn’t speak the language. The kids and I have definitely fallen into a rhythm and it’s weird to have someone else added to the mix six days in. We’re all figuring it out, but it’s definitely different, and I’ll admit it, a little harder. I’m hoping that once we’re in Santa Marta, we’ll find our rhythm as a family of four.

Yesterday we hit up three spots not far from our place. First was the Maloka Interactive Center, which is a science museum for kids.

We had a little trouble getting there because its’ street was part of a massive race that was going on. We had to walk the last 1/2 mile but it was worth it to see the race and walk alongside the racers and everyone else who was cheering them on.

Maloka was pretty cool, nothing like the science centers we have in SF, but again they had a guided activity that I really liked and appreciated. This time the kids learned about fossils and got to be archeologists themselves.

At the end they got their own little fossils to bring home.

My daughter was also really into this Megalodon mouth (#2) because she saw the trailer in front of Ant Man and the Wasp and it terrified her.

After Maloka we took the bus to the Jardín Botánico de Bogotá. I guess it’s a popular spot on Sunday because the line was long.

It was a nice garden but there wasn’t a ton to do there as the massive green houses are all being renovated and they are kind of the main attraction. Still the kids loved the carnivorous plant statues, “creepy” stone labyrinth area, and all the waterfalls.

Finally we headed to the public library that we had seen on a bunch of pictures in the airport in Bogotá. It’s a really beautiful building both inside and out. (I thought of you Mel!)

The kids were super stoked on this dragon in the kids’ wing because one of their many games right now is dragon hunting and fighting.

It was a low key, but fun final day in Bogotá.

Today we repack, clean up our AirBnB, and head to the airport for a one hour flight to Cartagena. As I write this my husband is in Miami, getting breakfast and changing money. We can’t wait to meet up with him on the coast!

I’m sad, but kind of ready to leave Bogotá, and while I’m excited for the coast, I’m weary of the heat and mosquitos. Mosquitos LOVE me, so I hope the bugs stuff we got works.

Let the next phase of our trip begin!

Yesterday we took a teleférico (gondola) up to Monserrate to enjoy an incredible view of Bogotá. Despite my app saying their was only a 40% of rain for one hour, it rained most of the morning. I actually forgot my rain jacket (it’s probably still hanging in my entryway, right above where the luggage was sitting), but I’ve been fine with just my Heat32s under a T-shirt (my idea to save space by just bringing a couple pairs of Heat32s to wear under shorts and T-shirts here in Bogotá worked out really nicely). Luckily I had the kids’ rain jackets and we weren’t actually out when it was raining really hard (yay for more long bus rides?!). Also I think the rain kept the crowds there down.

Because the teleférico didn’t open until noon, we went to the Museo de Oro first. My daughter was really interested in all the pre-Colombian gold sculptures, but my son was struggling to use an inside voice and keep his hands off every pane of glass he saw. We ended up only lasting 30 minutes but it was cheap so I consider it a win. Baby steps on museums I guess.

Outside the museum the kids got to take a (very) short ride on a llama, which they loved.

After the llama, we took a cab to the teleférico.

The gondola is big, but there is only one on each of two wires, so it takes a while to get through the line.

At first my daughter was scared to go, but once she saw the gondola, she was fine.

At the top you can see all of Bogotá. I couldn’t believe how big the city is.

We walked through a little market full of aggressive suggestions to buy wares and eat at local spots.

But the view on the other side was worth it.

We hit up McDonalds before we went home, because they were starving and I needed to get them something I’d know they’d eat. (Unfortunately they have not become more willing to eat new things here, but we’re making we’re making it work.)

We got home early because we needed to take showers and I needed to do a load of laundry. There is no hot water in our place (so I’ve been washing the dishes – and my face! – with cold water every day) but the shower had one of those electric water heater heads. I learned the hard way that it really only warms the water to a cold, but not freezing temp. I knew the kids would have a fit if I tried to shower them in that water (they already hate showers) so we developed an elaborate system of mixing scorching water from the stove with the temped water from the shower to create an acceptable temperature. I wonder if we’ll have hot water at any of our other places!

Having a washer and dryer really saved us. I’m so glad we get to wear clean clothes tomorrow because we are really getting our stuff dirty with all the riding on public transport we’re doing (there is a lot of sitting on bus floors when we can’t find a seat – just like the locals!)

I’m posting on my phone so these will have to be short. Also, the WiFi here is so slow it is hard to post with a lot of pictures. And man do I have a lot of pictures.

Yesterday we went to a place I was really excited about, but that was so far away I didn’t know how we’d get there. We ended up on an epic bus trek that took well over an hour (the traffic in Bogotá is insane), but eventually we arrived.

The place I wanted to go was called Divercity. It’s a kids’ play place but like nothing I’ve ever seen in the States. The kids start by getting their own credit card and some cash. They can then spend their money on things (getting nails painted like my daughter did, or riding a boat like my son did), AND they can participate in a job for 15 minutes, with a group of kids (whoever is lined up to do it) and an adult leader. It was so very, very cool.

And it was all in Spanish! My kids had to listen — and speak — in Spanish to participate in the activities.

My daughter was a surgeon, a reporter, a baker, and a veterinarian.

My son was an EMT, an energy center worker, a baker, and a veterinarian.

It was a really fun place and I’m so excited we got to go. It was so awesome that we stayed for four hours. It was also near a mall so we went in to get a few things. By the time we were leaving it was dark! (They don’t do Daylight Savings Time here so it’s only 2 hours ahead but it gets dark by 7pm.)

It was really late when we got home, but the kids were absolute champs. I have been so impressed by their ability to navigate the crazy bus system with me, and walk fairly long distances. We are having a lot of fun.