On the shores of the Carribean sea: Cartagena and Playa Blanca.

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We left Leticia north into Colombia the only way you can really, by air, and headed for Cartagena with a sleepless nights stay in Bogota airport between connecting flights. As we arrived into Cartagena it felt as though we had stepped off the plane into a sauna and it has been hot and sticky ever since. Cartagena is a beautiful town, with lemon coloured houses on narrow colonial streets, wooden balconies draped in flowers and street side stalls selling tasty fruit. The town castle is not so pretty, but i guess function over fashion in this case. Infront of the castle stands the statue of the local hero: one armed, one eyed and one legged Don Blas De Lezo, who somehow managed to save the city from attacks.

This is all within the stone walls of the old town, but across the city is the high rise modern part of town. This skyline took me by suprise as we flew in. In fact, in many ways the whole city is far more modern than i expected, with huge shopping malls and supermarkets. Its also a bit more expensive than we expected, being a big tourist hot spot, it has pricey restaurants and hotels. We found a cheap hostel to stay in (although in Cartagena, cheap is 8 quid each for a dorm room) and it was one of the busiest places weve stayed so far, full of backpackers. Unfortunately it wasnt full of the most interesting people; its quite telling when someone describes the places theyve been by the quality of the coke they had there. Some of the spots in Colombia on the coast seem to be becoming the next Kho Phangan, but I just wonder how long it will be before they are ´once beautiful, now ruined spots´.

Within a couple of days of arriving in Cartagena we were soon beach-bound, on a boat for Playa Blanca on Isla Baru, just 45 minutes away. We jumped off the boat onto the golden sands and into the turquoise water wed hoped for. We spent a few days on the beach, sleeping in hammocks, eating mangos and drinking rum. We had a great spot to stay, next to the most magnificent sand castle Ive ever seen (see the photos) and also, more bizzarely, near a family of cows which appeared to live on the beach. The only downside is, being a popular beach, it was busy with people on day tours and every 20 minutes you would be approached by a lady selling a massage (with a demonstration sales pitch technique), but early in the morning and on an evening it was much more quiet and idylic. Swimming in the sea was bliss, and the water was as warm as a bath tub. When our tolerance for being covered in sand 24/7 had decreased somewhat, we returned to Cartagena, found a better place to stay (hostel nativo) and spent a few more days exploring the city and working out where to go next.

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