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Published: September 27th 2008
This place is one of the most beautiful places I've been to. Definitely the most beautiful Caribbean spot I've seen. We just loved it! San Andres is an island that is closer to Nicaragua, but is considered Colombian territory. The people of the island are English speaking Africans, who are considered to be natives, and Spanish speaking Colombians. For years the natives have been trying to gain independence from Colombia. We spoke with several friendly natives and they sound defeated when they talked about it. Nicaragua and Colombia have a history of fighting for the territory. Unfortunately, there is a lot of poverty on the island, but the overall feel of the island is very upbeat. We decided to stray from our usual budget hostel stay and we stayed at the Aquarium (one of the Decameron hotels) and it was the best choice for us. I couldn't believe how cheap it was to stay there and have all of the great amenities! There are 6 Decameron hotels that you have access to if you stay at one of them. It was so fun renting a golf cart and driving around the island and stopping at all of the hotels. Be sure
to stop at the Orange Hill school for kids with special needs to donate school supplies...it's in the middle of the island and anyone can show you where it is. It is so wonderful that they have a school to address the needs of these kids. We brought a bunch of school supplies and they were so grateful! We were given a tour and played with the kids. The school seemed very well run and serviced kids with various disorders including autism and down syndrome.
There was a pizza place across from Los Delphines hotel that we ate at 3 times because it was so good. I can't remember the name of it. We went to Rocky Caye, which is owned by Decameron and that was great. We also went to Haynes Caye & the Aquario and we definitely recommend that. Just a side note, if you are all about posh and glamorous places, this might not be the best option for you. Not that it's bad by any means, but there aren't Ritz Carltons and Marriott's everywhere. The people are really friendly and it helps if you can speak spanish (we don't). We always felt safe even when
we strayed off the beaten path. We just loved it there!
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George Edgar
non-member comment
Orange Hill school
We are heading to San Andres Island in Feb and are very interested in stopping at the Orange Hill School. Did you pick up the school supplies on the island or bring from home? Regular supplies like pencils, scribblers, etc as well as hygiene supplies?