Mini Brazil

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Geo: 9.52392, -75.5814

No time to see Cartagena today, as we were off to Tolu, the best jumping off point to visit the Islas San Bernardo - no matter, as we will be back here in a few days to celebrate New Year's Eve. We probably wouldn't have even stayed here last night had we found a cheap flight arriving during the daytime, but arriving at midnight meant having to spend the night here before taking the three-hour bus ride to Tolu.

First impressions - Tolu is a cute little town, bustling with Colombian tourists and is surprisingly vibrant for a town its size. The prevalence of discos in town is unexpected but again, it's catering to the visitors that often take over the town. The beaches here are nothing to get too excited about, as they are little more than a few small patches of sand, with water that appears to be of dubious cleanliness. But that's not important, as most venture farther out to find much better beaches.

Tolu boasts a long malecon, an oceanfront boardwalk that makes for some pleasant strolling at all times of the day, filled with families, restaurants, and vendors hawking their wares. Little oceanfront bars that make use of the cheapest plastic tables and chairs are also great, reminiscent of barracas, Brazil's ubiquitous dive beach bars that are perfect for lazily spending an afternoon, drinking beer and socializing.

In fact, there are many aspects of Colombia thus far that remind me of Brazil - like I said before, there's a certain love of life you find in South America, and so far I've found Brazil and Colombia to be the best examples of it. The friendliness of the people, the love of music, the climate, the varied landscapes, the exotic fruits ... they are so similar, it's surprising, it's almost like Colombia is a mini-Brazil! And honestly - any place sharing any similarities with Brazil has to be good. Colombia rocks!

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Photos

The GCB Breakfast at GCB Cafe ...
... nice to have a North American-style breakfast, pretty good ham and cheese omelet with garlic toast that really didn't taste like garlic.

Fresh As Can Be ...
... fruit cup featuring some great bananas, excellent papaya, and some disappointing pineapple. The pineapple was funny - the juice served with breakfast was fantastic, and we saw the waiter actually run across the street to buy a pineapple just for us, but for some reason, the pineapple here was lacking.

Fantastic ...
... every sandwich here is billed as coming complete with ham and cheese, as if it were just a garnish like lettuce and tomato. But what about the ham and cheese sandwich, does it come with additional ham and cheese?

Nispero ...
... yet another Colombian juice I've never heard of before. The waitress' description didn't help, as she compared it to zapote, another one I've never had before. This wasn't bad but was extremely thick as it was blended with milk.

Amazing Passion Fruit Juice w/ Milk ...
... more like a milkshake, rich and yummy with just a hint of tartness.

Surprise ...
... having had too much of the bad pre-made lemonade in North America, I stayed away from it thus far in Colombia. But turns out the fresh made local variety is delicious, light and refreshing and wonderfully fragrant with a hint of citrus, and just a touch of sweetness.

Dinner at La Red ...
... recommended by the hostel worker, it was decent but not terribly memorable. Mine was a house-style fish filet with a cream sauce, served with delicious coconut rice, token salad, and patacones.

Seafood Cazuela ...
... a bubbling cauldron of assorted seafood, there was a good selection of super-fresh seafood, but it was just too rich, with a sauce thick with coconut milk. It appeared that the soup had separated slightly and though the shrimp, scallops, and fish were all top-notch, the shellfish weren't cleaned that well and was a bit gritty.

Perfect Night in Tolu ...
... a can of beer and a hammock. Who could ask for anything more?

Unsafe in Colombia ...
... this creepy Chinese girl kept leering at me from the other hammock.. I've never felt so scared in my life, nor so dirty, as she was mentally undressing me and imagining unspeakable acts of depravity to subject me to.