bringing a little holiday warmth right to you!

Mom, Mac and I spent a couple nights on Baru Island in the north of Colombia, followed by a couple nights in Cartagena. After rainy cold in Bogota for what seems like decades, we were so appreciative of the blue skies and hot sun.

Since I know so many of you are suffering from terrible cold in the US and Europe, I thought I'd share just a teensy bit of Caribbean warmth with you. You know, in an effort to make you feel like you could shed some of those layers of clothes you're having to wear just to check the mailbox.

view from our hotel room in Baru

the view from my pool chair

our resort's beach

Our candy cane "date stamp" to prove it's the holidays. Ho!Ho!Ho!

Lest you think the vacation was totally stress-free, we did have the scary "ferry" ride over the river to and from Baru. On our return trip, we were on the back two seats of the bus and because they had to squeeze as many vehicles on the "ferry" as possible, our full-sized bus was forced to back up on the ferry until the rear tires were at the edge of the ferry. If you'll imagine a bus, you'll notice there's a lot of space between the back tires and the back of the bus (like one-quarter of the bus sticks out past the tires AND the engine is in the back of the bus which makes - in my non-professional engineering mind - the back end of the bus too heavy to be sticking out over the river). But there we were nevertheless.

the road leading up to the ferry "port" (honestly I was pretty sure that I'd fallen asleep on the 1.5 hour flight from Bogota to Cartagena and somehow woken up back in Mozambique.)

the ferry terminal

one of the ferries

one of the ferries being loaded. We were in one of those green buses waiting for the next ferry.

the ferry "terminal" scene was happening. You could buy snacks, use surprisingly clean bathrooms, play with wild kittens, and generally soak up the atmosphere. Or just pray that your ferry didn't sink if that made you feel better.


And finally a photo of our harrowing return trip. This photo is taken from my bus seat, looking out over the river. We were on this ferry with another bus, a cement mixer and two large pickup delivery trucks. S.C.A.R.Y.

But after that scary ride back, we knew Cartagena was waiting for us. More sun, more pool, more heaven.
Mom in the pool

at our hotel, Bovedas de Santa Clara

Mac and Mom at Club de Pesca for our last night's dinner