We went back out to Playa Blanca on Monday, which was a holiday here, so the streets were deserted and we were just hoping there were boats going out there from the market....the cheaper way. Success! The only downsides being that is took laonger to fill up the boat since it was a holiday and people traffic was slower, and therefore took longer for us to leave. And there were a couple guys from the US on the boat going back out who we had already encountered at the island the previous time we were out there, and already didn't like. It is funny being a tourist and finding yourself hating the tourists. When we finally pulled away from the trash clogged docks and headed out to sea, it was with a huge feeling of relief, getting out of the city again, and not being able to hear the conversation of the guys over the double motor action.
The weather was beautiful, and the beach was super crowded as everyone else had also felt the need to escape the city for their Monday holiday. Even down at our end of the beach was full of people, which it had never been the other days. We moved back into our old palapa, said hi to Ubi, and then settled on the beach for the rest of the day. The water was full of people, and mostly by us it was full of Colombian kids who were cramming onto inner tubes, and logs, screaming with full on fun. Whenever Kim got in the water they would surround her, yelling out all the English phrases they knew, in constant interest of her. It was a lot of fun to go in with her a few times and feel the energy they put off, and try to field some of the questions with my limited amount of Spanish. In English they kept repeating, "good morning," "how are you?" "hello," "where are you from?" They had a hard time understanding that she was Korean, but that we were both from the US. They kept asking me in Spanish where I was from, and then with huge questioning looks, asked if we were from the same place. Then, the funnest part was when they asked me our names, and then all of a sudden they were all (and there were about 10 of them at this point) shouting out their names, and holding out their hands to shake ours. And these are kids as young as 4, and 5, and 6! It was amazing, and I loved it. They were just so excited to be meeting us and learning some English words, and it was super cool.
Eventually the crowd thinned, which was nice, mostly because the sellers cann get to be really overwhelming. Especially those massage women who try every tactic to get you to let them give you a massage. Most of the time they will give you a little sample, to make you realize you really can't live without a massage. Then, if you still say no, they tell you their name and say later, when you realize you want one (and come to your senses) come to them. Mostly, these women are really lovely despite being full on and a little scary at the same time, but are huge characters and always talk to you with a smile and tell you how tense you are in a kind of flirtatious way. but there was one girl who would not listen all the times I told her no, and that I had no money, and then, after she had essentially given me a massage, she demanded I pay her, and made me feel really shitty about the whole thing. That is when I actively started to avoid the massage women.
Our days blended together, really beautiful days, with the most sun we have gotten pretty much this entire trip, just great weather, long stretches of solid reading time, hammock naps, little snack interludes, swimming and snoreling. I saw some amazing fish in incredible colors of brilliant blues, and shimmering greens and purple and yellows. I even saw a....well not a sting ray, but a relative, this morning as I was swimming with schools of fish who were feeding, and it was fluttering along the bottom, almost camoflaged against the sand. it is so clear and calm in the water in the morning, it was my favorite time to be out there, especially since they were all feeding and there were so many out. Oh, and I also found money drowned in the water a little ways out from shore. Only the equivalent of about $2.50, but still, it was a nice supreise and felt like I had found some burried treasure.
The nights have been hard for some reason. None of us slept well at all any of the nights out at Playa Blanca, which does not make much sense, the waves are calming, it is quiet and relaxing....and I slept so well out at Tayrona...it was weird. And, we did have some more night visits by the herds of island cows traveling in herds down the beach. Last night I woke up to a huge bull staring at me from our little plastic table again, and I heard him crunching on something that sounded suspiciously like the thick celephane of a chips bag. I shone a light in his face and when he shuffled away I got up to find the contents of one of our grocery bags strewn all over the sand. Most of it I was able to grab, but he made off with almost an entire package of saltines, and said bag of chips. And had managed to get the bag down from the beams of the roof of our palapa, where we had hung them to get them out of animals reach. I guess we missjudged their reach.
Now we are back in Cartagena, very, very tan, relaxed, happy to be away from the bugs and not covered in bug spray, happy to not be covered in sand, happy to have a fan and be laying on a bed, and missing our tropical paradise, all at the same time. Tomorrow we will head back to Santa Marta!