wanderingwelshie2 travels

Springs and roundabouts

27/5/23

After saying goodbye to mum early, having breakfast in the apartment, and watching a couple of episodes of Firefly Lane, I packed my stuff and headed to the bus station. From there, I found the bus in the direction of La Fortuna. At some point, I had to get out in Quesada and wait for an hour for the next bus, so I grabbed a huuuge chocolate cake with dulce de leche in it and enjoyed it slowly with a coffee. A few hours later, I arrived in La Fortuna. I walked to my hostel and settled in. Then I went to the shop to buy beers and food. I chatted to a guy, Gary, that was working in the hostel for a bit, before heading to a hot springs with a girl from the hostel and another girl from another hostel.

We got a taxi to the miraculously FREE hot springs and walked to find a quiet spot. We chilled there for a good few hours, sitting in the warm flowing river, watching the stars shine in a navy sky contrast with the black shapes of the trees. A few fireflies flew lazily past us. We chatted and chilled. After at least two hours, when we were wrinkly and beginning to get cold, we got out. There was no reception to get a racist so we walked awhile. When the reception came, a car drove past, and we pulled pur thumbs out. A lovely Cosra Rican couple stopped for us and drove us all the way to town – what a winner! By the time we got back, I was starving, having replaced lunch with cake and not yet eaten dinner. I made late night pasta and then slept.

28/5/23

I had a chilled morning, starting with a coffee in a swinging chair and followed by brunch in The Open Kitchen as recommended by my mother. I had shakshuka and a ‘flat white’ with my book, and then spoke to my road trip pals on a group call. Afterwards, I went back to the hostel to change and went for a run. I ran on country roads although the drivers weren’t friendly and didn’t give me any space. The views of the fields and volcanoes were pretty either way. After my run, I stopped at El Salto River for a refreshing dip and chill. Since it was a Sunday, there were many people there hanging out with friends and family. A few runners came over to talk to me and one told me that he runs up a nearby volcano every day. I was pretty impressed! I watched people swing on a rope swing after I’d cooled down and then jogged my way back to the hostel. I made pasta and chilled.

29/5/23

Today, I went to the ‘hidden’ waterfall. I got a ride with Jamie from Canada along with two Dutch girls, Lois and Anna, and Gary from the US, who was working at the hostel. We had to go behind a fence, and then the path was easy, through jungly woods. It was very green and very pretty. Gary, a Brooklyn boy, could not believe the vast expanse of green nor the strong chorus of its inhabitants. We crossed the river and carried on along a single track, passing only a couple of people. As we got closer, everything opened out, and there was a beautiful enclosed pool surrounded by high rock sides and with trees overhanging it. There wasn’t a soul there apart from us. We got straight in, and I headed for the waterfall. I climbed up next to it, and the girls followed. We all sat there a bit before the current pulled me into the pool. I passed close to one of the rock walls and was about to grab onto when I noticed a small green snake nestled onto the rock. The girls came to look, and then we returned to Gary. Lois and Anna gave Gary a crash course in swimming, and then we went to the waterfalls again. I saw a crab nestled on the rocks this time. Jamie and I jumped off a rock in the middle of the pool. Then we all headed back.

On the way back, we stopped by the supermarket as Gary said he would cook us lunch. After buying the ingredients, we all chilled while Gary cooked. Then we ate a glorious tofu and coconut curry with egg fried rice and beans and plantains. It was super good. Afterwards, we chilled, and later, we all headed to the hot springs minus Gary, who had to work. A French girl, Emma, who lives in Medellin with her Colombian boyfriend, came as well. We squeezed five of us into a taxi on the way there, no questions asked, (only a slight eyebrow raise), and off we went!

The hot springs were, of course, still warm and beautiful. The stars were not as clear, but the fireflies were. We drank beers in the pools and chatted. We were joined by another Jamie, from the US, a guy who never stayed in hostels and always had a car. Luckily for us, he was happy to give us a ride back to town after the hot springs! It was a tight squeeze, and one of the girls folded herself into the boot! I claimed the front seat as the longest being, muahahaha!! Since Jamie had never been in a hostel before, we invited him in and decided we’d cook him a hostel dinner. None of us had much food, but we cobbled together a decent veggie pasta with pasta reinforcements bought by the Dutch girls. At 10pm, Jamie was asked to leave as a non-resident guest. We said our goodbyes, and then I showered and slept.

30/5/23

Today was volcano day! I had fancied hiking the volcano for a while but just had never quite got round to it. Jamie had said she fancied it if I could just wait until after her morning work meeting. People had told me to go early to try and miss the hear, but I don’t like waking up early, so figured it was a good option to go with Jamie. I had a leisurely breakfast on the terrace and ended up not being quite ready when Jamie was done with her meeting! We went into town to buy snacks and check in on her next rental car before grabbing a taxi to the starting point. A nearby hotel collected money to enter the trail to the volcano, but we had read online it was just a scam as they didn’t own the waterfall, and technically, no-one was allowed to climb it. We found a route that avoided the hotel and refound it after a security guard waved us in the direction of the hotel. We had two volcanoes in front of us, were surrounded by greenery, and were walking through long grassy fields. It felt like being in ‘The Sound of Music’ somehow!

Soon, we left the fields and cut up through woods. We crossed bridges with no water beneath them and noticed many a dried up river and even a dried up waterfall with its sheer cliff face. There were massive trees and vines galore!! Eventually, we got to the wood’s edge, where we bumped into three resting backpackers, German guy and two French Canadians. Jamie wanted to take a picture of me with the view, but the floor was small, loose, stones on a steep slope. I edged down carefully, and the guy that I was going round stepped to the side, falling down in the process! Oops! We stayed a short while to make sure he was okay and then carried on up. We passed and re-passed these same three backpackers many times as we all kept stoppfor breathing breaks.

It started thundering. A few people passed us on their way down already. They said we had at least an hour left, but it would be worth it! We spoke to the other three, going up and figured we may as well carry on and face the storm if it came! We already put in the hours (and a lot of sweat)! The thunder kept bubbling up through the woods. Apparently, there can only be woods on the side of a volcano after at least 500 years of it last erupting! Wild.

Without warning, the rain started. At first, lightly, like a shower on low, and then at full whack. It was pretty refreshing at first. The sweat was washed away in less than a minute, and within five minutes, the steep paths were rivers. Our shoes were quickly soaked, and I figured a treat we didn’t need to try and keep our feet dry anymore! I was glad to be wearing my hiking boots! Most folk were in trainers, but one of the other girls was in Vans! Wild!! We kept climbing, now sticking together as a five for safety in numbers. We met a group of lads climbing back up as we were sliding down to the volcanoes’ lake. It was pretty impossible to get down to the lake safely as everything was incredibly slippy, and it seemed highly unlikely we would swim anyway. In the end, we stopped at a viewpoint, and then the French Canadian girls asked the group of boys to wait for us. The girls disappeared into the distance, with the majority of the boys, and then Jamie and I followed with Ricardo, the German guy, and a very kind local guy who stayed back with us to help us navigate. He was such a ninga, practically running down and wearing only sandals. We eventually lost him, and then we became three.

We got back to the steep opening where we first met Ricardo and the gals and decided to go back through the woods the way me and Jamie had come since it was less steep. Ricardo came along of course and while the route ended up being much longer than the route he had taken, it was also filled with gushing rivers and at least three waterfalls that hadn’t existed on the way up. They were breathtaking! We stopped at one river for Ricardo and Jamie to empty their shoes of rocks, and while I also had rocks in my shoes, I decided I’d use the time to eat a sandwich. I had to eat very quickly to prevent the sandwich from becoming sopping wet!!

When we got back to the hotel that Ricardo and the girls had started from, the girls ran at Ricardo. We had been nearly an hour longer than them, and they had worried about their travel bud! They gave us towels to dry off and then we overpaid a taxi driver just so he’d take five sopping wet Gringos back to the town. He wasn’t pleased but he couldn’t say no to our offer!! We said bye to our hiking pals, having bonded through our adventures and then Jamie and I headed home to shower. After a glorious shower, I went out for dinner in a local restaurant with Jamie. We went all put and got a massive casado each and beef nachos to share. It was glorious!!

Una semana con mi madre

20/5/23

We had one day in San Jose before we were off. We said our goodbyes to dad, who had an early flight back home and then headed down to breakfast where some others from mum’s tour group were also eating. We ate and chatted, and then we went to make a plan for the week sat by the pool.

Afterwards, we walked into town for a walking tour that was meant to be at 1pm and then read a whatsapp that said the tour would start an hour later. We turned around and heard music. We followed our ears to find a festival in the park! It was fab! There were loads of independent sellers on stalls selling either goods or food, as well as a massive stage with a live band as well as a zip line for the kids. After some dancing (with much appreciation from the locals) and some food, we headed back to the square in time for the 2pm tour.

The tour took us around a few different areas, including some very beautiful bits that looked like Paris! We also saw parliament and the 9ld brewery. Afterwards, we returned to an art gallery and coffee shop for a fancy coffee and cake. Then we walked home before it got too dark. We needed to collect our bags and move to our new place. We g9t a taxi through town and pulled up outside a swanky apartment block, Dubai style. It was sleek inside and was on the 13th floor, so we had great views of the city and its surrounding hills, a similar vibe to Quito, Bogota and Medellin! We chilled a little, had a beer watching the sunset, and then headed out for dinner in the cute neighbourhood we were staying in.

We got dressed up (as much as possible out of a backpack!) and found a nice restobar with outside seating and fairy lights. We got nibbles and drinks and then went to a gorgeous cocktail bar called Apothecary afterwards and drank margaritas. We wandered on home after our drinks and slept well.

21/5/23

Another moving day! We got a bus from San Jose first to Puntarenas after breakfast in the apartment and then got a taxi to the port and got in the ferry just before it pulled off! The boat ride was pretty slow, smooth and the views were pretty. It was quite different to the San Blas boat and a darn sight cheaper too, costing $1.60 each! On arriving the other side, we got a local bus to the town, Paquera and then found a place for lunch. Then we asked our hosts to pick us up from the supermarket after we did a quick shop since we were staying in the sticks.

We were kindly picked up and welcomed to our new place by the Costa Rican-Dutch owners. Our tent was pretty epic, worh a double bed, two singles and two old school but very comfy leather armchairs! We had a tour of the site before cracking out dad’s remaining supply of beers. Then we were shown some howler monkeys in the dark by one of the owners. Afterwards, we snacked and decided we would hide from the swooping bats inside. The owner came to check on us and I told him ‘tenemos miedo’, we were scared of the bats!! He reassured us ‘princesas’ and built us a fire. Of course, the fire tempted us out and then we spent the rest of the evening chilling fireside.

22/5/23

We had a breakfast of granola with banana and a coffee, and then after a bit of a chill and book read, we headed to the beach. We were heading to a more or less private beach, a twenty minute walk from our tent. We set off through the forest, past banana plantations and mangroves, seeing many lizards and crabs along the way until we came to a bridge. The so-called bridge was less a bridge and more a log lain over the river, and mum was not keen. I went over first and put my stuff on the other side. Then I tried to convince mum, who does not like heights or drops to come. We spent a while at various points across the first quarter of the bridge until mum decided to call it and head back. I carried on, through some more mangroves before emerging on a big, deserted beach. I chilled there a while with my book before going for a paddle and heading back to meet mum.

We headed into town on bicycles down the bumpy road, which took me quite some time after my electric bike incident in Sicily in October! We went to buy bakery goods which we took to a hotel with a pool and drank jugos de mora en leche (berry milkshakes) by the pool. They were soooo good, and thankfully, they were really bad at estimating how much would make a drink, so they gave us two shakes each to save wasting the extra!! Mmm! We had to put the WiFi to good use while we had it since our tent did not have it, so we made a plan for the next few days and booked our accommodation. Afterwards, we headed back to our tent to chill a little with a coffee before heading on our plankton tour. The son of the owner of our place did bioluminescense tours in kayaks, which sounded very cool, so we went for it!

We got a pick up from our place to the harbour and bounced about in the open back with a spare tyre and some ropes. When we arrived, we got a refresh on how to row, and then we were off. The night became darker, and the plankton brighter!! It was beautiful! Apparently, plankton light up when they are stressed by a potential danger to send a signal to other plankton to watch out! It was a pretty good day for the plankton, and while we were in a kayak, there was still a distinct Tinkerbell vibe around the sparkling waters around us!

We had dinner on returning to the tent, having found the energy to cook some pasta for tea! Then we played cards and drank more coffee before bed.

23/5/23

Moving day! We spent the morning moving from Paquera to Montezuma by local bus and arrived in Montezuma in the afternoon. We got shakes in a cute cafe overlooking the beach (and bus stop/car park) and then ordered cansado, the traditional Costa Rican lunch featuring a protein, rice, beans, plantain and salad. We had fried fish, which was yummy. After some lunch and a few rounds of cards, we left our bags in the cafe and went for a beach wander. It was a beautiful beach, but there were loads of driftwood on it along with loads of microplastics.. Afterwards, we headed to the supermarket to buy beer and a simple dinner of cheese, bread, and olives. We collected our bags and got a taxi to our place.

We checked in and were shown the plunge pools. One of the plunge pools had a veg patch next to it, and the owner told us to take some chilli’s. We did, and I had one bite of one with my cheese, and my mouth was on fire – he wasn’t lying when he said they were really bloody hot! We chilled in our hammock and read and ate and played cards until it was bedtime.

24/5/23

We had breakfast in our apartment and chilled by the pool for a while before having a quick lunch and walking the steep road into town. We went to our usual cafe for a shake and then went to the beach to read. On our way there, we stopped to look at the monkeys. Soon enough, they were doing a catwalk down the top of the fence post before jumping up into the trees. Some of them had babies on their backs, and it was very cute. One monkey climbed up a palm and was frantically trying to shake the coconuts down – it was quite the performance! We read our books on the beach and watched two dogs tear through the sand together.

We headed back into town for a sunset cocktail in a beachfront bar. We had margaritas, and it was glorious! Then we headed to dinner at a venue with live music. We shared a pizza and a chicken salad and enjoyed some tunes. Then we went to top up our food supplies before grabbing a taxi home.

25/5/23

Today was adventure day. We were going to go to a national park, the first national park in Costa Rica. We walked into town to meet the 09.00 bus only to be told when we arrived at 08.48 that it had gone three minutes ago. The next bus was going at 14.00. We considered our options. In the end, we took a taxi and wrote off our losses. We arrived at the entrance to the national park to find no-one. Further up there were a few cars and one guy at a desk. We passed by some kind of jungle peacock, paid pur entrance fee, and headed into the ‘dry forest’, which felt very humid and much like a rainforest to me, but what do I know?! We bumped into a deer almost immediately – mum spotted it through the trees. Then we passed a small snake, and a jabouti (with the booty), or something like that, a kind a massive looking guinea pig! We could hear the howler monkeys in the tops of the trees. It sounded like they were on the war path, and if we hadn’t already been told that they stay in the trees and don’t interfere with humans, I would’ve been tempted to turn around! We walked past massive trees, vines and vines wrapped around trees that were sapping the life from the trees slowly over a hundred years or so. Wild! After a couple of hours of hiking up and down, we made it to an opening to a glorious white sand beach, with trees lining it on one side and the turquoise waters the other. It was beautiful. We ate lunch, and I paddled in the overly strong waves and consequently got my shorts pretty wet!

After lunch, I refilled my water in the showers and we headed back stopping to see capuchin monkeys run through the forest and climb up trees as well as another snake and a beautiful deer, as well as countless lizards and crabs! When we returned to the bus stop early to catch the bus back to Montezuma, it was nowhere to be seen! We waited until 20 minutes past the leaving time and gave up and started walking. It was around 10km to walk and 14.30 so we could do it, but it wasn’t a fun prospect as the road was long and dusty and in full sun. Since we didn’t have a choice, we started to walk to the first village. We wanted refreshments. Sadly, all the cafes were either closed or closed down. It wasn’t high season, so I think some businesses just didn’t bother at all in these times, the same as the bus, it seemed! After reaching the first village, I decided perhaps a hitchhike was worth a go since it was so hot and my boots were beginning to rub! Most people going past were on motorbikes, but when a car drove past, I held put my thumb, and they stopped right away. Since the road only went one way, he was, of course, going to Montezuma, so we hopped in. I started in my shit Spanish before he asked if perhaps we didn’t speak English or French. Turns out he was French Canadian and was basically flipping houses to sell them to Westerners. He drove us to Montezuma and then asked if we wanted to go further since he was going there anyway. He took us back to our guesthouse, and we thanked him, and off we went. Mr Canada had saved our afternoon, and I had avoided blisters so all was good.

Mum headed down to the pool, and I showered before spending the afternoon lounging in our hammock with my book. We headed back into town for dinner, getting caught in a rainstorm on route. We arrived dripping wet to a local restaurant, or Soda, as they’re called 6 we’re welcomed all the same. We ordered fish in coconut sauce with the usual side of rice, plantains, and salad and then went to a cafe so I could get my coffee and cake fix. I had a brownie and an iced coffee, and mum had a beer with two alarming big scoops of my brownie!! Afterwards, we bought breakfast from the shop and got a taxi home.

26/5/23

Our tine was up. Today was moving day. We were going all the way back to San Jose. After breakfast, we packed up and got a taxi to the bus station. We were nearly an hour early for the bus, but we weren’t taking any chances this time!! We sat on the beach and read our books awhile before moving to the bus stop and then the bus. We got the bus back to the port in Paquera, grabbed a snack, and then the ferry across to Puntarenas. Then we got a bus back to San Jose and arrived back to pur San Jose apartment in the afternoon by which point we were starving.

We freshened up and headed out for food, settling for Lebanese food in a place that didn’t look dissimilar to the one in Harborne. It was scrummy, and we had margaritas too! Afterwards, we walked into the city and tried to figure out if we could go to the theatre. When we got there, everyone was dressed up and the thing was sold out. No Messiah’s Requiem for us. We headed back to our patch of town and went back to Apothecary, the cocktail bar from a week before, and had coffee and cake. Then we went back to our apartment to get a good night’s sleep! Mum was flying in the morning.

Pootling ’round Panama

16/5/23

One short day in Panama City 🎵

We woke up when we wanted, had a free hostel breakfast, and had a quick bachata in front of the pool before heading out into the day. We got a taxi to a park overlooking the Panama Canal and walked up through it to the viewpoint. It was nice up there, with views of the canal as well as the old town and new city merging together and meeting the ocean. There was also a big tree that had monkeys playing in it, which we watched for awhile. Then we headed on down, stopping to look at a couple of sloths on the way down! The first one was sleeping, and a family was staring up at it, but the second one was moving, and I spotted it, hauling itself up the tree, limb by limb!

We walked to old town, passing some big roads and dirty streets en route. When we got to the old town though, it was beautiful. We went for lunch in a French bakery and then had extremely good coffee in a speciality coffee shop, which was just as expensive as home, but oh so tasty!! We mooched back towards home via a road with recommended secondhand shops on it. We went into the ‘best’ one only to find a huge, hot, sweaty jumble sale. It was chaos and so damn hot! We spent a short while there before heading out. There were no signs of other secondhand shops, so we were just making a plan when the rain started! And it didn’t stop! None of us had a sim to call a taxi and the yellow cabs wanted to charge us ‘Johnny foreigners’ extortionate rates. Laura found a guy to ask to use his hotspot, and then we were sorted! Mission accomplished. Our driver had a huge 4×4, and when Laura asked about his work, he said he didn’t need to drive, he just did it, so he didn’t get bored sat at home!! What a work ethic!!

The girls went to a workout class and I showered, ate and packed ready for my night bus. When they returned, we said our goodbyes and I headed out. I got the 8pm bus to David.

17/5/23

It turned out that the 10pm bus is far too early to take a night bus as it arrived at 4.20am and the first bus to Boquete, where I was going, wasn’t until somewhere between 6am and 7am – different taxi drivers told me different things for this!

I had a couple of hours to kill outside a closed bus station before I could do anything. I spotted another woman clearly not in any rush to get anywhere and went to wait near her. We got talking (in Spanish!).

Ella era una madre de dos ninos, una dietética y ella era trabajando en San Jose por unos dias eso semana. Ella era tambien esperando por mucho tiempo en el terminal por su hermana. Ella tuvo cuarenta años pero ella se miro mas joven. Ella dijo este es porque ella come muy bueno y que es muy importante. Yo dije que enfermeras comen muy mal. Ella dijo medicas tambien! Este es verdad!! Ella me se camino a mi bus en seis en punto y dijimos adios. Ella era una mujer muy simpatica!

I arrived in Boquete at the crack of dawn, around 7am. The hour bus ride cost me less than a dollar as supposed to the $25 the taxi drivers had kindly offered me! I ditched my big rucksack at the hostel before heading out. First, I did a reccy of the town and then I headed to the cutest looking coffee shop in town for coffee, and had it alongside a slightly sad cinnamon bun I got from the panaderia – it didn’t taste as good as it looked! I stayed there for a good hour or so and tried to write my blog, but the barista, Rodney (a fine Larino name!!), was so chatty! The shop was also a speciality coffee place, and he let me smell a selection of fancy beans and then made me a free coffee using my favourite. It was good coffee.

I returned to the hostel around 09.30, and they told me I could check-in at 10.30 but couldn’t shower before this. I read my book in reception and waited. Once check-in was done, I first showered, then made pancakes (all the better for being free!) and then slept for a couple of hours. Afterwards, I went to see what I could do for the day. It was apparently too late for the day trips, so instead, I went to the local park suggested to me by Rodney, walked by the river and sat on a bench by the pond to read my book. Afterwards, I went to investigate massages only to discover they were nearly $100 for an hour! I abandoned that idea and hung out in the hostel for a little bit before heading out for an early dinner at a pizzeria recommended to me by an obnoxious white British/South African/Kenyan old man. Within 10 minutes of talking to him, he had already insulted me at least three times, so when he asked if I wanted company for my meal I politely, but bluntly declined. He did have a good recommendation for me though – the pizzerua was Italian owned and frankly the food was delicious!!

18/5/23

More pancakes! Apparently it was common for Panamanian hostels to offer pancake batter as ‘free breakfast’ – two girls in my room, Lea and Moluss, had been eating free pancakes for two weeks straight – apparently the novelty had worn off for them! I decided I was going to go to the waterfalls today. It turned out Lea and Moluss had the same idea, so we went together on the bus. There were three waterfalls along a very well maintained trail. It was just as well it was maintained as we’d each paid $10 for the trail! The waterfalls were pretty and we scrambled up to the third one before taking a swim near the second one on the way back down, having already negotiated the steep bit with rope assistance on hand! Where we swam was a haven for hummingbirds, and three or four flew around while we were there. We watched them dance in the air with the cascade as a backdrop.

We walked back down the rest of the way and then got the bus back to town. I was keen to shower and so headed back while the girls went elsewhere. Then I headed back out, squeaky clean, back to my new favourite coffee shop in town. This time, Rodney wasn’t there. Another guy served me and then a different guy came and introduced himself as the bean roaster. He asked if I would try a new coffee and take part in a coffee ceremony. A coffee ceremony is basically the whole process of making the coffee, but while tak8ng your time and appreciating each step. My two coffees and cake were good, and I read a little. Then I went to buy pasta ingredients for dinner.

19/5/23

San Jose here we come!

I knew I had a bit of a journey to do, but boy, it was long!! I set off around 09.30 and headed back to David. Unfortunately, the bus seemed to be packed full of retired bus drivers, and they all sat at the front chatting with the driver and ensuring he drove verrrry slowly! We eventually arrived back in David to find roadblocks around the station due to protests. The people of David wanted better transport.

When I asked where to get the Tica Bus from, the bus which was meant to go directly to San Jose in 5 hours, I was told by both people I asked to get the local bus to the border first. I did just that, and a couple of hours later, I was at the border. Immigration was fast, and I met two Spaniads in the queue behind me to get into Costa Rica. They had two weeks’ holiday from work. She was a psychologist, and he was a football coach for a second division team. They were also going to San Jose to pick up a hire car from the airport and then road trip about. We decided to battle the buses together. We bought our tickets for the next bus, an hour away, and then I sat in the AC while they exchanged money. Afterwards, we got drinks in a cafe opposite the bus stop. My strawberry milkshake was just what I needed in the sweltering heat! Yum!

We got on the bus and set off on what we hoped would be a five hour journey. It was not. It was eight, with a few long stops. My dinner plans with my parents were ruined, but thankfully, I at least found WiFi to let them know! I would be late. We got to San Jose at 9pm ish, and I parted ways with my Spanish bus chums. Then the fighting woth the taxis began! I eventually found one that wasn’t ripping me off the most and off I went!

A short while later, after scoffing tacos that mum had kindly ordered for me when they had eaten, we went to a bar for drinks. On the way in, we needed ID. I asked why and explained I didn’t have any. They waved me through but still asked both of my parents for theirs, which amazingly they had on they ready to go!! We caught up over very loud bachata, merengue and reggaeton music featuring graphic videos, but it was good! Good to catch up!

San Blas Adventures 🚤🚤

12/5/23

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LAURA!

Today was day one of our tour, and we had a family breakfast before we re-waterproofed our backpacks and loaded them onto two wooden boats with big engines to get us up the coast to Panama via Guna Yala. We sang Happy Birthday to Laura at breakfast, and then we headed off. It was a nicely smooth ride (thankfully).

We arrived in our first slice of paradise in time for lunch, an island that had been bought for precisely 50 USD based on the fact that it had precisely 5 coconut trees growing on it. In Guna Yala, coconuts were originally used as payment instead of money and are now used alongside physical money as payment for things. Therefore, owning land where money grows is well, obviously good!

The island was glorious, pure white sands, at least fifty coconut trees now, and clear turquoise waters. We had fresh coconuts waiting for us to drink, and then we had tamales, a traditional steamed corn dish with veggies and chicken inside it, for lunch. I hadn’t eaten tamales since going to Spanish school in Quito with Kai back in January, so it was nice to have some again. A few of us had a low-key contest of who could pile the most chilli sauce on top..! Afterwards, a beautiful cake came out, and we all sang to Laura again. Then we ate chocolate cake before going swimming. We chilled, and then I went for a second round of cake, this time vanilla. A troupe of wooden canoes came to the island, driven over by Guna women, clad in colourful, traditional clothing. They then got into our boats with our luggage, and Sophie, our guide, announced that we would be using their canoes to get ourselves to the next island where we would be staying the night.

Laura was ‘treated’ to a birthday canoe with an ‘outrageous’ but nice Aussie, and Aisling and I set off shortly afterwards. We zigzagged haphazardly across to our destination, grinding to a halt at a different island briefly before freeing ourselves and making it across, parking with a very dodgy ‘three’ point turn. Other boats were less successful, and two boats had to be towed in by the big boats. Everyone watching enjoyed the humiliation!

Back on land, we picked our rooms before a tour of the community living on the island began. They had meetings twice a week to discuss island/Guna affairs and meetings twice a week for singing religious songs together. Women were allowed in one of the two current affairs meetings in the week and had a singing meeting just for them. Money from our tour was going directly back into their communities, to repair buildings damaged by storms and to build more infrastructure and resources for them. There were hundreds of kids everywhere. Apparently, the island was 70% kids! Nuts! We watched some kids do a traditional dance. It was so bad, it was cute, although at times I struggled to hold in my laughs, particularly at the screechy bamboo pan flutes! Afterwards, we headed back to our accommodation, showered, and got ready for dinner.

Dinner was in the one and only restaurant on the island and consisted of Guna Fried Chicken! It was pretty good. Afterwards, everyone hung out there a while, and an interesting mix of year 6 disco and reggaeton were played! Laura requested one bachata song, but the dance wasn’t quite the birthday bachata we were hoping for! Afterwards, we headed back to our room, and Aisling and I tried to set up the back up birthday cake with its church candle (the only thing I could buy in Sapzurro!). The wind was strong, so it wasn’t so successful, but we eventually made it in time to sing to Laura with a cake one more time before bed (albeit it being while she was brushing her teeth!!). We got laughs and love so it was worth it!!!

13/5/23

Today, we had another boat ride of a couple of hours to another island. The ocean was completely different to the day before – the waves were big, and the boat bounced on top of them. Of course, I was in the outside seat once more and got drenched. Whenever I got attacked a fresh wave, I looked round to Jimmy and Ana, an Aussie-Argentinian couple behind me, to find they were even more drenched than I was. When we finally arrived at the next island, at least half of us were soaked through!! It had been an adventure, ending with us all wearing snorkel masks to stop the salty water burning our eyes when the waves leapt up at our boat. What a fetching lot we must have looked!

We took the boat to a nearby paradise island similar to the first days paradise and had a tasty lunch there. Then we chilled and some snorkelled. We returned to the other island for dinner. We all hung out, chatted, and showered pre-dinner. We had a glorious burrito dinner, and then I played cards with a few others, and then I went to dance bachata with Laura and Aisling. The bachata warm-up routine proved quite the success, and many of our tour group joined in!! After this, I watched the stars for a while and I went to bed.

14/5/23

After a tasty breakfast featuring Guna bread, we set off to our next island. We were braced for another bumpy ride, so we wore bikinis paired with raincoats accessorised only with snorkelling goggles – fashionistas, the lot of us! The ride was bumpy, but not that wet, and we arrived at our next paradise island unscathed. We chilled, ate lunch, and I went on a snorkelling tour with one of the volunteers who managed to find roaming a shrimp and a hiding lobster! I bought a hand embroidered bikini top in my fave colours: pinks and yellow (I couldn’t not!). Then we headed onwards to our final island stop, which was also beautiful and, by far, the most beautiful island we slept on.

When we arrived, we found the island had a proper bar, and after two days of only beer or coke (of which I’m keen on neither!), being available, my margarita had been ordered within minutes of stepping onto the island. Shortly after everyone had got the drinks in, Sophie, our guide, rounded us up for a photo challenge! We got into teams and then had an hour and a half to complete all the tasks! Our team finished in half the time and we thought we’d done a pretty good job, until we realised we’d only won 1/10 rounds!! It was back to cocktails again after, followed by showers before dinner where lobster was presented as a delicious surprise along with fruit punch for all!

15/5/23

Our last day in paradise! We had breakfast and then chilled out on the beach till lunch like proper beach slobs! We were meant to go and visit another ‘island’ after breakfast, but the weather was too unpredictable, so we didn’t go. The island used to be a proper island, but due to global warming, it is now completely submerged by the sea. Scary! The Guna people are very aware of future floods and have a long-term plan to move every islands’ inhabitants to the mainland of Guna Yala.

After a final tasty lunch, we headed back to the mainland by boat. Then we got 4x4s to the Guna Yala – Panama birder where we all had to get out and the cars and our bags were fully searched, our passports inspected. It was a slow process! We made it to Panama City a few hours later after stopping at a supermarket for snacks and discovering they sold steamed dim sum at the counter – what a winner!!

I checked into Laura and Aisling’s hotel as an extra guest, having been persuaded to stay one night to go to the farewell dinner of our tour. We had happy hour margaritas and scrummy food. Then we said pur goodbyes (some of us more thoroughly than others!), and headed home! Everyone was exhausted!! Long bumpy boat rides really do take it out of you!!

On the road again 🚕🛩🚕🚎🛥🚤

7/5/23

Today was the start of a long couple of days of travelling! And it was an early start, too! Since we’d been out the night before, I’d had a quick two hour nap before being the idiot that packed in the dark with a torch in a 12 bed dorm!! Laura and I had decided against 24+ hours on the bus, in favour of a short flight, followed by a taxi and bus to round off day one. It went fairly smoothly, with a woman asking to share our taxi and then ensuring we found our way to the next bus. Cute. We had a tasty and cheap lunch looking very bedraggled before going in search of lodgings for the night in the town Necocli.

Necocli is a coastal town, but while it should be nice, set by perfect turquoise waters, it somehow is not! It is a gateway town for refugees to move from South into Central America and therefore has many people living on the streets and on the beaches, making a lot of rubbish and making you acutely aware of your privilege. Red Cross had a base there, and there was a huge water tank for people to use. Camping stuff was sold in nearly every shop, so people could live as well as possible in the circumstances. We checked into a hotel that looked very cute from the outside, but that looked very tired on the inside. The room opposite us had four young men in it. While we were heading out to start an expensive tour around some paradise islands, they were hoping to head out, cross borders, and find better opportunities. Life isn’t fair.

We headed out for a wander and to figure out where the ferry to Capurgana (the start of paradise) went from. After awhile, someone called ‘Sarah, what the fuck?!’, and I looked up to see Miss Aisling striding towards us! Considering we hadn’t confirmed dates of travel, it was funny to bump into each other in this strange town. Laura and Aisling were introduced, and we went for limonadas de coco and sat on the beach. It was nice! After Laura and I headed to the shop for snacks, dinner, and booze for our boat trip. We were exhausted after barely sleeping the day before, so we went to bed early.

8/5/23

Travel day number two! We headed to the boat and Aisling was already there with another girl from her hostel, Sandra from Cali. We bought our tickets together and then prepared our rucksacks for the boat by putting them in bin bags and ensuring they were well sealed. There was apparently potential for them to get wet! We boarded the boat more or less last when Sandra’s name was called to find (of course) only the front seats spare. We sat down and prepared for a bumpy ride!

And wow! By George, was it bumpy?! The first forty minutes was quite fun. We rode the waves and braced with our arms and legs. The waves crashed against the side of the boat and leapt into the boat. I had two weeks worth of money in my bra (for safe keeping) as there was no way of obtaining money or paying card where we were going, and it all got absolutely soaked along with the rest of me, wet down to the core!! (When I later paid my hostel with wet cash, they looked at me strangely!) After the first forty minutes of being on a rollercoaster, the jolts and buckets of water thrown at us were no longer fun. Headaches were settling in, legs were tired from squatting on and off for forty minutes (to reduce impact on coccyx, spine and skull!), and my fingers were beginning to blister from holding on tightly while wearing rings. Sometimes, the waves were so big that when I was bracing my legs, I would stand fully upright!! The captain was going full speed ahead with no regard for anyone’s safety. By the time we arrived, Laura had thrown up in a ripped off scrap of bin bag, and we resembled half drowned rats. I did not like the driver. We collected our bags and called time out since we had another boat to get yet. No one could face it! We stopped for drinks and recovered. My berry milkshake was glorious, and I felt so much better afterwards. Laura, Sandra, and I headed off to get our next boat, and Aisling stayed in Capurgana to check it out for a day.

Our next boat driver was delightful – friendly, relaxed, and not in a mad rush! We set off on our own private little wooden boat for another 15 minutes before arriving at a cute harbour in a stunning bay with turquoise waters and white sands. No-one was around, it was gorgeous. Then began a mission up a hill through rainforest to our hostel. It was hot and humid, and my rucksack was big! I arrived sopping wet from the first boat and then again with a top-up of sweat and suncream. I was hot, wet, and bothered when we arrived! We began check-in, and then the mosquitoes started to attack. The hostel had had no guests in three days since our Cali friends Mauricio and Kirsten had left, and so it seemed the mosquitoes were all the more hungry! Check-in was not a quick process, and in the end, I had to admit defeat and pause check-in so I could go and wash and then dress for the jungle in long trousers and lashings of bug spray! Everyone thought I’d gone mad, but survival is key!!! (And hundreds of bites isn’t fun!)

We continued check-in when I was kitted out for another 30 minutes or so before we could relax and enjoy the incredible terrace. We had lunch in the town and then went for a mooch to the beach before returning home for cocktails and snacks at sunset on the terrace. I played some guitar before the electricity cut back out and I couldn’t access the chord progressions anymore. We chilled and chatted, and I looked at the stars lying on a bamboo mat on the terrace by candlelight. Glorious.

9/5/23

Aisling arrived to our place in time for a second breakfast and then we all headed out to walk from Colombia to Panama to spend the day at the beach there. The walk was a short steep up and down again through the rainforest and then into a tired but cute village. The beach was beautiful. A few basic bars were strung along the beach, selling beers, so we got some and enjoyed them in deck chairs, while bachata was playing in the background. The sea was refreshing. Aisling went to Duty Free to get boat booze. Then we headed back to our hostel for family dinner and drinks. We did a spiritual grace, lead by the owner holding hands (the left hand receives), and then we tucked into a fairly tasty veggie dinner.

10/5/23

We moved minimally today. Had the hostel breakfast and wandered into town for lunch after waving Sandra off. Sandra was heading back to Capurgana by boat to then get another boat a little round the coast. Our lunch was tasty – I had a big slab of a very meaty fish with the usual rice, salad, and plantain. Then we returned to the hostel after getting ice cream to chill and read (and nap) in hammocks. We ventured back into town for the evening for a snacky dinner and drinks. We had drinks and snacks sat on the dock at sunset and then decided to do a dance there since the town was basically deserted. Laura taught us her bachata warm-up routine, and it was fun!! Afterwards, we went to get more fast food from the same fried yuca, arepas con huevos and empanadas stall. We got talking to a couple on holiday from Medellin and a guy that had moved away from his hometown to Sapzurro to run a cultural centre. In the cultural centre, he said he had a skeleton of a teredactyl. He also talked about wood and coral, which Aisling understood in Spanish. When he took us to show us the teredactyl, it became clear. He had made what resembled a teradactyl’s skeleton out of driftwood and coral found on the beaches, along with palm leaves. Very niche, but very impressive! Afterwards, we headed home.

11/5/23

Today was the day we would meet our tour group for San Blas Adventures, a four day tour around Kuna Yala, land owned and governed by indigenous people called the Kunas. We had to meet the group in Capurgana and decided we would hike there there the rainforest , go to the meeting and then head off to some natural spring pools hat Aisling had found on her one day in Capurgana. We did it.

The hike was hot and sweaty but was well worth it with beautiful views, and thankfully, we made it in good time for the meeting. The group of nearly thirty was over-run with Brits, or Londoners to be specific!! One quarter of the entire tour was from London, with another two girls from Bath and me🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿. (No Northerners to speak of sadly!!) The rest was mainly Aussie with a couple of Dutch, French and Germans thrown in along with a Canadian and an Argentinian. We sat through the normal welcome chat and paid up before Laura and I followed pur guide Aisling to a natural pools she had found a few days before. We passed the set for Survivor along the way and then skirted past the jungle along the coast to the paradise pools nestled just above the ocean. They were gorgeous. We had juices and iced coffees, chilled, chatted and danced a second round of bachata before heading back along the coast to catch the boat back to Sapzurro.

The boat ride back was calm, and then we headed up to our old hostel for group drinks and to collect our rucksacks. We had dinner all 28 of us back at the new hotel.

Ciao Cali, ya te extraño

Somehow, I forgot to mention that the week before, my kizomba (and bachata) teacher rocked up to my lesson on Thursday, after a birthday party in the school the night before and announced after a few dances that he had been stabbed twice in the leg the night before. Apparently, two guys had tried to r9b him and when he had retaliated (keeping his phone and money), they had stabbed him. Kudos to him, he kept his stuff, but at what cost?! When I expressed concern at the state of his leg and his day jam packed of dance classes, he laughed and called me cute for being concerned! What is this Cali world?!

29/4/23

On Saturday, I had classes to catch up on from my chilled Monday. After class, I went to meet a salsa friend Juan for two rounds of coffee and some french toast, which was bloody delicious! Laura, Felipe and I met up afterwards and headed to Bailar en el Parque, a bachata dance night outside a museum. When we got there, it wasn’t on because of the Folklore Music Festival. We left after a song or two and headed to the boulevard beside the river Cali, where there were many people hanging out, there was the remains of a market from the day and a big stage with live music (all folk of course!). We got some bevs and hung out awhile, and more of the Pacific lot came by, too. When we got hungry, Laura and I said bye and headed back to get areas and watch a movie (a great Saturday night in).

30/4/23

A chilled Sunday was had, starting with coffee in bed and a group call with my road trip chicos, Fleur, Giorgia, and Alex. After the call, I headed out for the day with another salsero. We headed up into the hills on the edge of Cali and stopped at a cute place with a pool overlooking the whole of Cali. We had drinks, hung out, and then had lunch – I had ceviche, which was super delicious and then a little while later, we returned to Cali and I headed to the festival market to check it out in the day. I returned empty-handed and met Laura for an early evening wine sat out in the street in front of the bar, which felt very civilised until we were hassled too many times for money!! We got amazing arepas afterwards and I got a chocolate, banana and oat loaf cake too! 😋

1/5/23 – 4/5/23

Back to normal, but since it was our last week and we felt exhausted, we reduced our hours of Spanish down from 10 a week to 4. I still had my two hours of private classes, but I had also stopped the group classes because I wanted to really enjoy not only dance but also Cali in my final week. I ate cake, drank coffee and chilled in various places across San Antonio as much as I could.

Monday was a national holiday ‘worker’s day’ and there was some sort of friendly procession in the street for this which I watched from my dance class!! After a day of classes, I went for an inpromptu cocktail night with Laura and Luiz, our friend from SofarSounds. We watched the sunset and afterwards, I headed home, cooked pasta and binge watched ‘You’. I was asleep by midnight (super early by Caki standards) because I wanted to be fit for the next three nights out in a row at least (it ended up being five!!).

On Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, I made it out of course, even making the salsa class in La Topa on Wednesday. I had challenged myself to dance in the circle at the end of the class, an opportunity to dance with the teacher of the class in front of a big group of other learners. Sadly, I got too scared and didn’t have a pal with me to push me to do it, so I guess I’ll have to come back to do it one day!! 😆😆

The nights out were fun, and each one felt like saying another goodbye to Cali, one step closer to leaving. It felt strange. I’ve never spent nearly two months in only one place before, not even close!!

First cup of tea of 2023! And yes, it was Yorkshire, what else?!

5/5/23

Friday was my final dance class with Alex. How times flies! Laura and I had our final Spanish class with Felipe too and we headed out for cake afterwards in a place Felipe recommended. The cake was good, but sadly, they forgot my coffee order (maybe for the best, since I’m predominantly disappointed with coffee in Colombia!!). Afterwards, I headed back to the dance school for what was meant to be my final class with Victor, my bachata (and salsa) teacher. When I arrived, the streets were blocked for a carnival like procession for the folklore festival! The drums were hammering down the streets so loudly, we quickly gave up, grabbed beers, and headed down to join the other teachers and a few other students watching. It was fun! There were bands with saxophones and trumpets, guitars, and the same group from Hawaii that I had seen the week before with one ukulele, which admittedly got very lost in the hubbub of noise!! Afterwards, I went to shower before meeting Laura for a final (fancy) dinner before we left. We went to a cute place near Parque de los Perros, where the food was glorious and there was even a secret bar. It felt like Dead Canary back home in Cardiff, and I remembered my last time there with Georgia and the jokes waiter from Carmarthen!! It was fun! Afterwards, we got a taxi back to our neighbourhood. Sadly, a car drove into us when we were waiting at the traffic lights (we weren’t even the front car), and so we had to wait for the two drivers to assess damage and talk. The driver at fault was only 17! We drove around in convoy for a bit, looking for an ATM before we pulled over again, and the 17 year old got out the car again with his very fierce looking girlfriend. Our driver was very calm throughout the whole process and ended up accepting a total of 20000 COP (less than £4) for the scratches to his car. We were bemused. After all the drama, I ended up going to the street party late, around midnight! Luckily, I managed to find various people I knew there, from my dance school, my hostel, and the Pacific coast trip. Afterwards, I headed to Malamana, a salsa bar, for the final time.

6/5/23

Ahhhh! My final day! I had a chilled morning hanging out in the hostel before heading to my fave coffee and blogging spot. Afterwards, I went for lunch before my final rearranged dance class. I headed back to La Vaina for a quick turnaround before heading out again to meet Laura for sunset cocktails in our new favourite haunt, Cafeticon. Then we headed to Bailar en el Parque, a free dance class and social outside the museum and one of our favourite nights in the week!! Philly was there and then Felipe came, followed by (SURPRISE, SURPRISE!), Alex and his brother Tony!! It was so nice to see Alex again!! After the social, we went for arepas all together, and then Felipe headed home, and we headed out to a different dance bar recommended by Philly, who was already there. It was a cool place, and a great place to watch the dancing because there were many professional dancers there, as well as a few teachers. This made the actual dancing part pretty intimidating for me, though! We danced a bit, Lauda and I swapping between Alex and Tony and then I headed home to bed! We had booked a last-minute early morning flight to the coast(ish), so I figured a few hours of sleep wouldn’t hurt!!

Yep, I’m still in Cali!!!

22/4/23

I needed a rest from the five hours of classes and dancing every night, so I decided to give myself a long weekend after our slightly drunk SofarSounds night on Friday. Saturday, I had brunch with Laura and then headed down to the river for a mooch and a decompress. I finally saw the full extent of Parque del los Gatos, a river side walk with lots of differently decorated car statues. It was cute! Afterwards, I chilled by the pool a bit and then went for a mooch around San Antonio. Obviously, I ended up in yet another cute coffee shop! In the evening, I went to a rueda (salsa in a group circle) class. It was fun to try again after so long – I hadn’t done a class since pre covid!!

23/4/23

On Sunday, I seized the day! I woke up early and decided last minute to go to a rueda in the park event Treasa sent me (gracias chica!). It started at 09.00, with a note not to be late arriving on the event. Of course, the event did not run on time, but everyone was relaxed. I was the only tourist there. I asked where the easy class was, and the organiser said there wasn’t one! (I think he feared the Gringos would ruin their rueda en casino circle!). I didn’t! I found the easiest group and went for it! It was lots of fun!! After the class, they went into learning an ongoing routine s9 I left for home. I was feeling virtuous, so changed and went straight back out for a run, ending in a cute square with a Sunday market. One of the market-stall holders noticed me itching my bites while sat on a bench and came over to ask if I wanted some bug spray. Spanish is a warm language. He addressed me as ‘mi amor’ and ‘mi reina’, which when translated to English seems very extreme as a stranger is calling me ‘my love’abd ‘my queen’, but here its normal practice! The day before, the owner of a coffee shop addressed a homeless man asking for money as ‘mi amor’ too… spreading the love! I headed to my coffee shop from the previous Sunday, this time with money for food! I had a scrummy (if small) breakfast with glorious flat white and then headed home to shower. I went to San Antonio Park with the hostel lads pre sunset and headed to a rooftop pizza date with Laura for sunset. Both the view and the food were gorgeous, (company too, of course!!). 😆😆 When I returned to the hostel, Alex was nowhere to be found. He was apparently doing karaoke with Ronny in the dance studio! I went to join them, but sang minimally as all the songs were Spanish. Then we salsaed a bit, and Alex taught Ronny some bits using me to demo. We danced a bit more before I headed to bed.

24/4/23

Today was my planned day of doing nothing. First, I moved from La Vaina back to the guesthouse I had stayed in before with Laura, and then we went to Buscar por Dentro to try the cinnamon rolls that Fleur had rated so highly! We bumped into a fellow salsero there, Marco from Austria, and then the girls Gina and Clara arrived, and we headed off on our spa day. Time to relax! We had a lovely time, with the whole place to ourselves and with a quick massage included, not to mention rooftop margaritas and barbequed chicken ribs waiting for us afterwards – so random! Afterwards, we returned home to chill a bit before I headed to La Topa in the night for salsaaa.

25/4/23 – 28/4/23

Back to normal. More dance, more Spanish, more coffee and more cake. Nothing much else to report!

Tuesday I went to a concert in the evening, which was part of a folklore music festival across Cali. I went with Laura and Alex, and we met one of the teachers from Rumba y Salsa, Alondra there too. The heatre was very fancy and looked lime the New Theatre at home in Cardiff. Home comforts! 💛 The first three countries to dance were bizarre because Chile, Estonia and maybe Poland all danced in way I recognised – some danced like Morris dancing with handkerchiefs and shoes with buckles, some danced more like a ceilidh or traditional Welsh folk dancing and some like an Irish jig! It seemed the world of folk dance was very similar all across the globe!! Then Hawaii came on and they were dressed like Lilo and Stitch and the music was almost identical! Cali’s show was electric and of course not anything like British folk dancing! Venezuela was also pretty different! All in all, a nice night!

Wednesday was the birthday of a friend from the dance school, Derrick, so we celebrated in the dance school and then went to La Topa later. It was cute!

Thursday after a normal day of classes, (two hours of dance and two of Spanish), and a cute final dinner with Alex and Guillerme, Laura and I decided to try a Chiva bus, a traditional way to party in Colombia, and yes its on a bus!! We went wirh Rumba y Salsa, which took us to different and more typical (less touristy) salsa spots across the city. Dancing on a moving bus is quite a challenge, especially salsa, and at times, everyone was thrown across the bus! It was funny! We drove across the city ‘touring’ it. Cali is quite the city. Ir has a few cute areas with gorgeous cafes and bars but also many deprived areas, which really would not be safe to be out in at all. Some other backpackers had said they felt uncomfortable going through these areas on a party bus because they felt like they were looking at people as if they were exhibits in a zoo. I didn’t feel this because while you do see some extreme poverty (you can see it in more or less every street across the whole of Cali anyway), you’re mainly focusing on staying upright while dancing on a moving bus!! I also think since the chiva bus is a Colombian thing, and not just made for tourists, it feels different. Either way, it was a fun experience!! We headed to El Rincon to dance on a reliable and non-moving floor afterwards!!

Friday again! I went out for breakfast pre 10am dance class, skipped Spanish since we needed a break and just chilled, had lunch with the ladsssss, and then hung out in La Vaina for a bit since it was Alex’ last day. Ahhh! We said our goodbyes and then I had another hour of dancing before Laura and I headed to bingo!! It was a cute set up on a large terrace overlooking the mountains, but it wasn’t boozey bingo, it was just golden oldies bingo!! Everyone was welcoming and we managed a round before we headed off in search of dinner. Afterwards, I chilled at home with Netflix and a face mask. Wild Friday!!

Aborrajado, bachata and Bohemian Rhapsody 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿

Another week of more of the same, but not in a mediocre way. Imagine trying to learn to be better at dancing and Spanish, and actually making progress (albeit slowly), sharing more time with friends, friends that you are getting to know better each day. Imagine eating good food and enjoying coffee and cake each day for a fraction or the price at home and sometimes having your morning coffee lying on a lounger gazing up at the blue sky with a few palm trees breaking up the expanse. Routine doesn’t need to be dull. It can be a perfect balance of all of your favourite things!

(This summary is apparently what happens when I try to write my blog to electronic music!)

15/4/22

So Saturday Laura and I went to my favourite group class in my dance school (Afro Cuban) in the afternoon and then got ready for bachata in the park again, in a square outside the museum. It’s a cute setup there!

Laura y yo llegamos alla por la clase a las seis y medía y encontramos mas amigos alla, Philly de Hong Kong, Mauricio y Rose de aqui y despues la clase tambien Felipe, nuestro maestro de español y ahora amigo. Yo pienso yo bailé un poco mejor que la semana pasada.

Un rato mas tarde, yo se encontré un amigo de mi escuela de baila y despues vamos a una lugar cerca Cristo Rey a comemos juntos. Yo comí una hamburguesa y la camarera dio mi guantos para comer!! Muy divertido! Tambien el mirador de este lugar es muy bonito. Tu pudiste ver todo el ciudad. Despues comimos, tomamos un moto a el Parque de los Perros y alla tomamos margaritas. Despues, regresé a mi hostel por dormiendo.

16/4/23

Sunday began early with a run along the river, my first (or possibly second) of 2023, eeep! After my run, I wandered through a cute square with a small art market in it and then found a gorgeous place for coffee. I asked for a strong cappuccino and rhe waiter recommended that I had a flat white instead but I explained that I had heen running and only had 10 mil with me (£2) and the flat white was too expensive for that. He reassured me and said he’d make me a flat white and charge it as a cheaper coffee – what a guy! And yes, the coffee was glorious (not just glorious for in Colombia, but really glorious!). Haaaappy Sarah! I chilled by the pool in the afternoon and ate cake, played a little on Ronny’s miniature guitar, and swam. In the afternoon, I went for lunch in the yummy vegan cafe Madre Selva with DeJean🇫🇷, Julie🇩🇪, Phillip🇦🇹 and a new Spanish guy.

In the evening, a few of us went to Septimarcielo, a salsa club to dance and to watch Nicole, one of the hostel dance teacher’s perform in a show. It was fun, and I watched a few different performers and danced a fair but with various folk before my stomach called the shots, and I had to go in search of food, missing Nicole’s show!!

17/4/22 – 20/4/22

Classes galore! Monday to Friday was back to five hours of classes a day. A few lunches and dinners out, an aborrajado (fried plantain with cheese and salsas) in the park wirh DeJean and Alex, a few nights of dancing, one early morning coffee date, one night of cocktail drinking, and of course a lot of cake!!

21/4/23

Happy Friday! Today, I had kizomba class followed by salsa class and then went for lunch with Laura. We ate a lot and then headed to Spanish class. Disaster! We were both sleepy post lunch, and Laura had a migraine coming on! We all got quite distracted many times what with Cali gossip, feeling full, and other things! After an hour, we called off the rest of the lesson and enjoyed sangria in peace!! Thanks Felipe!!

Afterwards, I walked back to my hostel with Felipe and chilled with Felipe and Alex a bit before going to rest. I was going out to Sofar Sounds Cali that night, so needed to be fresh! Laura and I had La Vaina’s infamous Signature cocktails (twice over, because happy hour) before we left for Martyn’s bar across town.

When we got there at around 21.30, it was super quiet! We said hi and bye to my friend Luiz, the organiser, and then went to get a drink in a different place. On the way, we walked past quite a commotion. There were lots of police vans and yellow tape, and when we got closer, we saw a dead man lying on the floor. No one was trying to help him so clearly he’d been dead a while. Laura said she saw two people in hazmat suit’s near him, so I’ve no idea what had happened. We walked past quickly and found a cute place with fairy lights for some strong drinks! I told the story of how I’d been told as a 21 year old nursing student in a hospice, that to cope with traumatic things (ie seeing multiple people dying each day), you should just shake it off by doing a couple of star jumps at the end of each day!!

After our drinks and some good chat, we got a taxi back to Martyn’s, where the snow was about to begin. We met a few musicians outside before and got our drinks in, and then we were off! There were fairy lights everywhere as well as loads of flags, with extra cute Welsh bunting. Turns out that the 9wner, Martyn with a ‘y’ is Welsh, from Flintshire and has been running an alternative rock bar in Cali for over 30 years!

Three out of four of the musicians were fab, one particularly, a guy from Panama, Master Monk Zero, had an insane voice, so pure and soulful! The other one guy, was like Eurovision gone badly wrong – his enthusiasm was 11/10, but he was to put it politely, tone deaf!! At times, and in my very tipsy state, it was a struggle not to outwardly laugh!! After the gig finished, Martyn put on his own music and while Laura and I were the only Gringos there, everyone danced as if it was a Propaganda or Snobs night! The dancing was super enthusiastic and distinctly average to look at and I loved every minute of it! At one point, Bohemian Rhapsody was played, and everyone went for it, with all the parts covered. It was glorious!! We made our way home after this, both in much need of sleep!

The papaya and the thief

7/4/23

Friday was back to usual after we managed to drop the car back promptly at 8am, with classes of Spanish and dance but sadly followed by no street party because of Easter. There were processions through the street for Easter with loud drumming and chanting, similar to what happens in Seville. I headed to class after dropping the car, went for lunch at Nona with Fleur and the day continued as normal. Sadly, there was no fiesta el la calle because of Holy Week.

8/4/23

I also had dance classes on Saturday and then headed back to the hostel to chill and phone my mum. The streets were noticeably quieter because a lot of Calenos had headed out of town with family for the bank holiday weekend. Porque no?! When I returned to the hostel I decided it would be nice to go to a cute cafe for my phone call home. I got to a cafe and rang my mum only for them to tell me that they had no electricity. No bother, I would head across the road a cpuple of blocks to the next coffee shop. (Papaya, papaya I hear Colombians and tourists who have travelled Colombia scream!) And yes, I was on the phone in the street when a guy on a motorbike swiped at my phone, catching my eyelid and taking my phone off into the distance with my mum and dad still talking..! Some homeless people saw the while thing and called the bakery owners out to help/reassure me. They gave me tea, the owner, a kind man, let me speak to my mum using his phone, and papaya was only mentioned a few times. ‘Don’t give them papaya,’ is the phrase commonly used here to mean ‘don’t make yourself an easy or obvious target for crime. By having my phone put on the street, especially while walking solo, it’s almost as much my fault that my phone was robbed as the thiefs! I returned to the hostel once my nerves had settled and recruited Alex to help me acquire a new phone. We went to a cpuple of phone shops, and Alex ensured the transaction went smoothly in Spanish. I got myself a phone camera with a 0.5 lense (very exciting), and Alex somehow got me a members discount. When I returned to the hostel, a police report was being filed. I headed back out to dance class at 3pm and it delt apmost as if nothing had happened!! I went for dinner of falafel with Laura before heading to bachata in the park for social dancing. I hadn’t been there before, but it was a super cool setup outside the museum in a beautiful marble floored square. We danced a bit and then headed to SaBaKi for more social dancing. Various people from the Pacific coast trip were there, who I had a go dancing with! We ended up finishing pretty late, on our unplanned night out!

9/4/23

Laura had kindly invited me to the river for nature swimming along with her Colombia mate Jose. We were going early to beat the crowds (and the thieves)! I had a quick breakfast before I left, and then we headed by taxi just past the zoo to the river. We walked maybe half an hour to get to the highest part Jose deemed safe for us to go with only one chico (guy). There, we had the icy waters to ourselves and sat and chilled (literally) for ar least fifteen m8nutes before moving to a place further down the river, which was less secluded and better for actual swimming. It was glorious. The currents of the river made a little rapids section, which was fun to be pulled around by. Many groups of friends were there, and further down, families were beginning to make their Easter Sunday lunches, a chicken soup called sancocho, made particularly for special occasions. They had brought all the ingredients to prepare everything river side and were using the river water for the broth. So wholesome!

After our swim, we walked back towards the town until we found a taxi to take us to a cute brunch spot in San Antonio, my stomping ground in Cali. Laura had found the place and it did glorious brunch with sourdough bread and passable coffee! We chatted and chilled and generally enjoyed a slow Sunday. Afterwards, I went back to La Vaina to chill by the pool. I got chatting to a guy by the pool, Camilo, who bought me a beer and later we chilled together with his friend Luiz, a singer who lives in L.A and was a SofarSounds organizer. So cool!

Later, I went out last minute dancing with Laura and her host Roger, first to a bar in the street and then to a salsa club. It was absolutely rammed, with a different, older crowd than the usual events I went to, and all with lashings of rum and aguadiente (equally horrible in taste to sambuca) on their tables. The dancing was good, but the highlight of the night had to be when an 80/90s pop mix came on, including ‘YMCA’ because the salsa dancing ceased and chaos broke out!! After a couple of hours, we left to return home.

Roger dropped me back at my hostel, where I went to join Alex and a German girl, Julie, playing Uno. Later, we met another new guy Ronny, a professional songwriter (little did I know this when I agreed to play guitar and sing infront of him, aha!), as well as Camilo and Luiz. Luiz, Ronny and I took turns to play Ronny’s mini guitar. It was fun. Later we switched to dancing salsa. It was a fun, wholesome Sunday night.

10/4/23 – 14/4/23

It’s more of the same. I had changed hostels, having decided that I needed a break from the hostel life for a bit. Laura had recommended her fuesy house for a clean, quiet place with a private room and Netflix. It was a nice change. Otherwise, I had a busy week of 5 hours of class every day with a few lunches out and a cute dinner out with Laura and Sophia, another girl from the Pacific trip, who was sadly about to leave. I had bakery cake pretty much every day and started going to a new cafe for my coffee break I between classes. Monday, I skipped the salsa night to watch Netflix in bed – no regrets! Wednesday was dinner with the gals, with good chat and great margaritas! Thursday, I went to try cholados, a traditional (and very sweet), Colombian dessert consisting of grated ice with various sauces and tropical fruits along with ice cream and whipped cream, with a nice taxi driver who was happy for me to practice my Spanish on him. All was well until I told him I had a cough and was a little bit sick, and he told me he was ‘sick for me!’ Latinos say a lot!! 🤣🤣🤣 We said our goodbyes after this and afterwards, it was time for another dance event, and Friday I went for dinner with La Vaina pals (a much needed pizza night), before I headed over to SaBaKi for a kizomba group class that was meant to be a gals night. Laura was there, and we danced a little after the class before I decided that I would head to the street party and try to find the hostel folk there. I found some hostel people and was also adopted by three Colombian women with percussion instruments who showed me how to play each one and enthusiastically supported me when I got the rhythms right! My friend Philip came later and we danced a bit in the street, alongside Steven, who seems never to miss a street party! After the party, I headed home to sleep. No extra salsa bar or reggaeton club for me today! A veces, necesito tomar un descanso.

The one about the road trip

1/4/23

Day one of the mega road trip to the beach! Vamos! We got up early early (en la madrugada) and hit the empty roads with Cali salsa tunes blaring. The roads were a whole lot more sketchy than I was expecting, particularly the drivers on the roads! It was a little reminiscent of the journey I took with my mum from Manali to Manikaran (an incredible place), but a place where everyone, including our bus driver overtook on sharp, blind bends with steep drops on one side! This got my adrenaline going on every corner, which meant it was less stressful, just to try and sleep through it. Our first food (and loo) break was around 11am after 6 hours of travelling! Crazzzzy! Lucky that I have a bladder of steel from nursing! 🤣 At this point, we decided we would stop for lunch in Medellin.

Two or so hours later, we arrived in Medellin and Fleur, and Alex got empanadas, and I got a full almuerzos menu with soup, juice, and the classic, meat, rice and plantain main. At lunch, we booked a hotel another couple of hours away on the edge of a cute looking colonial town. Then we headed onwards, rolling through Medellin’s traffic at snails’ pace before getting out on the country roads once more. We arrived in said small town around 6pm to find it was pretty chilly. We checked into our hotel, with all four of us in one room, and decided we were not going out again thay day. We ordered takeaway to the room and ate in front of Netflix. I had chocolate brownie with ice cream, but others had more disappointing choices like nachos, which were not baked, nor did they come with real guacamole or cheese as promised, but instead with substitute fake sauces instead! I slept between 10 and 11pm as we had another early start in the morning.

2/4/23

We ended up leaving the hotel at around 06.10 and tried but failed to find a panaderia to pick up breakfast goods. Luckily, Fleur had come super prepared with a huge bag of snacks, including bread rolls and squirty jam! Squirty jam in a roll it was! We stopped for a coffee stop before lunchtime, where it took three times for the coffee to be drinkable! The first one was more coffee than milk, so i asked for a black coffee instead. Sadly, the black coffee came with a generous (disgusting) amount of sugar mixed in. Third time round, I got a strong cup without sugar, which wasn’t bad at all!

Of course, the crazy driving from everyone on the roads continued, while the roads did not, in fact, always continue! We saw a couple fall off a moped with small tyres for trying to go up onto the road from an off-road section and misjudging it. Thankfully, they were okay. They brushed themselves off and carried on. Aiii aii!

Roadside waterfall while waiting for a road block

We stopped very late for lunch with less than two hours left to get to the beach! The excitement for the beach was building along with the hunger and frustration at being in the car so long! We tried a traditional roadside place for lunch, but they didn’t have a solid vegetarian option for Giorgia, so we headed in search of somewhere else. Sadly, the only other obvious place on town was a steak house! Giorgia gave up on ever finding food, and we ate a crazy amount of meat (with scraps for the stray dogs), alongside potatoes, yuca, and some other unknown carb!

After lunch, we did the last two hours to the town of El Rincon del Mar, checked into our hostels, and headed to the beach for a sunset swim and cocktails. We chilled, chatted, and enjoyed the sunset before we showered and got dinner on the beach. We could hear live music in the distance and headed towards it, but when we found it, it was a Latin music event but with no one dancing! Everyone was just standing around the edge of the arena with drinks – what was the point of that?! We headed back to Alex’ hostel on the beach and chilled and had some interesting conversations. Then we headed to bed. I could not imagine getting back in the car for the trip back!!

3/4/23

A full day to do nothing. Boy, was it going to be GLORIOUS! Us girls had a yummy hostel breakfast worh lots of fresh fruit before going to meet Alex on the beach. First, we made an hour round trip by car to the nearest ATM and supermarket for snacks and drinks with the intention of then walking to the far end of the beach, which was even more deserted. However, when we returned hot and bothered, we didn’t fancy the walk, so spent the rest of the day lounging, sunning ourselves, swimming, drinking beers, snacking, and watching sunset. After sunset, we got dressed for dinner and then went out for pizza before having drinks and playing uno on the beach. The pizza was surprisingly delicious and fairly Italian, considering we were in the middle of nowhere and the owner was not Italian, but French! A scrummy evening!

4/4/23

Originally, we had planned to head to Cartagena today, but having spent a full day beach side, of course, we wanted more. We had another scrummy hostel breakfast this time with guacamole and then headed straight to the beach. I did moved minimally throughout the day but did go for a bit of a swim and importantly managed to sort my car insurance for next year! An adult chore done! I had a scrummy piece of fish for lunch and then had a massage before returning to my book.

I treated myself to a sunset cocktail with Fleur while Giorgia and Alex were enthusiastically playing volleyball. Chica Marcella came to find us and we chatted awhile before getting ready and having dinner and limonade de coco (coconut lemonade) together. My lemonade was more expensive than my dinner, but I think that just reflects how insanely good the lemonade is!! We said our goodbyes to Marcella and headed to bed as the next day was moving day for us all, with Giorgia heading to Cartagena and the rest of us back to Cali!

5/4/23

Ai ai aiii! How was it time for the return journey already?! We headed off at the crack of dawn (before dawn actually) and dropped Giorgia off in a nearby town where she could get the bus to Cartagena. We said pur goodbyes and waited. The place where the bus stopped was a random petrol station with only men hanging around. We didn’t like it, so we waited until women started to appear. Giorgia didn’t want to hold us up and wanted us to leave. A short while later, a collective came, and Giorgia began her journey, and we continued on ours. Alex had been briefed on my requirements for the drive back as agreed with Fleur! I had only two requirements (very reasonable, I thought!), one was to make regular stops for food, and the loo and the other was to not overtake on blind corners. (Having experienced nursing on neuro intensive care, my mind is very vivid in its imagination of road accidents, which is something I prefer to avoid!)

After two hours or so, we stopped for breakfast. All was well. The tunes were playing, and spirits were high. We hit Medellin for lunch around 3pm and decided we could afford to stay there the night. After lunch, we found a hostel and checked in, before heading out in El Poblado for a mooch. It was super nice but could’ve been anywhere in the world, Digbeth, London, Berlin, you name it! There were many bars and restaurants near the river with plenty of fairly lights and a nice general buzz about the place. We got drinks and chatted before heading back to the hostel. I played guitar on the terrace while Fleur and Alex played Connect 4 while listening. We headed to bed around 10/11pm as our final early start was ahead of us!

6/4/23

The final stretch! After crawling out of Medellin, somehow stuck in traffic despite it being pre 06.00, we hit the road, enjoying mad views of the mountains as we snaked along the mountainside roads. It was super pretty! We stopped for an arena breakfast with eggs after an hour or so in the same place we had our first stop on day one! Crazy! Alex was a hard-core driver and somehow didn’t tire of driving for so many hours for so many days! (My hips would be shot!) We had another snack stop on route before smashing out the final bit to return to Cali before 3pm! A strong effort.

We pulled up outside La Vaina on the Thursday before Easter, a public holiday in Colombia, only for some passersby to point at our front wheel! As we pulled in, we had cut the tyre on a metal grid jutting out from the pavement. Typical! We took our backpacks into the hostel and had a coffee and then went to find Alex, who was missing. Turned out he had already changed the tyre for a spare and was ready to head to the repair shop before returning the car. Since it was a holiday, many of the repair shops were closed, but we found one eventually who was able to repair the old tyre and put it back on the car. I was keen to return the car so we could chill, but Alex, being a bit of a particular soul, wanted to wash the car before returning it to the hire place. Off we went, searching for rhe one car wash olace rhat was open on Easter weekend! (There’s always someone that wants the cash!) We found a self-service one, which had a timer and I ended up being the chief of time and assistant washer while Alex scrubbed the car with a brush. Alex, the perfectionist, was not good at keeping to the times of the machine or me (a nurse with strict timings), which led to much screeching and laughter! I nearly caught Alex in the water jet a few times too – whoops! After two rounds of water jets and scrubbing (even the tyres), the car was f8nally sufficently clean to be returned to the cqr hire place. As we arrived in the car park of the car hire place, a man from the hire place was leaving. He told us that the place was cl9sed until the morning since it was a holiday. Ai ai aiiii! We could drive another 40 minutes or so and drip 8t at the airport, but then we’d be stuck at the airport, way out of town. After much faffing and annoyance at the rental staff for not telling the right thing and then not being apologetic or helpful about it, we decided the best thing to do was ditch the xar in the car park and come backnin the morning to give back the keys and officially hand it over. Luckily, the car renral place was beside a mall, because after all the stress, I needed sugar. Fleur needed an ATM anyway, so I headed off to get a much needed oreo mcflurry. It was glorious and improved my mood immensely! Afterwards, we got a taxi back to La Vaina and chilled. EL Rincon, a salsa night was a step too much for tonight! Sleep was the better option!!