Isla Barú
When planning this trip, it took us a while to find the perfect beach where we wanted to spend the last part of our holiday. The obvious choice were beaches around Cartagena however, those were not really what we wanted. With Santa Marta being too far, we somehow came across Isla Barú. It took us almost no time to decide that this was the place where we wanted to relax and enjoy ourselves. And after we found the perfect Airbnb, it quickly became a no-brainer.
The fact that the house and Isla itself are quite isolated, the first task was to figure out how to get there and how to get food once there. We thought about learning to fish and hunt but, fortunately, we didn't have to because our Airbnb host was prepared for everything (I suppose we weren't her first guests :D). So instead of googling our asses away, we messaged our asses away. It turned out we had to use a car and a boat to get there and that there was no grocery store/market/food source so we had to buy everything in advance. We decided to hire a cook basically because we knew that without her we wouldn't be able to enjoy the seafood that we (coming from mainland Europe) had no idea how to prepare. The plan was to have a driver pick us up in Cartagena, do the shopping (yes, we had a list with us), then get to our boat ride and then just relax and enjoy the para-para-paradise (you did sing that in Chris Martin's voice, didn't you?).
When the day finally came and we filled the trunk first with our suitcases and later with many shopping bags filled with food, we still had no idea what we could expect. So one car ride and one boat ride later, with 'no service' sign on both our phones, we saw the beach and the house and we immediately knew that it was going to be much better than we had expected.
The house was simple but had all you need when you spend all day at the beach. There was also a large dining table outside along with some sun loungers and hammocks. When the dinner time came, it was confirmed immediately that hiring the cook was a perfect idea because the meal was delicious! However, with the arrival of the evening, came the arrival of the most hated little creatures - mosquitoes. Colombia isn't really a place where you want to be bitten so a mosquito net came in handy. We quickly found out that without spraying ourselves from head to toe with mosquito repellent and without sticking the net under the mattress, the mosquitoes still found a way in. The main reason we found that out so quickly was that we woke up, at around 1:30am, bitten, angry and on the mission to kill every mosquito we could reach. However, that was hardly possible and on top of that, we knew that the most important thing at that moment was to stay inside the net because there still was a mob of mosquitoes waiting for us outside. So we found the repellent, sprayed everything, including the net and involuntarily "ate" some of the repellent as the air was full of it. If we had been scared about being bitten before, now, we could only hope that the mosquitoes that bit us were healthy and malaria-free. The rest of the nights, it was more or less better, mainly because we sprayed the net before going to bed, we sprayed our PJs and faces and everything that was sticking out and we made sure we put the net under the mattress so it became virtually impossible for the mosquitoes to get in. However, some of them accepted this challenge and made it their lives' goal to get in whatever the cost. I must admit whole "spraying ritual" was my least favourite part of our vacation. Not only did the repellent, we used, damage my tweezers, but it was also gradually "melting" my nail polish. Anyway, if you have to choose between malaria and melted nails, the choice is quite simple (but I hated it all the same!).
Life's good when you don't have to know the time - and our life at Barú was amazing! The only time indicator we had was that the cook was supposed to prepare lunch and dinner at certain times, so we always knew it must be about the time when we saw her arrive. I will save all the details about what we ate for our food post but to get a general idea - we bought everything at the shop in Cartagena, except for seafood which we could get from the house closest to ours. We also bought snacks and rum and beer, of course, :D. Everything we could potentially want during those 5 days. And - amazingly and with some help of the local dog that we kind of adopted - we ended up with almost no leftover food (I am really proud about that, I hate throwing out food).
Btw, the doggo - he was the smallest and hungriest of them all, scared of everything and everyone - and that was why we "adopted" him for that short period of time. He put on considerable weight and became considerably less scared in those five days. On 3rd/4th day he even started to protect us, tried to bark all other dogs and people away, acting all scary and Dobermann-like. The doggo's task of barking everybody away did not involve that much work. There were 2 people we saw walking along the beach and 3 people working at the nearby house. That was all. Despite that, we were happy that he was in such a good mood. His favourite past time was napping under the sun lounger when we put it in the sitting position. Then, when we changed it to the flat position, he got trapped there. This happened two to three times a day.
I could go on and tell you all about the great climate and perfect deserted beach and amazing ocean, about how we neglected to put sun lotion on as regularly as was necessary and about how it was one unforgettable holiday. However, I am almost sure it would be boring AF and you wouldn't bear it for more than a few sentences. No more blabbing, more stalking us on our IG. And even more, coming back in two to three weeks (bear with us during this scorching weather) for my favourite food post! C U then!