Playa Blanca

With no more that four hours of sleep I woke up Angelica and Julia at 8am to leave for Playa Blanca. It was reputed to be the prettiest beach in Cartagena and the Argentenian swim team invited us to come hang out with them :) Seasoned by our previous trip to the islands we had the port experience down. We showed up and talked the pushy tour guides down from 50,000 pesos to 40,000 (about $20), waited no more than 15 minutes and we were speeding off to Playa Blanca on a small speed boat.

We arrived at what we considered to be a far superior beach that the island we visited Tuesday. Here was the white sand, clear water, palm tree adorned beach we had been searching for!  We found three sun chairs under a canopy and waited for Damien to come find us. After a short while we spotted Damien and Frederico walking down the beach in colorful speedos. We giggled but were happy to see them. They took us back to where they were staying of the day to have lunch with them. There we waited for an hour for a truly authentic and delicious meal of fresh fish, patacons and arroz de coco, cooked in a little shack, on a fire grill a few meters off the beach. After lunch the two Argentenians headed back to our part of the beach where we spent the rest of the afternoon conversing in our own mix of Spanish/English, sun bathing, swimming and joking around. We were having so much fun (except for maybe Angelica who by this time was becoming all too affectd by the sun) that we almost missed our boat back to Cartagena. Spotting our boat at the end of the stretch of beach we grabed our things, sprinted down the beach, said our goodbyes and literally jumped onto the departing boat to ride home through wild adventurous waters.

A little red, and very sandy we quickly showered in order to reach Cafe Del Mar before sunset. Thank goodness we did because this was one of our favorite experiences in Cartagena. The view was breathtaking looking out on the water and the sun went down.
There was a dj playing a perfectly fitting electronic/xylophone/ambient music. The crowd was good looking. The pina coladas were yummy. There was a strong breeze. A perfect way to end our stay in Cartagena.

On to Tayrona National Park next.......