We decided to fly to Providencia even though the 25 minute flight cost us more than a 1.5 hour flight from Cartagena. I read the boat crossing can take between 2.5 and 6 hours depending on the sea and weather conditions. And it only goes every second day. So we boarded this tiny plane. The captain gave the safety briefing and I literally sat behind him.
We arrived at our accommodation to be greeted by several large lizards in the garden. In case you didn't guess, Providencia is also a paradise for mosquitos.
This was a shop in our street that I found fairly interesting. Haha.
First stop was Almond Bay about a kilometre up the road.
We got down to the beach and it looked like this. Two other humans on the beach, four dogs and one guy at the restaurant/bar where he actually lived too.
We asked the guy at the beach to cook us lunch. We got one plate with chicken and one with some fish he'd caught which was delicious. After lunch we tried the local 'coco loco' cocktail of which I could not tell you what the ingredients were.
I said before that there were two and a bit islands belonging to Colombia. Well the 'bit' is Santa Catalina which is a tiny island linked to Providencia by a foot bridge only. There's no vehicles over there.
Santa Catalina is also home to a rock called 'Morgan's Head' since it obviously looks like Captain Morgan's head. It's on the far left by the way. No I don't have a close up photo but don't worry it looks nothing like anyone's head.
Next agenda item was to eat a deep fried arepa with an egg in it. We'd already heard about these but hadn't found them yet. Mainly because all deep fried Colombian items (and there's a lot!) look the same. So here it is...
We had stopped in town and were on route to crab cay for some snorkelling. After ten minutes we arrived at this tiny little island.
We walked up to the centre of the island to get a view of the supposed 'seven coloured sea'. Not sure if I saw seven but it was pretty.
Next we went down to snorkel. There wasn't too much in the way of corals but the water was unbelievably clear and we saw plenty of fish. We swam around the island and when we got back we realised most Colombians can't swim! They were all hanging around the jetty where there were no fish! Haha
After snorkelling we stopped at the southwest beach for lunch at this restaurant. Our plates of seafood including lobster, conch, fish, prawns cost $12.50.
Later that night we went to the theatre in town as we heard there was a concert of local music which was some kind of tropical music I guess. The guy in red was really rocking the tapping sticks.
The following day we had an 11am flight out. This is the airport in Providencia.
And this is the view over the islands as we left.
We got back to San Andres to catch a flight back to Cartagena. We had four hours to kill so we went into town for lunch. When we came back we checked in only to be told 'the airport is closed'. Umm ok.
Apparently they were 'fixing a hole'. Ok. So our 5pm flight is reschedule until 9pm. We were told not to return until 7.30pm. So we went off for a terrible dinner and some more cake. Well banana pie and coconut pie.
On returning to the airport we discovered the flight was cancelled. Basically we stood around like this for 3 hours waiting for the airport to find us a hotel. Meanwhile planes are taking off so the story starts to become suspicious. Now it's something about the pilots having worked too many hours.
Eventually we're shoved into a taxi where I was expecting more chaos. We arrive first at the hotel so I think this is good. Next minute taxi loads of Colombians arrive and are all allocated rooms first. We end up sleeping 6 girls in a room with 3 double beds. Thankfully the hotel has a pool so we think great, we'll have a swim and a beer....no beer. Wow. By the time I get to bed there's no water in the taps so I can't shower. And we don't have a sheet. But we survived and flew out the next day at midday. Here's me enjoying our emergency hotel.
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