Back to the beach in Tayrona, and our last days in Cartagena

Even after visiting the beaches of La Guajira, we wanted a little more beach, a little less time in a jeep and more relaxation. For this, we headed back to the beach in the Parque Tayrona, just outside of Santa Marta along the Colombian Carribbean coast.  

For our second time around visiting this park, we prepared ourselves with copius amounts of food, water, mosquito nets, and matching pink pool toys. Though we attempted to try out a different resort in Tayrona (one with far superior bathroom facilities), the hammocks were placed out of the wind, and a little too close to the stables, so we headed back to the backpacker spot of Cabo San Juan de Guia, to take advantage of the wind chill in the cabana above the sea. After spending two full days floating in the ocean on our toys (much to the envy of the other guests) we started to get tired of the sun and the beach. Once Morgan began sweeping the hammock areas, and re-hanging the existing hammocks in a better spatial order (much to the confusion of other guests who kept asking him questions about renting hammocks as they all assumed that he was an employee), we decided that it was time to get out of there.

The next morning, we headed back to Santa Marta and made an unexpected call to our host family from our language school days in Cartagena. While she was vacationing in Medellin, she invited us to stay at her home, so we packed our things and got on a bus that afternoon. Eager to revisit our favorite spots in Cartagena, for the last two days of our trip we headed back to where we began our trip four months ago, bringing things full circle.

As it was, there happened to be an international yacht and sailing festival taking place in Cartagena this time around, so we've mainly wandered around and looked at the huge sail boats. Earlier today, while waiting for our juice, we also happened to see a parade of sailors and bands from around the globe marching through the central plaza. While all of the countries represented pretty much looked the same in their white dress uniforms (including the U.S., Brasil, Mexico, etc.), the French sailors had to wear what looked like lady blouses. It was pretty rough. But aside from these little highlights, we've also drank a ton of juice at our favorite juice bar, ate a lot of icecream at our beloved Crepes Y Waffles, and have generally spent most of our time eating, or lying around waiting to eat. 
 

So for now we're sitting around at Olga's house, bags packed and getting caught up on the blog we've neglected. While we leave to the airport in Baranquilla at 7am tomorrow, due to crappy cheap flights we´ll be spending a fair amount of time in airports tomorrow and we'll be back in Portland by midnight if we´re lucky.  

And in a bit of strange coincidence, it's pouring rain tonight in Cartagena, just like it is in Portland. I suppose it's helping a little to get us used to the thought of returning to the Pacific Northwest...