Leaving on a jet plane!



Having a pre-dinner martini to celebrate a fantastic trip!



Well the day has finally arrived for us to return back to blighty!  We spent last night having a lovely dinner in a nearby hotel and are spending this morning sorting out all our bags as when we went to Providencia we could only take 10kg each and had to leave all our cold weather gear, books etc in the hotel. 

We will be back in the UK on Wedneday and from Thursday onwards will be open to invitations for breakfast, lunch, dinner, drinks etc.  Please amuse us as we think we may be very bored!

Sun, sea, sand and SB!

Regular followers may have noticed a lapse in updates since we mentioned moving hotels to sandier beaches.  Whilst we found the sand, we unfortunately lost the wi-fi and internet access and indeed any connection with the outside world as mobiles were rendered useless,  the TV was in Spanish and RM couldn't access his Daily Telegraph on the Kindle.  So we arrive for our very final night in Bogota with lots of catching up to do.

Having said all that, there has been little to report over the last seven days which have followed a very similar pattern:

Breakfast, after a lovely lie in, consisted of wonderful fresh fruit juices, Columbian coffee, scrambled eggs with cheese and ham followed by bread and jam.  We then decamped to the white sandy beach, about 40 yards from our room, dropped our towels and had a morning constitutional along the bay where the only people we saw were those sweeping leaves off the beach.  We then got settled for the day on what was a very deserted part of the beach although there was the comings and goings of various boats and divers to keep us amused.  We saw fish being filleted with the insides tossed into the sea for the expectant gulls and other assorted birds.  There were small fish to be seen in the sea and in the afternoon horses were taken for a dip and on Saturday we had the excitement of the horse racing on the beach.   Our day was only punctuated by a walk to one of the nearby beach bars for a chilled beer or a cooling dip in the turquoise Caribbean sea.

The sunset was watched from the coolness of our balcony with a glass of chilled SB in hand (having bought up the eleven bottles from the shop next to our first hotel before we left).  Our evening dinner was spent at one of two local restaurants where we sampled a wonderful array of fish whilst the sea was lapping at our ankles.

Does it sound idyllic, yes it was – very but we are really looking forward to coming home tomorrow and catching up with you  all.

Sunset from our balcony

The deserted beach where we took our morning walk.

This is what are called Sea Horses.

Peter wasnted to send Easter Greetings to all his friends but because he didn't have wi-fi, he was a Hot Cross Bunnie!  Still at least he had a glass of SB to hand.

One of the views from our balcony to the other part of the hotel: we were obviously in a suite in the main part!

The view from the Grandstand i.e. the sea.  We've never been to the races before without a hat!  We should have bought those Panamas after all!

Some fell on stony ground

We were expecting beautiful white sand on our doorstep and this is what we got!

So having spent yesterday visiting other hotels, we are now moving to one with a lovely sandy beach - but will it have wifi?  That is the big question!

Geting our priorities right!

Good things about our current hotel (1) it has a mini market next door which sells Sauvignon Blanc (2) there were 11 bottles on the shelf (3) it has got a large mini bar which takes 5 bottles of wine (5) we have a nice balcony where we can drink our chilled SB!

However, there were also some bad things and so we are hoping to move to a different hotel tomorrow!

A mini bus with wings!

You may or may not be pleaesd to hear that we have now arrived in Providencia and do have internet access.  We flew from Cartegena to San Andreas without incident although we did have to be patted down by rubber gloved police before climbing the aircraft steps.  We then patiently waited for our 30 minute connection to Providencia but no gate was showing even though we were getting near to take off time.  Eventually the girl who had checked us in, tapped us on the shoulder and escorted us to a door in the corner whilst ushering another dozen or so passengers on to a very small aeroplane.  We turned out to be a flight of two pilots, 18 passengers and one dog!  Unfortunately 8 of the18 were from one very noisy family.  As Providencia is part of Colombia we assumed that there would be no form of immigration so we allowed all passengers to get off first.  This was not a good idea as each passenger had to produce evidence that they had paid 44,000 peso to enter the islands and passports.  The passport details were then painstakingly entered into the computer by one girl with the details being read to her by another.  Her typing skills did not extend to words per minute, she barely hit ten key strokes per minute.  We recommended a Pitmans typing course.  It took 30 minute to process the fight, with the dog taking the longest!  All our cases had to be physically searched by the police but they were so tired of waiting for us to go through, that one bag got a cursory search and the other (with the gin) was waved through. Eventually we reached our hotel, but that is another tale!  On the basis that pictures speak louder than words, we will try to post a photograph a day.   

Three ami(goes) to Providencia!

Well the hectic part of our trip is now nearly over and it's time to retire to our Caribbean hideaway for 10
nights. 

Once again we've been exploring the city and thankfully have not stepped in a cathedral or museum!  As you will see from the photograph, we have been practising for our role in the Royal Wedding procession!  Our free trip last night around the old town was lovely especially seeing all the buildings light up around us.

As it's been so hot, we've had afternoon siestas and really made the most of them despite the building work going on around us.  Today they were painting  outside our window and when HJ opened the door, she found a man on a set of step ladders right outside.  But despite all his,  we've ordered a Sainbsury's delivery over the internet for our first day back, applied for tickets for the Olympics, loaded the kindle with lots of books and HJ has hopefully arranged a hair appointment via a v kind friend.  Talking of the Kindle, RM has taken advantage of 14 days free trial of the Daily Telegraph to amuse him whilst he's soaking up the rays.  HJ did want to order the FT but RMs choice won!  No Daily Mail rag for us!

Tonight's choice of restaurant was heavily influenced by last night's meal when we enjoyed sea bass cerviche.  We have really taken to cerviche as it is light, simple and summery and there are lots of variations.  Be warned, anyone visiting in the next few months, may well find a version awaiting them.  We found that the chef was actually Italian and so are returning tonight for pasta.  The service was also exellent as fhe waiter disappeared down the road and brought back a bottle of our favorite SB as he had run out!

So finally, hopefully we will be able to post photographs of our last destination in the next few days!  If not, we will see you very soon.

Third room lucky!

 We arrived in Cartegena yesterday and were immediately hit by the heat and humidity.  Our guide, John, said it was 85 degrees with 90% humidity: he said we would sweat a lot and should drink a lot (but I'm not sure he meant Sauvignon Blanc!)  On arrival at our hotel, Casa India Catalina, at 11.30am, we were told check in was 3pm. We returned after lunch to find a room ready early at 2pm.  That was the good news, the bad is that it was next to a room that was undergoing refurbishment and above the front entrance which was also being done up.  Consequently, there was lots of banging and a strong smell of varnish.  We asked to move rooms and were led to a split level room with the bathroom on the ground floor and a very precarious sets of steps and wobbly handrail leading to the bedroom, making going to the loo in the night, a bit of an obstacle course!  Having declined this room, we went for the third option, but had to wait for it to be cleaned.  Still it was on one floor and at the back, away from some of the noise!
Having unpacked at last (4pm) we enjoyed the afternoon sunshine in a more relaxed mood to enjoy what is a lovely walled city. On return we found a bottle of vino tinto by way of apology.



We have spent our first full day here wandering the narrow, cobbled streets of the old town, enjoying the sights of the many interesting buildings framed by the wonderful backdrop of the Caribbean sea and in the background the tall towers of the modern Cartegena.

A second surprise for us was the offer of an evening horse drawn carriage ride around the town.  Everyone involved in these arrangements deserves a big thank you.  

We are now sat drinking our vino tinto and find it muffles the drilling and banging very well!  Perhaps RM is lucky becuase he has put the cork in his one good ear!