Welcome to paradise

Travelling life has had its ups and downs in the last week- but obviously the ups totally outweigh the downs. I arrived in Cartagena a week ago and was immediately hit with 35 degree heat which for a girl with such ginger genes as myself is almost too much to handle. The city itself, however, is absolutely gorgeous. Due to its location on the Caribbean coast it has a completely different vibe to Bogota which was a welcome change.

I went on a boat ride out to a neighbouring island to visit a lovely beach called Playa Blanca. I took a trip to a mud volcano where you are smothered & massaged with mud and then you go down to a lake and the local women aggressively wash you off. I went on a boat party run by my hostel with some lovely girls I met. However I also discovered that mosquitoes love me and that I'm apparently allergic to their bites, leaving my legs looking like I had a disease and causing various people to stare at me in the street with looks of shock and horror. Needless to say by the middle of the week I was feeling a bit down- but then came my trip to Casa en El Agua A.K.A the most beautiful place I've ever been. It's essentially a house in the middle of the Caribbean Sea where most visitors, including myself, choose to sleep in hammocks overlooking the waves. You can go snorkelling or visit nearby islands but all I did was read in various swinging chairs, drink rum and every so often jump into the most turquoise sea I've ever seen. After drinking the aforementioned rum we also got the hostel owners to give us impromtu salsa lessons. Okay so the shower (i.e. throw a bucket of water over yourself) and toilets (i.e. throw a bucket of water down the toilet after to flush it) are only what you can expect from a house in the middle of the sea. In every other sense, it was probably the closest to paradise that I'll ever get! The horrifically bumpy boat ride back to the seaside town of Tolu yesterday was very appropriate in sending me crashing back to the reality of uncomfortable hostel beds and sweaty bus rides- though still I'd take that over going back to my day job anytime!

I'm now back in Cartagena for one more night before heading down the country to Medellin tomorrow where I'm hoping for just a little less relentless humidity. 

I'll leave you with this photo of my ice cream from Crepes & Waffles, a chain which makes the best caramel ice cream and only employs single mothers, so really me eating ice cream is me exercising my ethical beliefs. Or something to that effect...