Christmas in the Caribbean

Snow…bloody hell! Mama and brother Mitcheson arrived one day late due to the snow at Paris airport so we spent Christmas all alone in our big beachside apartment. Deciding to make the most of the day we indulged in a scrumptious fresh fish Christmas lunch for our festive feast. Late Christmas day with a full squadron of Mitchesons we headed back to the apartment to get the real celebrations going. The apartment didn’t disappoint and was by far the best (and most comfortable) accommodation we experienced in South America. Santa managed to find his way to Colombia with some fantastic gifts and, more importantly, Cadbury’s chocolate. After some traditional Christmas games and a midnight feast it was time to get some rest for a busy 2 weeks ahead. The next few days were spent exploring the old town of Cartagena and getting some beach time in. Then it was time to show our guests what a typical Colombian bus ride is like…it didn’t disappoint!! 6 – 8 hours torturous hours later we arrived at Santa Marta and enjoyed some HUGE steaks and beers on the beach. But we didn’t stop for long and quickly made our way back to Taganga. We were looking forward to a fun filled day in the beautiful Tayrona Park (where we’d already been earlier in the year)…things can change quickly in South America! What was a pleasant 45 minute boat ride 2 months earlier turned into a hellish 3 hour boat journey over 2 metre waves. Conditions in the park weren’t much better and we quickly made our way back to the mainland disappointed and thanking God we survived. We quickly all about it as it was time for some New Year celebrations. We headed to the fantastic Pachamama restaurant and enjoyed a “muy rico” buffet washed down my many many cocktails. Then it was off to the beach for midnight. After some confusion of the exact timing of midnight we indulged in a sing song and a bit of dancing and thoroughly enjoyed the celebrations around us. After another couple of days of beach time we headed to the tiny town of Palomino further along the coast. For a couple of days we lounged (and slept) in hammocks and entertained ourselves with the many games brought along from London...because of the rain that seemed to appear out of nowhere. Then it was back to Taganga to soak up some sun in the remaining few days we had together and indulge in the “complementary” cocktails (i.e. from mum and brother!). After a tearful goodbye, it was back to Cartagena for me and Sharon (for the third time) to hop on our boat to sail through the Caribbean to Panama.
(pic 1: Sharon & I having lunch on Christmas Day; pic 2: everyone enjoying some evening cocktails)