Bye bye Colombia!!!

 

During the 3 days we spent with Alex's uncle Luis and his family in Cali, between the family asados (BBQs) and the sightseeing, we visited the zoo with all its tropical animals (the highlight was the "mariposero" which is a place where thousands of butterflies and other big insects fly over your head and you gotta pretend you're cool with that) and Luis also showed us a piece of land that they recently bought in order to build a finca (local chalet with banana trees instead of pines) soon. The view is amazing from up there but you better take the Jeep because the road is slippery and damn steep.

After the Cali pit stop, we arrived in Armenia, where Alex's aunt Sarita lives. She took very good care of us, spending all her days with her sobrino y la esposa, showing us around this small and calm city (as big as Lausanne). We also met with Luz Elena (one of Alex's cousins) and her family who invited us to their finca with a beautiful swimming pool. On the last day, we went to the Parque del cafe, where we saw coffee plantations from a telepherique! There was even a chairlift :-) Every night we did of "Rumi Q" championship with a little "trago", with Sarita and Alex's grand aunt Beatriz, alot of fun and very relaxing!

We then flew to beautiful Cartagena. The town is just amazing. Every stone has a memory and the view of the city from the Popa monastery is breathtaking.  On the night we arrived we did a very cheesy city tour on a horse carriage...but hey we are on honeymoon so it's allowed!!! On the second day we took a boat to an archipelago called Islas del Rosario, 50 km off the coast of Cartagena, where we experienced what real luxury means: a whole island (pretty small actually) just for us. There is only one boutique hotel and as it is still low season it was almost empty which means we were on our own in paradise!!! Besides it's the only sunny place in the whole country right now because it's flooded everywhere else...so let me tell you that we enjoyed it to the fullest. The people from the hotel treated us like VIPs, we had an exclusive candle light dinner on the beach (honeymoon I'm telling you!) and they also granted us with a very nice tour of the islands around, particularly one called Santa Cruz del Islote which is known as the most populated island on Earth...or on water! Most of the inhabitants are actually children - it was a unique experience.

Then we came back to Cartagena and just enjoyed the very good food and the encounters with the local fauna (Toucans visited us for breakfast and Alex's "cousin" the sloth or "paresseux" in french which is kind of a lazy monkey), and wandered around the historical centre (and its boutiques!) Alex also bought an amazing Panama hat after tough negotiations ;-)

 The storm is coming...

 Cartagena seen from the Popa monastery

 Alex and one of his many cousins...

 Cartagena under the rain

After this, we drove up north to a national park called "Parque Tayrona". It lies at the Caribbean coast and is actually a big jungle full of scary animals. We stayed in the Ecohabs, and had the most amazing food...especially fish and seafood, prepared in the Caribbean way... Wish we could make you taste a bit of the pescado envuelto en hoja de platano with its burned coconut rice and avocado salad through this blog! hmmmmmm!! We decided to visit the park by horse and although Claire was frustrated at first because she got a donkey and Alex a horse, the donkey ended up taking the lead of the tour which made her happy as you can imagine hehehe. She (Claire not the donkey...) actually also took the lead on the mosquito bites contest... she even got bitten on her eye and looked like she had fought against Mohamed Ali on that night!!! But thank God the swelling is down now.

Now we just arrived in Buenos Aires and it actually feels like home so we're very happy. Colombia was awesome and we'll definitely come back very soon.