Ending on a High

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With our next few stops, we took it easy again. First, we went to the touristy and busy city of Santa Marta. We explored the different culinary offers, strolled through the town center, and chilled at the pool of our hostel. After a couple of days, we moved on to a place that was the complete opposite. Just an hour’s drive from the coast, Minca is a small and calm mountain village. While still very popular with tourists, we felt much more at ease in this beautiful natural environment, even more so at this part of the journey.

the sun is going down behind an island in the sea
An Island in the bay of Santa Marta during sunset
A pool with a stream and green nature around
Natural pool in Minca

We stayed in Minca for over a whole week. Most days there was lots of rain. We didn’t mind. In particular after we switched our accommodation and basically had a whole building for ourselves. We read a lot, worked on the blog, and started preparing for the time back home. We did a few little excursions. Once watching the sunset over the sea in the distance surrounded by green mountain terrain. And two or three times to the village 30 minutes away for lunch and to buy groceries (we can very much recommend the pasta place, the cheese/spinach ravioli with blue cheese were amazing).

After an unexpected motorbike journey and three days before our sailing trip departure, we got onto a bus to our final destination in Colombia, Cartagena. Our final bus ride! A bit of a relief, to be honest. Everything went smoothly and we arrived at our hotel in the middle of the colonial-style old town of Cartagena. The city is very diverse and has lots to offer. Historic buildings like the former city wall, a huge variety of restaurants, an artsy neighborhood that turns into a party place at night as well as the yacht harbor that we shall set sail from. We liked it.

The old colonial town of Cartagena
and the art district Getsemani

Setting sail, though? The evening we got on board the captain did a little introduction and mentioned that the wind is weak and that we will mainly use the engine. And anyway, he said, the trip is not designed for extended sailing and most passengers prefer a smoother ride. We don’t, though! We specifically booked the trip to do sailing. I was very disappointed and had a hard time keeping my mood up. Of course, it’s a weather-dependent means of travel but at least they should try! Nothing to do about it, though. Since we were to depart at 6am the next morning, everyone went to bed early to “enjoy” a very hot night in the cabin.

Cartagena skzline in the background, water and a sailing ship in the foreground
The skyline of Cartagena during sunrise

When the sun was rising the next morning we left Colombia behind us. It’s great to be up this early, having the wind (and a cup of coffee) waking you up and watching the orange-tinted city slowly passing by. When we left the harbor, the crew pulled up the sails (not sure if for the experience or to save fuel). Later, everyone got a bowl of porridge. And then there was not much more to do. We were on the boat with eight other passengers. Some of them started chatting, others grabbed a book or just relaxed. We felt a strong calm slowly cruising across the open sea. And the sea was as calm as we felt. This changed in the afternoon, though.

The white and puffy clouds from just minutes ago turned huge and dark. The wind picked up as we saw the first rain falling ahead. Now the sails had to come down quickly. And since the crew struggled with the strong wind, it meant at least a few minutes of “sailing action” for us. Yeay ๐Ÿ˜€ After that was done, we sat down in the back of the boat. Since the waves now came in with high frequency, the boat was thrown around quite a bit. That wasn’t for everyone and a few of our crewmates turned white. For the rest of the afternoon, we were sitting together focusing on the horizon.

When we went to bed, the sea was calmer but not by much. The night was all but comfortable, even more so because we had to keep the hatches closed. I had to go on deck three times to soothe my stomach. It was a very special atmosphere, though, standing in the dark under a full moon gliding through the restless sea. The next day we arrived at the San Blas islands. And we would have never imagined it to be that beautiful. Sure, everyone knows pictures of Caribbean islands but they always looked fake to us. The reason isn’t skillful editing, though, but the sheer magnificence of the place itself.

We anchored between two islands and everyone happily jumped into the water after the sweaty ordeal of the last two days. It was warmer than we expected but still refreshing. We swam over to one of the islands through the incredibly clear water and walked across the perfect white beach. The island was really small, we could surround it in less than two minutes. It was really just a bunch of palm trees with a beach. We were all blown away. And it only got better when we put on the snorkeling gear. A whole underwater world opened up to us. Coral reefs looking like they were from a different world with an uncountable number of colorful fish and other animals passing around us. And since they completely ignored us, we could just float around and watch. We have never done anything quite like it before.

Our boat…
photographed from the islands

And the day had another highlight in store for us. When we swam back to the boat we found a 2-meter-long shark waiting there for us. With a mix of anxiety and awe, we floated in the water with our goggles on and let the friendly shark approach us. He passed by us so close that we could have touched it (and some did). It was a thrilling experience. Later, when we were back on the boat, our cook Mercedes (yes, that was her name) prepared fresh fish she had bought earlier from the locals and threw the waste into the water. That resulted in a total of 5 sharks swimming around and underneath the boat.

The next two days at the San Blas islands mainly consisted of swimming and snorkeling at different islands and reefs and reading and relaxing on the boat. One day we also set up a small camp with hammocks on an island and did a barbecue. On another, we went to a water bar on another tiny island to have a drink and watch the sunset. We very much enjoyed ourselves, the group, and the beautiful place we were in. The five days on the boat passed quickly. On the final day, we got onto a small motor boat that brought us from the islands to the mainland of Panama. After a few hiccups with the engine, we got solid land under our feet again and got onto a shuttle to Panama City.

Since we were there for the third time now, we knew our way around and directly headed to a nice cafe in the neighborhood of El Cangrejo. From there, we booked a small AirBnB apartment to give us some room after the constrained space on the boat. Since most of the people on the boat stayed in the city as well, we decided to meet up in the evening at a rooftop bar. It was a fun round and the view was spectacular. As a final activity before our flight back, we went to an open nature park in town, did a small hike, enjoyed the view, and even spotted a lizard and a sloth (even though not well enough to take a photo).

And that was it. The only thing left for us was the 30-hour trip home, including switching airports in New York. Everything went smoothly and we arrived at my parent’s place in Germany. Tired but happy, with all these amazing memories on our minds.


Thank you for being with us on our journey! We very much enjoyed seeing so many people reading our blog and that really kept us motivated. We will do one final post with a wrap-up. So don’t unsubscribe just yet ๐Ÿ˜‰

Gallery

Minca & Santa Marta

Cartagena & San Blas

Panama City