We were all a little dusty on thursday morning (being the night after our hostels party of the week) but we rose at 7 to be ready for the departure of our boat to paya blanca..it was a little overcast and tempers were taunt but the three of us, plus the english girls and josh, the aussie girl from wednesday night, and 2 other english lads (a total of 12) made the boat and headed off..
THe boat ride out was a joy in itself, with 28 ppl cramed into a boat that was absolutly flying, getting air off the smallest of ripples, causing teeth to chatter throughout the boat..As the clouds burnt off and we pulled up to the beach we all realised that the effort to get our lazy hungopver arses out of bed was going to be more than worth it...
White sands, crystle clear waters, palm trees, sun and locals greeted us as we departed the boat..we trekked a few hundred meeters up the white sand and found 12 hammoks for us to sleep in..the shack manager rodrigo was more than happy to take us on and keep us happy with a constant supply of beers and a delicious fish meal for dinner..
THat afternoon we snorkelled on the reef and saw some beautiful fish, a couple of small rays and an eel..we drank beers, frollicked in the sun, read our books and relaxed in the hammoks..we had a ciesta and then went for another snorkle...
The best way to describe the island is as an absolute paradise..it envoked one of those thoughts where your just like, how the fuck did we manage to make it here..it was literally the most naturally stunning place i have ever been..
That night we lit a fire on the beach, munched on fresh fish, played cards and drank an excessinve amount of spiced rum and beers..But the island had one more surprise which none of could have imagined..
As is the case when your drinking on a semi deserted island we all decided to go for a mid night swim..this turned out to be a once in a life time experience as the water was littlered with billions and billions of phospherates which would all light up when you disturbed that water..it was like millions and millions of fireflies lighting the place up, as if the stars in the sky were being directly reflected and challenged from the water..it was completely surreal..they would light up your skin like sparks from an oxy..it was absolutly magical and as had been the case with that afternoon was one of those "fuck me what did we do to deserve this" moments..
We all retired to our hammoks at some stage and in the morning we awoke to an absolutly pristine morning, blue skies and stillness..we started the day with a fruit salad (prepared in front of our eyes by a woman on the beach) and a swim and snorkle across the reef..we spent the rest of the afternoon reading our books in hammoks in the sun and cooling off in the crystle clear waters..the boat ride homje was equally amazing and after checking back into media luna we all had a ciesta..
That evening i got the worst ear ach of my life (i have no idea what from)and after bailing early on dinner tried to sleep with the assistance of a sleeping pill and a couple of beers but the pain was excruciating..i sorted some ear drops and they helped slightly but it took a long time to get to sleep..then i woke up at 3 in the morning, went to the bathroom and vomitted as violently as i ever have, followed by a bout of explosive dirrohea..after having a shower (i was dripping with sweat, i went back to bed and slept better..in the mornig i woke up feeling preetty much fine..very lucky i suppose..
That afternoon we made the 4 hour bus ride from cartagena to taganga, a small fishing village on the carribean coast..its a small idyllic little village with a spralling harbouyr..we got a room with tony and tom (the 2 english lads) and josh and the girls also joined us at the hostel (which litlerally is 2 mts from the beach, another amnazing find!!)
That night we drank more spiced rum, as ewll as some of the local produce and chilled at hte hostel before going to the only night club in town which turned out to be really cool, with the dance fllor on a roof to terrace overlookiung the harbour..We went to an afterparty in someones back yard and then continued on the beach until sunrise..an epic way to start waht may be a 2 week stay..
THe next day we took it really easy, just exploring the town and sortingour a fishing tour for monday..
