San Andres is a rather random mix of caribbean island and Colombia but it seems to work. We are the only Gringas on the island.....not seen anyone else that's not from South or Central America and we are quite the attraction. Everyone's friendly though and once we got used to the staring and the hustling, we have settled into island life quite nicely. Average temperature of 30 degrees and sticky humid so it's sweattastic. Am about 5 shades darker than normal but still whiter than white when compared to the tourists and locals. Not many people speak English so the spanish is out in full flow.
Highlights so far:
1) Shopping in the back streets of downtown although as we weren't in the market for pressure cookers or linen there wasn't a huge selection to purchase. The Colombians appear to be stocking up on appliances and homewares though so it must be cheap compared to the mainland. The town centre is a bit ramshackle but no one bothered us as we pottered around.
2) Dinner at the no 1 restaurant on Tripadvisor, La Regatta. Most of the hotels are all inclusive so there's not a huge selection of places to eat. La Regatta is out over the water and we had the best seafood platter ever while the water lapped up around us and the boats swayed in the wind. Washed down with some pretty potent mojitos.
3) Assho, the only wine bar on the island. Unfortunate name, but great food and a huge selection of vino.
4) Day trip to Johnny Cay, a tiny island 15 mins off the main island. We went ghetto with the tour and bought tickets from Guillo on the beach rather than booking at the hotel. He was lovely and fixed us up with a trip over there and to the Aquario. We went over early morning on the supply boat along with the workers, the booze and coconuts for the tourists. Jimmy was our guide on the island and spoke English which was a welcome break from all the Spanish. The island is a tourist beach haunt with Colombians drinking in the sun and splashing around in the pristine water. Had a great day, got a ton of sun, had some local fish, got propositioned by many of the hustlers, saw a dispute over sun loungers and an umbrella resolved by the island police and then squeezed on one of tourist boats back to the beach outside our hotel.
5) Afternoon trip to Aquario which is an even smaller island with a huge shallow pool for snorkelling, 3 huts in the middle of the ocean for lockers, booze and eating and again many many hustlers trying to rent you snorkelling equipment and sell you Coco Loco....the island cocktail that could floor a horse. Went on a boat with some crazy old gals and some families. No gracious way to get up into the boat from the beach and I can only describe it as being flung on by the locals. Saw some cool fish but the main highlight is the mantarayas or stingrays. They assured me they weren't dangerous but then one tried to chase me so I'm not convinced. The local kids swim out to the ocean, find them and then herd them over to the shallow pool where the tourists line up to get photos. Not exactly an Eco friendly tour but they seemed to be quite relaxed about all the fuss, except the one that tried to get me! Luckily I had my newly purchased purple reef shoes on so I could make a quick escape.
