……..obviously left a blank because the blog and pictures I posted last night did not print but the title did. I’ll repeat it here….if I can remember what we did. As previously mentioned we are enjoying Santa Marta, population of 440,000 so not quite as large as the other cities we visited here which suits me quite fine as I get sick of the noise, especially of the blowing horns! Santa Marta is South America’s oldest surviving city and seems to be the place for ColOmbians to go to on holidays not only because of its long stretches of sandy beachfront property but also because of all the sun, rum and fun. Interesting that’s why Dawn came as well……..well us to, but not for rum, but the cervaza and vino come in handy after a sunny day at the beach.
The Quinta de San Pedro Alejandrino, which I referred to earlier I think, as the Simon Bolivar museum has fabulous grounds and of course beautiful flowers. It is a bit of a shrine to Simon Bolivar who is much revered in these parts and is known as the liberator of many countries in Latin America, including ColOmbia. He was taken here by a horse drawn carriage in December, 1830 where he later died of numerous physical and “moral” illnesses……….wonder what they were? Yves got to choose how we spent his last day so Dawn recommended Playa de Concha to which he quickly agreed, as did we, so off we went in a taxi to the more private beach. It’s absolutely necessary to rent a little tent as shown in the above picture so that you won’t fry on the beach…….and of course chairs as well so that’s what we did and where we hung out for the day and it was fabulous. We just relaxed, swam in the unbelievably warm waters, played in the surf, kept a curious eye on our neighbours(a large ColOmbian family), ate a fish lunch, had a cerveza, etc.etc. Nothing too exciting to report, thank The Lord, and off we go back to our hostel where we made a great supper to see Yves off to the airport and for us an early bedtime as another bus trip ahead of us tomorrow…….and you never know what that will bring. We’re still missing you Yves!