….and a correction must be made to my last blog! We were not the oldest people in the hostel in Santa Marta and found a couple of others that looked older but we dare not ask their age. From Santa Marta we took the almost two hour bus trip to Palomino and when we got on, the bus was full and there were no seats and it was here that another ‘first’ occurred……..two young fellas got up and gave Dawn and I their seats proving, once again, that grey hair can come in handy. For the most part the trip was uneventful until a man in his mid-fifties got on, stood in the front of the bus and began preaching to this captive audience. This was when I wished I had learned Spanish in school, rather than Latin, because he went on for about 20 minutes. It took us a little while but we were sure he had mentioned colon cancer and prostrate cancer on a few occasions and before too long he was selling his ‘cure’ we assume but most people ignored him and we were glad when he got off the bus and peace was restored. Palomino, population of 4000, is described in the Lonely Planet guide as a small fishing village “that delivers perfect peace, pristine white beaches and lies between two rivers, San Salvador and Palomino, that flow from the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta”. Along its beaches the Wayuu indigenous fishermen still use traditional nets and a backbreaking system of fishing….and of course not a life jacket to be seen! We also stayed in the Dreamer hostel/hotel here as well and it’s fairly new and has been our best accommodation to date and the grounds were beautiful. It also had a swimming pool and was a two minute walk from the most beautiful beach that roared constantly and could be quite rough but we enjoyed it daily and were quite cautious because of the power of the waves. We stayed here for four days and got into the routine of morning coffee, swim, walking the dusty road into town(less than 10 mins), something to eat and look around, back to the beach, then the pool, siesta/quiet time, back to the beach for another swim and lie about, back for a shower and cerveza and plan supper………….life was good! One morning I went to yoga and meditation at the little yoga studio on the beach(see picture below) and there were just three of us. The yoga teacher was from Bogota and was just in business in Palomino for three weeks and led a wonderful class and a sound meditation with the roaring ocean in front of us…………a wonderful way to start the day! Once again we were not overly impressed with the food but on our last night in Palomino we did go to a neat little restaurant, La Sirena, on the beach where Carolina, the cook served a set menu and we were hoping that if only one thing was being prepared then maybe it would be better….and it was. Falafel was the appetizer, followed by coleslaw which was a pleasant change from iceberg lettuce and tomato, and then coconut rice and large prawns, and last but not least a coconut dessert that was quite tasty! Coconut has become the ingredient in food that I have liked the most in Colombia………coconut rice, coconut ice cream and coconut desserts and I’m sure it’s not healthy but I’m leaving soon so I will indulge myself a little longer. Also worth noting that this hostel/restaurant was owned by a guy from Toronto and his Colombian wife, neither of whom we met. We did enjoy dinner, however, with a family of four from Argentina and a woman from Germany and had a great conversation about Canadian winters, maple syrup and Argentinian Malbec. We were not wanting to leave Palomino as it was such a great place to relax but given it was Semana Santa(holy week) everything was booked so off we went for another bus drive back to Santa Marta. Hope this blog finds you all enjoying a long weekend, hopefully without snow, and Happy Easter!