We
crawled through the busy market area, where I took the only picture we have
from Baranquilla:
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| Church in Barranquilla |
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| Santa Marta |
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| boats on the beach, Santa Marta |
We
stayed for a day but really wanted to get out of the city and to somewhere we
could park on the beach. We drove on and
found a nice spot called “Casa Grande” – it was a campground and surf school,
but it was off season, so there were not very many people there. We parked and
set up camp.
It was
a beautiful area. From Cubby, we had a
view of the ocean in front of us and mountains behind us.
It was
a great spot. We ended up staying for 4
days. The ocean waves were really
strong, making it hard to stay in for long.
We walked several times to the nearby river, which was cold but much
calmer making it a better swimming spot.
We met a local artist at the river who told us a lot about the area and
his life.
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| where the river meets the ocean |
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| funny yellow-footed bird |
We
also met a guy from California who had travelled all the way to Colombia in his
van, but he had gotten stuck at Casa Grande because he liked it there so
much. He had been there for four months
already, and although he claimed that he was planning to move on soon, he was
still there when we left!
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| Guajiro |
As
usual, we made friends with the dogs (by feeding them) and they hung around the
camper so much that we had to give them names.
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| Blackie and Brownie |
The
beach had plenty of palm trees with coconuts just taunting us by hanging there
out of reach, so one day Ricardo decided that he was going to get us some. He attached a wrench to the end of a rope,
and began trying to hook those coconuts!
Success! Those were some delicious coconuts.
The
day we left, Casa Grande was hosting a turtle-release event. We learned that a nearby zoo breeds
endangered sea turtles, and they release the baby turtles into the ocean. They hold this event every year and involve
the local school kids. The kids learn
about the turtles and how they can help protect these cool animals by recycling
and making sure their trash does not end up in the ocean.
Buses
of school kids showed up, as well as a lot of other spectators – people crowded
onto the beach to see the release of the turtles. They gave some time for people to get a close
up look at the turtles – there were 3 different kinds, buckets and buckets of
them!
When
the time came to release them, each student got to hold one. They blew a whistle and then the kids let
their turtles go, and watched them make their way into the ocean. What a cool field trip, a great experience
for the kids. I wish I could have taken
my kids on a field trip like this one! I
wanted to hold one myself, but I don’t think I would have passed for a child!
We had
a great time on the beach, but when all the crowds and buses left, we did as
well. We were heading for country #12 of
our trip, Venezuela…
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