Island paradise – Day 2

So, this is our final day in Colombia and we get to spend it on the beautiful Isla Grande which is perfection. We have had a strong love hate relationship with Colombia the entire duration of our travels. Some places have been magnificent, and others have left us feeling anxious, scared and on edge constantly. We, however are excited to have spent our last few days in tropical paradise before we fly to Costa Rica tomorrow.
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BUT, let me tell you about our day first! Waking up in this little jungle gem is awesome, I enjoy that’s it’s an Eco hotel so it’s very environmentally friendly, but having so much open space and open air means so many bugs! We woke up to a MASSIVE spider on the wall along with moths the size of our hands as we slept. Thank Christ for bug nets, which last night I made sure to tuck it the full way under the bed, so I couldn’t even get out, meaning nothing was getting in.

In the morning we had breaky, which was pretty yum to be honest and I splashed out going for the pancake option. I then spend a considerable amount of time on our swing chair outside and have decided that it is mandatory we get on when returning to NZ. We spent the morning exploring the island which can easily be walked around and at the Northern tip we came across ‘Coco Liso’ hotel. Now, it is FLASH, waaaaay out of our budget, but a local woman who works there invited us in for a walk round the property and to explore, so of course we did.
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They do a day pass if you wanted to spend the full day there enjoying the pool, bar and beach for 175,000COP pp (including transfers) but as we were staying on the island and prefer the free beaches and nicer beach vibe bars we continued our adventure. If we had the money however, I reckon 1 night here would have been awesome!

Next, we headed back to Playa Cristal, the same beach as yesterday but today we had the entire beach to ourselves! Jackpot! We swam heaps, checked out the large amount of fish in the shallows and most of all relaxed.
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In the afternoon after a disastrous lunch attempt in the main town of the island, we grabbed some snacks from the mini mart and opted for a picnic. The beach of choice was Playa Libre, only 4 minutes from our accommo and apart from the windy blowing directly in your face at all times, it’s a beautiful place to relax, with a few bars scattered around and home to our fav eatery on the Islands ‘Sol Y Papaya’. A few beers, limonada’s and coffee’s later we ate some delicious food and watched an pretty beautiful sunset before making our way back to bug mansion.

​We have loved our time on this island and highly recommend anyone who is in Cartagena to make the 1 hour boat journey here as this is what your expect the Caribbean to look like…unlike the murky, dirty waters of Cartagena lined with gross beaches and filled with police and their guns!
Next stop Costa Rica, so stay tuned as this one has been near the top of the list since planning! Bring on the sloths!