Postcards to Iowa

We decided given the last, almost two weeks, have been travel, tours and basically nonstop, that we should not book a tour for our second full day in Tyrona and just relax….which we did! We did however learn some important lessons over these days…

Lesson 1: Always bring a book! I didn’t want to blog or be on my phone but I had nothing to read. All the books at the resort where in Spanish. So instead, I took many naps in the hammock and read a little on my phone.

Lesson 2: Remember “Into the Wild”!! We decided to walk on the beach that had the river running to the sea. How often can you walk on the beach with river on one side and ocean waves crashing on the other?!

When we got down to the stairs to the beach, the lower stairs go into the river water a little and then you are on the beach…..no sweat. You can see below in the picture to the right of Derek is where we came out (if you look closely you can see the stairs into the river)…also notice the amount of beach to the left of him. We walked down the beach and came back no problem.

BUT when we got back, the water from the river had gone up suddenly (probably do to the rain storm the night before) the river washed away the beach and was meeting the ocean right where we had crossed back safely moments before!!!!

Later at dinner we would hear from a couple that went out around the time we did but came back at dusk. They told us of the terrifying adventure of them figuring out how they were going to get across the river roaring into the waves of the ocean. They ended up jumping the rocks and then climbing up the rocks into our cabana. Very scary they said. All I could think about is how lucky we were and I also couldn’t help but think about Into the Wild based on the true story of Christopher Mccandless who crossed a stream in the fall but in spring it was a roaring river and he couldn’t get across and ended up starving. Remember “Into the Wild” and never cross a river without knowing that river and what can happen to that river…especially if it’s at the bottom of mountains and it’s the rainy season.

Lesson 3: Every trip needs “planned relaxing” because relaxing can be relaxing! Every trip we add more and more “free days” as over the years we have learned that when we plan out everyday all day it makes for an exhausting trip. We did OK this trip but I still felt guilty when we spent our last day relaxing and “doing nothing”. Give yourself permission to relax and build in days for “relaxing aka doing nothing” is a must!

Interesting Fact: Parrots are to rakes as dogs are to vacuums. On our last day we noticed the gardener petting a parrot like a dog and then the parrot playing with the rake as a dog would a vacuum. Who knew?

Lesson 4: bus vs flight I am not saying we regret going the bus route but I think in the future we should be more prepared and really think about if a direct bus is the best option. It was definitely a lot cheaper as we did not need to pay for a taxi to the airport, flight for two, and a taxi from the airport to the hotel…and it sounded like it would be a little faster since it a direct route BUT in the end it was not faster. The bus was over an hour late and there were a lot of other pick ups and transfers along the way. In the end, we were on the bus for over 6 hours. If we flew it would have been more insight into how long it would take and we could have left a little earlier so not as much wasted time waiting for a bus. Luckily, I had an audio book to listen to on the bus ride but in the future we need to plan for both of us to have something to do as 6 hours is a long time to stare out a window…especially if you get car sick.

Lesson 5: Note what “hot” and “cold” are in the language where you are traveling. After our 6 hours on the bus (and not having hot water for 3 days) I wanted nothing more then a hot shower. I turned the dial that wasn’t C and waited, but it never warmed up. Thinking this hotel didn’t have hot water either or they had run out, I took a cold shower 😡 Later, just before I got out I had a sudden realization that C is caliente in Espanol which means HOT 🤦🏼‍♀️

Lesson 6: Pringles do NOT count as a meal. When your Malaria prevention medicine says “take with a meal” it means A MEAL not Pringles!

Again, after 6 hours on a bus, I was extremely hungry and the only food was the mini-bar Pringles which is a score for me, they are my favorite! I downed a can then remembered I needed to take my Malaria medication. Thinking the Pringles were enough, I took it and then went to get ready for the night.

After my cold shower, I started to get a small headache and to feel weak. Over the next hour I got extremely nauseous and couldn’t eat even the soup Derek ordered for me. It felt like when I’ve had food poisoning. Then about 2 hours after I took the pill I was violently sick. It was horrible. Derek looked up and sure enough it was textbook symptoms of taking Malaria without enough food. Happy Thanksgiving to me 🤦🏼‍♀️

On Black Friday I woke up after 14 hours of sleep feeling weak but much better. We went for breakfast where I consumed over 5 pieces of pan y mantequilla (bread and butter).

We then went to do our Colombian shopping, hitting the cruise ship markets but also some local shops. After a relaxing day of shopping and negotiating to buy the painting I saw at the cigar bar the week before, we were off to the airport and saying goodbye to Colombia 🇨🇴