Monday
04 OCT 2004
After breakfast we walked a few blocks
to purchase our tickets for our chiva
tour of the island. We were able to find
space on the next chiva so we set off
nice and early.
First we
headed to Cueva
de Morgan (Captain Morgan's Cave),
which I would have gladly missed. It was
jam packed with 3 other busloads of
tourists all trying to climb down into a
hole in the ground to have their photo
taken. Captain Morgan evidently forgot
to take down his Christmas lights too!
There was a small coconut museum, also
not worth visiting. Apparently noni
juice is a local product, the locals
were selling noni
pulp, noni
juice, and even noni wine. At least the
vendors here aren't pushy like those in
Cartagena.
The next
stop made up for it and more. It is
further down the same side of the island
and is a beautiful natural swimming
hole. Unfortunately Maria and I did not
bring our swim suits so we had to watch
the other people diving into the sea
from the diving board, or snorkeling
amongst the fish in the crystal clear
water. Obviously the fish are used to
having a good feed from the tourists.
Sometimes a fish would swim up the
shorts of one of the swimmers, much to
the delight of the audience watching
from above. Just off the coast was
moored a Colombian
naval vessel of some sort, the
islands are also claimed by Nicaragua,
so Colombia maintains a small naval
presence here.
Then we
headed to the tip of the island to el Hoyo
Soplador (blow hole), when a
wave enters the tunnel in the coral it
forces a blast of air up through the
hole, sometimes it blows up a skirt or a
shirt, sometimes it sends a hat flying,
it is great for a laugh.
Back on
the chiva we headed back towards the
hotel, this time up the other coast,
stopping for a short break at the lovely
white beach of San Luis, boy I wish we
had brought our swim suits.
Soon we
were back at the hotel, just in time for
lunch. Afterwards we went to the beach
for a swim. In the evening we went for
another walk and then hung around the
pool. Walking in San Andres, even at
night seems perfectly safe, there are
plenty of other tourists also walking
around, the most dangerous thing is all
the people on mopeds and scooters.
All content copyright © 2004 Jim Thompson
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