Enjoying the North coast of Colombia

Just to show where we are in the world ;) 

Wow couldn't believe what a good sleep I had in Vanna. Slept 8 hours straight!! It's been a long time since that happened LOL!!!

We take our chairs out and have our coffee on the beach. Watching the waves and the dark clouds over the sea. But as it got warmer we decided to take a dip in the pool since no kids are in there and we have it all to ourselves. Ohhh it was nice and cool and refreshing.  Then it was time to get dressed and have breakfast before heading to Barranquilla for the propane.

As we are finishing breakfast it starts to rain, the owner told us to watch the roads in Barranquilla when it's raining because they flood easily. We talk with them a little longer and then head out.

The trip to Barra is only about 40 mins. We get close to the propane fill place but miss it because its on the opposite side of the road and we can't get there unless we go further down the highway take a "retorno" and try again. Its a real little hole in the wall place but we got in there :) Asked the kid if they refill vehicle propane tanks and he says yes and goes and gets the owner.  While we wait Dwayne uses the air hose that's hanging on the fence to fill the rear airbags to try and make the ride a little smoother :) He bought a little compressor in Canada and brought it along but doesn't have the right ends 😝  Oh well maybe it will be good to take to Honduras to fill our bike tires since the one we had was stole a couple of years ago. I get to play with some puppies that are probably a couple of days old!

The owner shows up and Dwayne shows him our hose and thought the guy would use it but no he'll use his. So all is going great, the tank is filling and we're happy. THEN he goes to disconnect the hose and inside his connector there is a little tip point and when he disconnected the check valve on our tank  froze open!!! So the propane was shooting out and there is vapour all over the place. Dwayne had turned off the pilot light for the fridge before the fill,  which I didn't know since was inside Vanna when this was happening and wonder why I could smell the stinky propane and then saw the vapour. I also turned off the fridge from the inside. Everyone got a little excited because we were loosing propane, Dwayne was not happy. I thought maybe the guy broke off the valve!

So our tank was half empty after a few minutes. Tried to explain to the guy just to wait until the value thaws and then use our hose. He wasn't going to do anything and Dwayne said we would be paying for both fills. So after awhile he used our hose and filled the tank again. He then closes the main tank and disconnects from there first. As he disconnect from the van tank Dwayne is running water over the connection with the outside shower to prevent the valve from freezing.  Man that guy of mine knows all the tricks!! 😍  The hose disconnected without the valve freezing open and we were done and happy to have propane again!  The cost was 55,000 x 2 fills 110,000 - $44Can. Said good-bye and thanks and off down the highway we go again.

These yummy things are called Arepas de choclo - like a cornbread pancake with cheese. If it has cheese IT'S GOTTA BE GOOD!! LOL!!

Unwashed potatoes are cheaper!

Getting ready in the stores for Christmas

These are the "baby" carrots!

New bridge being built in Barranquilla - not sure why so high? Dont think any cargo ships come this way 

Pretty impressive

Then the pilot car came down the road and we all had to back up and park close to the side so this machinery could get through

We drive towards Santa Marta and cross a narrow roadway that has the Caribbean on one side and a large lagoon on the other. Lots of mangroves in there. Then we got to a very poor fishing village as we got closer to the end of the roadway. Not sure if this may be where alot of Venezuelans have settled after leaving their country. It could also look bad because of all the rain.

Driving along and listening to a Roy Orbison tape, eating peanuts bought from a vendor at the toll booth - but no Tim Hortons coffee LOL!!

Crossing along the narrow road between the Caribbean Sea and lagoon

Pretty poor area we are driving through 

At least they have a new water tower

Lagoon side

Egrets like it here

Locals fishing in the Caribbean sea

Then selling them

Normally see a family of 4 on a moto Dad, mom and 2 kids. Not often 3 kids 

Plastic chair salesman

The plan is to go to a free spot at the end of a road in Santa Marta per Ioverlander.  Found the spot and its between tall condos along the beach. A very nice area. We only have an hour before it gets dark so just got the van set up, made dinner had some wine and relaxed inside the van because the damn noseeums are out. They are everywhere along our route.  Then I was texting with our daughter Nikki using facebook messenger and after awhile just called her instead - got tired of typing. So chatted awhile, she was sure we were down the street and were going to drop in for Thanksgiving as a surprise because the call was so clear LOL!!! Told her no that was not happening we are in Colombia 😍

Beautiful beach here - the sand is black

There is our parking spot for the night 

Looking the other direction

Even have someone waterskiing out there 

Dwayne's favorite - chicken parmigiana with noodles. I have salad and the chicken but no noodles - rather save my carbs for Arepas 😊

Saturday - we didn't stay at the spot for the day as we had planned the night before because it was cloudy and the guys on the beach were setting up chairs and cabanas hoping for lots of locals to come down to the beach for the day so they could make some money.

We headed into downtown Santa Marta, found parking near the malecon and walked around the city. We had a few things we need to buy at the grocery store and also wanted to look for a fan that could be plugged into the 12v plug to use at night and I need to buy more data for my phone.   Of course the downtown main street was packed!! Vendors are lined up on the sidewalk between the stores and the street. Only a narrow path between for people to walk through. I had seen a Juan Valdez cafe when we drove down the main street so headed there for coffee and treat 😋  Once we got there we got 2 iced coffee and 2 pastries that have cheese in them that are heated up.

We find the grocery store and ask about recharging my data, no they don't do it here, down the street. Ok so we pick up some veg and wine and off we go. Walked over to a cell store and was told no data for sale, go across at the drugstore, finally we found her and I got my 2GB for 20,000 ($8Cnd) and good until that runs out or 15 days. My last 2GB didn't last the 15days and that is being able to use wifi at the BnB. Oh well its cheap as long as I can find that same package outside the cities.

Then we were on the hunt for the fan. Looked around a bunch of stores asking at all the fan stores if they had it. Finally came up to one guy who pointed us in the right direction :)  Found it,  paid 45,000 ($18Cnd)  Well we got everything we came for so walked around a bit more, eating some more food from street vendors. They have these little rolls of sweet dough that is deep fried and yummy :) Had a couple of bags of those. Then bought some cut up mango in a cup. (2,000 -75 cents C)

Stopped just before getting to Vanna and decided to have a nice cold beer before heading out. On the way Dwayne stopped and bought himself a hat.

Container ship coming into Santa Marta 

Native wrestling ?

Ahhh time for a cold one!

Cool hat Dwayne 😍

Policia get around the malecon on Segways 

Nice walking route along the busy road 

Now onto the spot for tonight. Which is suppose to be a nice spot on the beach for $20,000/2.  No facilities but the beach is suppose to be nice. Well the road down was pretty slow, rough and winding!  Don't want to meet someone coming the opposite direction! We get to the bottom and can park right near the water.  Once we were setup we go into the water. Its kind of murky - not the Caribbean I'm use to! Must be because of all the rain and the rivers being dirty. Anyways get in and float around for a bit, but there is a lot of stuff floating around. So that's it, enough for me. Go back to our chairs and have beers and watch the locals enjoy the water LOL!!!

Down below is the camping site

The road down is a little sketchy!

Dwayne help the local get his boat in the water

There was another "white" young couple sitting on the beach and when they were leaving on their scooters I heard them speak Dutch! Darn wish I could have heard that sooner so we could hear about their travels.

Tonight Dwayne BBQ pork chops for dinner - nice change. Tomorrow we will head further east about an hour. Will probably be our last stop on the coast before heading south - and out of the heat!