Playa Blanca, Colombia

This was a ridiculous little overnight trip from Cartagena. We heard there was a ferry to get to Playa Blanca, a small strip of beach on an island off the Caribbean coast of Colombia. Of course we slept through the ferry option and had to use the ‘alternate route’ which turned out to be one of the greatest adventures of our trip. A guy we had met from our hostel told us that in 3 simple steps, we could get to Playa Blanca without the ferry. The following are the directions he gave us, with my additional comments in parentheses.

 

1. Take a taxi to a tiny tiny village called Pasacaballos. (Holy hell, where are we? I am sketched out.)
2. Go to the port and take the cargo boat across the water passage to the island. (Which of these five ports are we supposed to go to? Ah, here we are. Shit! This is even sketchier!)
3. Moto taxis will be waiting for you on the other side, and the beach is a 40 minute ride from there. (Oh, this car must be our taxi. No? WHAT about those four motorcyclists? A moto taxi is an actual motorcycle?! This sounds like a great idea and I’m totally not going to get murdered right now.)

So, we hopped onto four motorcycles with four Colombian men and we were off to Playa Blanca! The beach itself is stunningly beautiful, but it is covered in shacks and dogs and people trying to undress and massage you for money. The sand was perfectly white, the water perfectly clear, the fish perfectly fresh.

I was born to do this

Oops- flat tire mishap

Gawgissss Beach!

We opted to sleep in a row of hammocks directly on the beach, which seemed like a great idea during the daylight. As soon as the sun went down, things got a bit chilly and creepy. I woke up to a grunting noise in the middle of the night, only to see the outline of a giant bull standing in our tiki hut under the feet of our hammocks. It stared out into the distance as I tried desperately to stay completely still and silent, and then the beast trotted off onto the beach. My reaction to this situation? Cover my head with a sarong and pretend to be invisible. I couldn’t sleep after that.

Our room for the night

Kickin back with some zines on the beach

We did get to spend 24 hours hanging out with friends we had made in Cartagena that were at the beach at the same time, swimming in the water, reading magazines, and completely relaxing. We decided to take the ferry back to Cartagena to be more legitimate, which was another fun adventure in itself. I spent the entire time bouncing up and down, screaming and laughing at my friends’ terrified faces. That’s the only face to have when you visit Playa Blanca.

View down Playa Blanca

We Never Go Out The Way We Go In!!!!