A Trip to San Andres, a Colombian Caribbean Island!

I have wanted to go to San Andres and Providencia ever since I arrived in Colombia. What took me so long, you ask? Well, they are far away (close to Nicaragua!), it is a bit more expensive than traveling on the mainland, and I needed the perfect person to go with. When Nadia told me she was visiting, I knew she was the one to see the islands with!

We hopped on our early 9am flight and celebrated the journey with a beer! We arrived to San Andres a couple hours later and were met with blessed warm humidity. I cannot express how happy that hot, salty air made me! We walked the short 15 minutes to our hostel and dumped our bags and changed into bathing suits. We had a date with the ocean and no time to delay! We got advice about catching a bus, and went to wait on the bus. We had to wait 20 minutes or so, but the kind fruit seller who struck up a conversation with us told us not to worry - we were just on island time :)

We got off the bus in Rocky Cay (pronounced "key") and immediately looked for a place to eat lunch. The restaurant we wanted to try was full and I was feeling a bit faint, so we ate at another beach restaurant. It was nice to have my first serving of fish! After we ate, we found a half sun/half shaded spot to lie down and enjoy the afternoon. I simply HAD to get in the water, so I waded out in the water over a sandbar that lead to another tiny island. It was so peaceful and exactly what I needed! Then, I laid in the shade with Nadia until she was ready to do the same trek again with me, so we locked up our belongings in a locker and headed out into the ocean. After, we had our first cocktail in a coconut - sheer bliss!

We decided to head back to town around 5 since I didn't know how easy it would be to get back after dark. We shared a van taxi with another couple and were dropped off 6 blocks away from our hostel in the center of town. We didn't mind, as it gave us an opportunity to get a quick introduction to that part of the island. Holy duty-free shops! I was shocked! I had no idea so many people wanted to buy liquor, perfume, and candy on a Caribbean island! We checked out the crowded beach and decided were were glad we had gone further away. However, it did look like a fun beach - lots of groups drinking, playing volleyball, dancing, etc. We stopped for a fruity popsicle and iced coffee and then went back to the hostel to shower and change.

For dinner, Nadia had looked on Tripadvisor for some recommendations and saw the number 1 place, La Regatta. We decided to give it a go and hope we could get in since it was around 830 already. We entered the restaurant's grounds, and the decor was fascinating! The restaurant itself was on the pier, so the walk leading up to it was lined with thousands of green wine bottles everywhere, coloful paintings, etc. It was quite a sight! The hostess informed the couple ahead of us that there were no open spots, and they left sadly, but we decided we were in no rush and could wait, no problem! We wandered the pier and 5 minutes later the hostess came running over - a table was ready! It pays off to have patience, you poor suckers who left too early.

Our dinner was PHENOMENAL. We went all out and ordered a bottle of white wine to share, and two fabulous entrees. I ate a great cut of salmon and Nadia got the seafood platter. The server was very concerned she wouldn't be able to eat it all, but we assured him we would have no such trouble. He was so impressed at the end that he gave Nadia a high five, haha. Our dinner experience was a good 2 hours and we were just the happiest girls you ever saw.

We walked back to the hostel and headed to bed because we had to get up early the next morning to take the 3 hour catamaran ride to....Providencia!

 Part of the restaurant!