Feb 20 – Today is a travel day. A one hour bus ride will take us from Minca to Santa Marta, then a short cab ride to the next station, where we will get on a different bus for the four hour ride back to Cartagena.

We had one last sunrise, one last breakfast, then moseyed down to the bus stop.

This time our long ride was in a 15 passenger van, instead of a big bus. That was okay, as we were the first to get on, and got to sit together.

When we stayed in Cartagena last time, we were in the historical walled city of Getsemani. This time Jim rented us an apartment in a high rise about two miles further down the beach, in the area called Bocagrande.

At every new place we stay in Colombia, we have only an approximate address. Their street numbering system is a mystery. Google points to a place that is definitely not it, but we are always roughly within a half mile. We have been saved several times by cab drivers who figured out where we wanted to go without a specific address.

We thought we’d figure out the system as we went along, but no such luck. Today’s Uber driver dropped us off in front of a promising looking building, but it was not our building. Several helpful passersby sent us off in all four directions. One even had an app on his phone that purported to figure out Colombian addresses, but he couldn’t give us an answer. We texted our host and asked for a clue. Once she gave us the name of the building, we had no trouble finding it, and had, in fact, been by it several times.

The winds blew at what felt like gale force along the beach, and there were even waves in our pool!

When we got to our apartment on the 17th floor, the wind was screaming all around us, but everyone else was taking it in stride, so I guess we were in no danger of blowing away.

We are here for a week of swimming and relaxing. If I have any news to report, I’ll let you know!