Today was a day to relax and do nothing. We plan to hit the big Carnaval festivities in Barranquilla this weekend. The four day festival starts tomorrow. Kirby’s alarm on her phone woke us again at an ungodly hour. She got up to play guitar outside and I slept for another hour. We went to breakfast at our usual restaurant near the beach and had our usual eggs, arepa, fresh fruit juice, with coffee or hot chocolate. She drank half my hot chocolate as usual. Even though it wasn’t officially Carnaval people were already starting to celebrate. Buses with trailers carrying more people or a band would circle the town with people on board having a good time.
We hung on the beach for most of the afternoon. A guy had some nice shade set up for beach-goers made of canvas. He offered us a spot for 7,000 Colombian pesos while Kirby and I decided if we were swimming first or what. A minute later as I laid my towel out on the sand he offered 5,000 and we accepted. Kirby and I took turns swimming and I got a little sun. Vendors came up and down the beach all the time selling coffee, beer, food, jewelry, and other trinkets. I had a few beers for 2,000 each ($0.89) while sitting in the plastic chairs that came with our shade. I was the whitest guy in the whole town let alone the beach and the only one who spoke English but I was enjoying myself and had a nice relaxing afternoon.
After the beach we walked around town and did a little shopping. Most of the merchandise in Santa Marta is sold in small private specialty stores. There are pharmacies and shoe stores, stores for leather goods, watches/jewelry, pawn shops, and electronics. A large percentage of goods are sold by street vendors with karts. You find an odd mix with people selling cell phones, cell phone chargers, belts, rulers and calculators, remote controls, CDs/DVDs, or even blender parts. Lots of food is available as well. There are empanadas, funky local sausages, various pastries, tamales, all kinds of fruit, and beverages including water, beer, and coffee. We got a bag of sliced mango on a few occasions. It comes mostly green and they like to squeeze orange or lime on it with salt (although we avoided the salt).
I ate a pretty good tamale with corn and chicken. We went to the only large grocery store in town called Exito to replace some of the stuff that was taken out of my pack. This appeared to be the Wal-Mart of Colombia with food, clothes, and electronics. They even had Nispero. Nispero is a small soft fruit you can split open with your fingers. It has a soft juicy fleshy inside which is quite tasty. Apparently they aren’t easy to ship. Kirby said she saw them in Mexico.
We ate dinner at a place near the waterfront and had a very similar dinner to the previous night but with waterfront prices (10,000 = $4.24). Kirby had her usual fried fish; green salads are not easy to come by in Colombia. I had soup and chicken with coconut rice and fried plantains. A few Club Colombias, one of the local macro-beers, helped wash down the meal. After dinner we sat on the beach again. More and more Carnaval celebrations are going on. Buses keep driving by with their decorations and loud music. On occasion you would see someone dressed up on costume. Wigs were common.
One of the bars on the waterfront had live local music and we sat down for a few beers. Some street guy named Louis sat down and talked to us. He spoke English pretty well and had experience in the States. He told us a lot about the music of Colombia. He had two hats with broad rims that he had made with woven palm leaves. They were pretty slick. A kid came up to out table to beg as often happens and Louis snapped at him in Spanish "Can't you see I'm working here?!?". After we talked for awhile he brought out his ribbon with the three colors of the Colombian flag. It turns out we turned this guy down a few nights previously at a restaurant. I gave him 4,000 Colombian pesos for the bookmark and entertaining music information. Kirby was tired after a long day so we went back to the hotel to pass out. The bar next door was rocking hard with lots of people outside.
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