Friday Family Newspaper #3
Restaurant Review
El Arsenal - The Rum Box
By Harper
On July 21 (Thursday), we visited a restaurant called The Rum Box. It was very kid-friendly and had good food. When we arrived, our table was labeled with a light up sign with our reservation name on it. We thought this was very cute and took lots of pictures. Harper and Ruthie were then invited to come in the bar and make their own mock-tails. They each picked and flavor and aded measurements to the cup. Then they shook it up and aded mint and a straw. Nenna, Anna, and Tommy also had multiple rounds of drinks. We got crayons and the table clothes was just paper you could draw on. Next, we ordered 5 appetizers witch were very delicious and we needed more. We were all kind of sharing and had to get a lot of food. My favorite was the salmon, which was very tender and coated with this crunchy nut thing. I rate this restaurant 5 stars because it was a fun experience for our variety of ages, it had good food, and overall, was just very delightful.
Island Life
By Anna
The most fun part of Colombia so far has been the part with almost nothing to do. Staying on an island, with intermittent electricity, cold water, and no wifi. Everyone agreed that it was, in fact, the best. It was a combination of luxury and lack of luxury that I haven’t quite experienced in that particular mix.
We went to an island that’s part of the Rosario Islands, off the coast of Colombia from Cartagena. It was about an hour boat ride directly to the island in a private boat. I did a lot of texting with the host to plan for the trip because there’s no restaurants or food available there other than what we bring. A “chef” is provided to cook all the food. The host sent me a sample menu to choose from, then she prepared a grocery list. I could add additional items (in my case, snacks for the kids) and then they did the grocery shopping for us. When we arrived at the boat all the food was already loaded on the boat. We loaded our suitcase on the boat and we were off.
As we approached the islands, we tried to guess which was our house based on the pictures. It was a thatched roof open air building over the water, like an over water bungalow. Above the open air deck, there was one room with four beds, unairconditioned, but that got a good ocean breeze. In the open air part over the water, there was some plastic outdoor furniture and two hammocks.
We went to explore and it was a little confusing because we didn’t speak very good Spanish and the hosts weren’t really explaining what to do. But we found our rooms (each bedroom in a separate building with its own bathroom, except for that upstairs room). There are actually four rooms total on the property, but we only used two of them.
While we explored, the hosts and boat driver unloaded the food. We had come directly from the airport and were hungry for lunch, which thankfully was ready quickly.
We had chartered the boat to take us around the islands on the second day we were there, so we circumnavigated the island and went snorkeling. It was fun to explore, but more fun to just hang out at the house.
Each meal, plus two snacks daily, was prepared by the chef. As a mom, I hadn’t appreciated how nice it would be to just sit down and eat every meal, with a pre-determined menu. It was just no effort, and the kids (and us) all ate well.
We spent most of our days swimming in the very clear ocean water, looking at sea life, which was abundant under the dock — squid, blue tang, neon Tetris, crabs, a lobster, a needlefish and so much more. The girls discovered they love snorkeling, and we had so much fun watching them explore the area with confidence. Until we found a bunch of jellyfish swimming around us on our last day.
I wasn’t sure if we would all be bored in an island situation like that. I wasn’t sure if we would regret not having an actual beach (something you lose with the overwater dock situation). I wasn’t sure if we would be frustrated by the lack of activities. But no, it was great. We would do it again. We would recommend it, although I wish we had all worn more bug spray!
Automotive News
By Tommy
For the northern Colombia section of our trip, we are spending roughly 2 weeks among 5 towns in coastal/jungle Colombia. We debated hiring a driver for the days we needed to move versus renting a car. Renting a car would give us much more flexibility, but would also mandate us driving in Colombia. That thought was a bit intimidating, but the flexibility afforded by the car won out.
We learned two important things from the rental car agents. First, Colombia - and apparently many Latin American countries - try to reduce traffic and pollution by having 1 day/week that you aren't allowed to drive. Which day is determined by the last digit of your license plate. Our car ends in 6, so can't drive in Cartagena on Fridays or Santa Marta on Wednesdays. No problem, those weren't part of our itinerary. The other is that on our route would be 15+ speed cameras. Automatic ticket if you are going even slightly above the speed limit. But there's signs posted before them - so everyone just speeds as much as they want, then hit the brakes at the signs about speed cameras for a few hundred meters.
We got a Dodge Journey - not exactly the 7 seat 4 wheel drive that we had reserved, but we squeezed Ruthie and our luggage in the back and we were off. And what I found out is that I LOVE the way Colombians drive. Every sign is a suggestion. Speed limits, stop signs, one way signs - it's a total free for all. Whoever is willing to go, goes. Lights are obeyed - it would be dangerous otherwise - but signs are largely ignored unless they are announcing the speed traps.
Driving in Cartagena is intense - people everywhere, lots of taxis, lots of vendors coming up to the car constantly, plenty of one way streets and some two way streets that were only wide enough for one car. A lot of honking. Things got easier when we got on the highway to Santa Marta, a 4 hour drive. At some point we encountered a roundabout with us, a horse-drawn cart, a bus and 5 motorbikes. The bus had the right of way as the biggest vehicle, the motorbikes just zipped by everyone and we battled it our with the horse to get to our exit (we won).
Anna and Jenna keep saying they would never be willing to drive here and just riding makes them car sick. I'm having a great time racing every other car at stop signs, to change lanes, to get around the car in the right lane that just stopped, put on their hazards and is waiting on their Domino's to be ready for 15 minutes (we were this car one night). It is chaotic and competitive and stimulating and probably dangerous - I'm having a ball.
Interview with Nenna
By Ruthie
Why did you come to Colombia? To see you (our family) and for an adventure
Why didn’t you come to Buenos Aires? Because I was in Hawaii.
Why do you like the beach? I like to look at the ocean .