Luckily there's a pristine beachy reprieve from the clouded cityside waters, at Playa Blanca. Situated on the island of Baru, just 45 minutes by boat from Cartagena, Playa Blanca is the stuff postcards dream of. The white sand alluded to in the beach's name (Playa= Beach; Blanca = White) is soft and squeaky, the water is [insert cliche - they all apply]. The boats will drop you off on a kindof main drag (as far as, relatively, beaches go).. turn left and leave the masses (again, relative) as you round the corner to a quieter stretch. Heavenly!
Armed with my secret weapon, a Colombian boyfriend, we negotiated a tent to sleep in for the night (15,000 pesos). There are also little palm rooved huts and simple hammocks. Bags dumped, we pulled out the first litre bottle of Ron Medellin and began the difficult task of relaxing. Took about 3 seconds.
The boat ride to Playa Blanca varies in price.. if you catch it from the port in front of the Torre del Reloj (Clock Tower) it will cost 40,000 pesos return (including lunch) or 35,000 pesos return (excluding lunch). BUT if you don't want to return the same day, you will have to negotiate your return trip on top of this price. You can normally get cheaper boats from Manga or from Castillogrande. Or it is possible to take a bus, then a moto and get there for as little as 7,000. But it will take you 2 hours. I should also say that if you front up looking all touristy you will probably spend a lot more than this. OR you can take the big ferry which is a cheaper option (I think 15,000 each way?) but super slow and makes all these stops along the way. Anyway.. when you think that the minimum wage here is about 150,000 a week (this is what I'm getting paid!) 40,000 or $20 is quite expensive. So that's why you (I) don't do it every weekend.
So I recommend getting the included lunch option for 5,000 pesos.Whole grilled fish, patacones, salad and coconut rice. Conversion is less than $2.50 AUS. This is what it looked like:
We happened to go the same time as my friend and work colleague Jen, and her German squeeze Carsten. If you've seen the photos, you'll know these two are magazine-worthy: bronzed, buffed and better than you. But I was too frickin chilled to allow even their ridiculous hotness to make me feel self-conscious as I let it all hang out. I drank coconut juice then ate the flesh, I swam, I made out with the aforementioned Colombian boyfriend, I slept, I drank rum. People visited us, we chatted. Like with the incredibly nice and cool Arnando who runs a kitesurfing school on the beach. The sun went down. We added rum to our coconuts and snacked on crispy patacones chips. Life was pretty darn good.
Mid-way through the second litre bottle of rum we decided to get dinner. We walked up to Mama Ruth's which is hands-down the best spot to eat. Beautiful steamed-in-the-bag fish, garlic prawns, dream catchers everywhere.. and a gorgeous hippie couple working there that made this amazing jewelery from coral and silver and shells. My spend-no-money resolve loosened by the rum, I maybe bought myself a few reminders..
Truthfully, the remainder of the night is fairly blurry but definitely involved dancing on the beach and skinny dipping. Though, ofcourse, I would do both of those things sober. I also insisted on drunkenly making tuna and corn sandwiches for anyone who came within cooee of our little beach shelter. Apparently they were appreciated.
Next morning I literally crawled from my unzippered tent, past the emptied third litre-bottle of rum, to the welcoming warm caribbean waters. Sins absolved, I continued on in the same fashion as the previous day: eat, sleep, read, make-out, sleep, swim. HAPPY. I maybe also did a few cartwheels.
We arranged to board a boat at 2. Things didn't exactly go to plan on this front. Because you are squeezing onboard boats with other people who only came over for the day.. it is better to negotiate as a two-some then as a four-some. That's just for future, visit-playa-blanca reference. Long-story- crazy-beach-filled-with-crazy-locals-short, we eventually made it back. Oh! further tip from those in the know. When selecting your seat on the boat - be sure to hustle your way to the back seat. Way less bumps and bum bruises.
Anyway.. sorry for the unnecessary detail.. I kindof thought I'd make this post a wee bit educational because Playa Blanca is somewhere people might actually visit. So hence prices, locations etc
So in summary... When I choose to take a holiday from my perpetual holiday, I choose Playa Blanca. White on, man.
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