Brazil: Rio de Janeiro

After our short stop at Iguazu Falls, we were back on another flight for Rio de Janeiro.  This was John’s favorite place he visited when in Brazil last November.  It’s amazing how nice and relaxing flights are when you don’t have two toddlers to entertain!  Don’t get me wrong, I was missing those sweet kiddos like crazy, but I was not missing flying with them ;).

The first day we had in Rio we visited the iconic Sugar Loaf or Pão de Açúcar in Portuguese.  Being in a country that spoke Portuguese was challenging for me.  It did help me see how much my Spanish has improved with living in Lima, but I was discouraged at how little I understood of Portuguese!  John had been taking lessons for the past year, so his was good enough to get us around, which was a good thing since I was basically useless on that front!

Half way to Sugarloaf!

The tram up to the top had beautiful views!  It was a nice clear day, with just a little bit of haze.

View from the top of Sugarloaf

The weather was warm and the sun was shining – it was a great break from Lima, which can be pretty foggy in April.  What I loved most about Rio was the temperature.  It was 80F when we woke up each morning, and 86F by the peak of the afternoon.  Not bad, not bad.

Rio below

I was nearing the end of the first trimester by this trip, so thankfully the debilitating nausea that had plagued me the previous two months was subsiding.

View from the top

At the back of Sugarloaf was a nature trail.  You had to walk down this super steep ramp to get there!

Ramp to the nature trail

Not many people know about it I guess, because while there was a good crowd at the view points, there weren’t many people on the trail.  It was a nice walk and we saw quite a bit of wildlife.  The coolest thing we saw were these little monkeys – this one had three or four tiny baby monkeys hanging on her back!

Mama Monkey

We also saw some lizards, big birds (maybe hawks), and mosquitos…darn.  That’s something we’ve taken for granted in Peru!  No mosquitos!  The views were just incredible – there are tons of tiny islands all around Rio, which was really cool to see.

Beach below and islands

What a nice day!

When we had explored all Sugarloaf had to offer, we headed back down to the city to do some more exploring.

The next day we visited another one of the 7 Wonders of the World: Christ the Redeemer.  We waited a while to board the train up Mount Corcovado.

Train Station at Mount Corcovado

It was a pretty ride, through lots of vegetation and there was a cool breeze blowing through the train car.  Once at the top you can either take the elevator or stairs to the statue.  This statue was built between 1922-1931 and created by French sculptor Paul Landowski.

Christ the Redeemer

 It is the largest art deco statue in the world, standing 98 feet tall, with arms stretching an incredible 92 feet.  Unfortunately it was very crowded the morning we went, so it was hard to get a picture without a photo bomb :).

At the top of Mount Corcovado

Photo bomb!  And baby belly.

 But it was still amazing.  The views of Rio were again just breathtaking.

View from the top of Mount Corcovado

Sunny day

After our trip to Christ the Redeemer, we went downtown to visit the Museu de Arte do Rio (or MAR art museum).  We just happened to show up on half-price day, which was nice.  It had some really interesting exhibits, with mostly modern art.  I’m not a big fan of videos and lights in my art, but other than that there was some cool stuff.  John liked this one…

Victim of violence

Not sure what this was supposed to be…again, interesting though.

Modern art

What was really great is that nearly all the art was about Brazil – or even Rio more specifically.  It was cool to get a glimpse into the history and culture of the favelas and this huge city.  The view from the top of the museum was really beautiful.

Harbor view from the MAR

 This was the harbor that once had been the bustling center of Rio back in the day, bringing in all those items from abroad.  Rio as a city is big, but it felt a lot more warm and friendly than some of the big cities I’ve visited.  Probably because everyone was happy to have beach time :).

Our apartment we rented through AirB&B was just a few blocks from the Ipanema Beach.

View of Sugarloaf from Ipanema Beach

 We enjoyed our last afternoon relaxing and reading while soaking up some sun and sipping some fresh coconut water!

Perfect day for the beach

Wading in the ocean

 That night we made it to The Girl from Ipanema (Garota de Ipanema) restaurant, known throughout the world from the top-charting song of the same name.

At dinner

 The food was hearty and delicious and the atmosphere was great fun – with windows open to the street and a packed room, you felt like a part of the fun, busy city.  We’d enjoyed Rio.  It had been a wonderful getaway!

Brazil: Iguazu Falls

While David and Katelyn were with us in Peru, they offered (or maybe John coerced them into it…) to watch the kids for us so we could make a trip to Brazil together.  It was our first time leaving the kids in quite a long time and I was really apprehensive about it.  Thankfully, the kids had a wonderful time with their aunt and uncle and everyone did great!  John really wanted us to go on this trip – he had already been to Brazil few months earlier for a 2 week trip traveling around the country, but he had loved Rio so much he wanted us to go back together.  When it came time to book our tickets, the prices had gone up so much that we didn’t think it was going to work out. I kept looking for options though, and finally realized that if we had a long layover in Iguazu Falls, we could save $100+ per ticket!   This almost covered the price of a hotel in Iguazu (like my money-saving logic? 🙂 ). So we flew in around 6pm and got a taxi to the hotel right at the falls edge.

View of the falls from the hotel

The sun had just set when we arrived, but we could hear the water rushing over the falls.  The hotel was amazing.  Definitely a splurge, but totally worth it since we were right there (and only for 18 hours or so).  There weren’t any restaurants around the hotel, so we ate at the hotel’s amazing dinner buffet.  After having lived in Peru for the last 10 months, I was so happy to see some decent beef!  They had every kind of beef you could imagine, including some delicious filet mignon.  The salads and side dishes were also to die for.  We ate dinner on the festively-lit patio overlooking the beautiful pool.  It was such a beautiful place!

The next morning we awoke early to toucans outside our balcony.

Good morning, Toucan

We were excited to get a head start at the falls, before all the tourists arrived at 9am.  We wouldn’t realize just how much of an advantage that was until about the 10th loaded bus dropped off its’ passengers 6 hours later.  We were on the trail by 7am.

The falls early in the morning

 The birds were loud enough that you could still hear them over the thunderous noise of the water rushing over the edge of the falls.  Iguazu Falls is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, on both the Argentinian side and the Brazilian side, and stretches nearly 2 miles across.  That’s twice as wide as Niagra Falls!

On the trail

 We were only seeing the Brazilian side, since I didn’t have my Visa for Argentina before the trip.  It worked out fine though, since our time was so limited anyways.

Getting a little wet!

 From the Argentinian side, it looked like you could more look over the falls.  Where as on the Brazilian side you got an amazing front view of the falls.

Rainbow over the falls

 The wildlife was amazing too.  We’ve never seen so many butterflies as we did that day.  There were literally hundreds in all different sizes and colors flitting every which way.  Most of the birds we saw were toucans, but there were also some large black and white birds that reminded me of magpies.  We saw these funny little mammals, too, called a South American Coati, or a Quati in Portuguese.

South American Coati

 A whole family of them….just out for a morning walk.  They were pretty used to people.  And for Olivia, we caught this picture of one of her favorite bugs – the snail.

Mr. Snail

 When we got near the end of the trail, we realized there was a walkway out into the middle of the falls – so we decided to do it.

Looking closely you can see the bridge we walked

 We hadn’t brought rain ponchos, but hey, you only get to do something like this once!  We got soaked, but we ran all the way out to the edge and stood under the beautiful rainbow that stretched from side to side.

Getting wet!

 Before we headed back we took the elevator up to an observatory deck and got a picture of us all soaking wet from the waterfalls spray!

Wet and happy

 By then we were ready for breakfast, so we walked back to the hotel for an amazing buffet breakfast.

The Belmond Hotel tower

 We had a few more hours before we needed to be to the airport for our flight to Rio, so after breakfast we grabbed our suits and hit the pool for some reading and relaxation and a game of ping-pong.

Enjoying the morning at the pool

 Despite the limited time, it was a wonderful stay!  We had just enough time to grab lunch and check out the hotel’s tower before catching our cab back to the airport!

In the hotel tower

In the hotel tower

 I was really liking what I’d seen of Brazil so far – I couldn’t wait to get to Rio!

Iquitos: rain, rain, go away

It had been a full five days since we started our Amazon adventure.  It was a really nice trip, even though we happened to be there during the rainy season.  The zoo had been great fun, as had the manatee rescue center.  We all got to hold sloths, pet snakes, and feed monkeys, and Monkey Island was the highlight of the whole trip. We also had finally made it to the real Pilpintuwasi Butterfly Farm and seen some great animal conservation efforts in progress.

Pygmy marmoset

 The farm works with the country of Peru as a home for animals that have been rescued from illegal ownership and exportation.  We learned a lot about the local animals and enjoyed seeing the butterfly house.

Búho (owl) caterpillar

The dead leaf butterfly

Live butterfly chrysalises

 We even got to see the jaguar feeding!

Our guide feeding the jaguar

Hungry jaguar

 In between our adventures in the Amazon, we’d been met with quite a bit of rain, though the worst of it did hold out for us until our last day.

The Amazon River our last morning in Iquitos

 That last morning we walked to our breakfast spot – the one restaurant we had found reliable and clean – Dawn on the Amazon.

Walking in Iquitos

Piggy back ride for Livi

A rainy breakfast at Dawn

 It rained on us quite a bit.  Of course, we all forgot our rain jackets that morning and were pretty soaked by the time we made it to the restaurant.  Olivia had found a rain-sopped butterfly during the walk there, though, so she was very happy.

Olivia and her “pet” butterfly

 A couple of times during the week, we had been caught unexpectedly in the rain and we all 6 crammed into one mototaxi!  It was funny and a little scary seeing the moto driver rev up the engine for a full minute before he could get us to move!  Wish we had a picture of that moment…ha!

Cliff playing in the rain

 We had a great time in Iquitos and were thankful to make this once-in-a-lifetime trip to the Amazon happen.

On the Amazon!

 It was fun to share the experience with family, too!  We’re so thankful David and Katelyn made it along with us!  It’s something I hope our kids will always remember – at least they’ll recall the stories and pictures.  Thanks for sharing in our adventure with us!

Iquitos: Monkey Island

After being taken to the “wrong” Monkey Island, we were indecisive at first as to whether we should take another day and see the real Monkey Island. We were so glad we did though! It ended up being the highlight of our trip. It was different than we expected. We got a guide who took us to the first boat. This one was through a local market and was definitely more of a local boat, rather than a tourist one.

Plantains at the mercado

As each bench of four people was filled, they put in the backboard for the succeeding row of people, so essentially we were crammed in like sardines. I tried not to think about how we would get out in case of emergency…not to mention the lack of life jackets aboard.

Anyways, this first boat took us for about an hour and dropped us off at a large island that was sopping wet. Everything was wet and muddy.

Trying to get Olivia to smile

There were the local women selling goods to people who lived on the island. One of the women had a baby, about 3-4 months old by my guess. It was curled up, sleeping on a blanket on one of the only dry boards.No one seemed at all put out or inconvenienced by the rain.  It’s amazing to me that they are just used to life like this in the rainy season.  We waited for a short while for a man to come pick us up and take us the rest of the way to Monkey Island (we weren’t sure he was coming there for a while…).

Boat at the first island

Since we were in the Amazon during the rainy season, the waters on the river were very high. In fact, when we arrived to the island we realized there was NO land! I’m still unsure how that physically works – it’s an island….but it’s covered in water, so….technically it’s just more of the river. Ha!

Monkey Island

Our boat guy dropped us off at the island tour guide’s canoe and we all tried to board from boat to boat without dropping a child, camera, or capsizing the canoe.

Starting the tour of the island

First we saw a few monkeys in the cages.  The red faced monkeys are very territorial, and for that reason many of them are caged, but the majority of the wildlife on Monkey Island is just that – wild. Our guide pointed out some snail eggs as we rowed around.

Snail eggs

When we arrived outside the buildings, the family that runs the island had some fruit ready for us to feed to the monkeys. It was about to get crazy! Sure enough, as soon as the first monkey caught sight of us in the feeding zone, every monkey within sight was in or around our boat!

Olivia wasn’t so sure about it…

The kids were pretty nervous about it. I was a little too, mostly because we were still in a boat and there was no where to go to get away!

A little nervous…

But it was so fun seeing the monkeys up close and getting to see some of their personalities. Some of them, the younger ones, were especially affectionate and would crawl up in our arms like a baby.

Katelyn holding a young monkey

Olivia was really not enjoying the feeding, when the guide offered for her to sit next to him (he had a switch to keep the monkeys in line – he’d swat it in the air and they’d stop being naughty). I didn’t think she would do it, but she saw him sitting there at the end of the boat, with not a monkey on him, and she happily agreed.

Happy to be away from the monkeys

Cliff was still nervous, but as long as I didn’t let the monkeys touch him he was okay with them.

Fun times!

“Do you have more food?”

The monkeys really liked David since he was holding the food can!

Feeding the monkeys

Trying to find more food

We had brought lunch along with us for later and one of the smart little monkeys must have smelled it in John’s backpack. He tried at the zipper for a while!

“Is there food in here?”

 Once the monkey exhausted the backpack he moved on to John.

Hungry little guys…

 After feeding the monkeys, we toured the rest of the island.  It was amazing seeing all of the jungle plants.  We got to snatch a piece of starfruit and try it right off the tree.

Starfruit tree

 It was really tart!

Tart starfruit

 We spotted some cacao pods, too.  Cliff enjoyed playing with a stick in the water.

Captivated by the water

 Our guides assured us that piranhas weren’t actually that much of a threat, since like sharks, they usually only go after someone who has a cut or is bleeding.  Comforting, huh?  We thought so…

Olivia was delighted when we found a snail for her to play with.

Snail happy

 In fact, she lugged that thing all around the Amazon and David even managed to get it back to Lima for her, where it eventually died in the indoor plant of our apartment.  It brought her much joy for many weeks, though :).

At the end of the tour we got to plant our feet on some dry ground, which was refreshing after a full day on the water.

Say “monkeys”!

 Cliff finally warmed up to the monkeys at the end and had a lot of fun playing with them before we left.

Playing with the monkeys

Got a monkey on your back?

“Mom, check this out!”

 Like all Peruvians, the monkeys were fascinated by his white blonde hair 🙂

“What is this stuff??”

 Monkey Island was definitely the highlight of our trip!  If you’re ever in the Amazon, make sure you visit this great place!  The family who runs it is very sweet, too, and it was nice to know we were supporting a legitimate business.  I’d still like to go again sometime when it’s the dry(er) season – it would be a completely different experience I’m sure!

Iquitos: Visiting the Zoo

One of the highlights of our five day trip to the Amazon, was taking a day to see the local zoo. It is located up by the airport, so a good half hour from the city’s center where we were staying. Basically the only vehicles in Iquitos are motorcycles and mototaxis (since it’s not reachable by road), so we grabbed two mototaxis for the six of us, and headed out.

Cliff riding a MotoTaxi with Aunt Katelyn and Uncle David

Cliff was elated every time we got a chance to hop in one of these peculiar pieces of machinery. He really wanted to drive one and kept asking, all week. It was a perfect day for the zoo.

At the zoo entrance

It had rained a lot that week, but the day we showed up was nice and sunny and fairly warm, though it was pretty muddy!

Before we even saw the macaws we could hear them shouting, “hola, hola!” They were very talkative as we approached, but quieted down as soon as we got close. Cliff wasn’t sure what to think about a bird that could talk…

Watching the Macaws

Monkeys and Paiche, the huge Amazonian fish, were in the next exhibit.

Monkeys

While the monkeys were neat, what really captured our attention was trying to spot the enormous pink and green-tinted fish below the waters’ surface.

Looking for Paiche

Some of them were six-feet long! They were pretty active and kept splashing at the surface.

After that we saw the jaguars. I’m always amazed at the lack of “security” in the zoos we visit in Latin America. No where in the states would you have a jaguar in a chain link fence, separated only by a log “fence”.

Trying to get a closer look

Close-up and personal!

It always makes me a bit nervous with the kids!

Watching the Jaguars

It is neat to get to see the animals at such a close range, though.

We saw many more jungle mammals.

Weasel?

As usual, I was not positive what animals we did see since the signs were in Spanish. Often there’s not a direct translation for animal names. We know we saw the giant otter though, which was really cool!

Giant Otter

He even jumped in the small outlying pond and grabbed a fish to snack on while we watched him.

The Giant Otter eating a fish

The pink dolphin was a big draw for us in coming to the zoo.

The Pink Dolphin playing with a pool noodle

 Olivia loves all things pink, as many 3 year old little girls do, I’m sure. We had promised Olivia she would get to see pink dolphins, and we weren’t about to let this once in a lifetime chance escape us! Here was an animal that actually came in her favorite color (we’ve had many discussions about the fact that pink cats and pink horses don’t exist in real life). We were hoping to catch the dolphin show, but were a few hours early for it. The dolphin was kind enough to do a few tricks for us, though.

Watching the dolphin play

At the zoo there is also a beach, which we had originally hoped to enjoy, but like most of the rest of Iquitos, it was flooded with the seasonal rains. Not only was there no beach, but the restaurants were flooded as well.

Have a little river water with your lunch?

Don’t worry. This is apparently very normal for Iquitos. We also saw the huge Capybara while we were there.  For some reason Olivia and Cliff thought they were scary; I thought they were pretty cute.

Capybara

 After the zoo we grabbed lunch outside at one of the local eateries setup.  They were grilling paiche and trout and also had plantain balls and fresh young coconuts for coconut water.  It was so refreshing in the heat!

On the way back, we stopped in at the Manatee Rescue Center for a quick tour.  It was a really beautiful setup, with lots of wildlife.  Olivia adopted a caterpillar and would not let it go the whole time.

Caterpillar

Olivia and the caterpillar

 There was also a really sweet little monkey who followed us for a while.  The kids didn’t like him too much, but we had some fun with him.

Hanging out with the monkey

 I was really fascinated to find out how important manatees are to the river’s eco-system.  They eat around 50 kilos a day in vegetation!

Katelyn watching the manatees

 Which means, if they are hunted out of the rivers, they will start to overgrow with aquatic lettuce and other plants that the manatees would normally be consuming.  The manatees we got to feed were “baby” manatees, but were all between 1-2 years old.

Baby manatee

 They don’t reach adulthood until 2 years.  They were pretty big!  And happily chowed down on the aquatic lettuce we fed them.

Feeding the manatees

 It was a really cool experience!

Iquitos: On the Amazon River

Our second day in the Amazon just happened to be Easter Sunday. It was a very quiet morning in Iquitos and we had a little trouble finding an open place for breakfast. We managed to find one though, named for the movie that was filmed in the Amazon, Fitzcarraldo. I haven’t seen the movie yet, but the restaurant was not much to write home about. Still, at least we had satisfied our hunger and were ready for the day. We grabbed a couple snacks and some blended coconut drinks and decided to hop on a boat for a tour. 

Boats along the river

Olivia and Aunt Katelyn

 Our tour guide told us he could take us to both Monkey Island and the Butterfly Farm. The boat was great. A narrow wooden boat with two boards running along the sides and a couple hammocks hung in the middle. It was nice and cool with the breeze blowing off the water.  We got to see the colors of the river change as we merged from one river into the other.  

Rivers merging

 Not long after that, we had already arrived at what appeared to be Monkey Island. We walked up the planks to the floating platform and were greeted by several very friendly monkeys. 

The monkeys were happy to see us

The kids were pretty hesitant and Cliff definitely kept his distance. As soon as you had anything in your hands they would climb right up your legs and jump to the fruit! 

Looking for a snack

Katelyn and the Monkey

It was pretty funny to experience.

Next, they took us to see different animals found in the surrounding environment. Unfortunately, we discovered later that this was NOT the real “Monkey Island” but was an operation that draws tourists in by paying tour guides to bring them under false pretenses. We enjoyed getting to see the wildlife up close, but felt bad that we’d unwillingly and unknowingly supported a place like that!

Bridge to the animals

Holding a sloth

Happy with a full tummy

Unfortunately, it’s very hard to find specific information on places online and when you speak to your guides they usually tell you what you want to hear. So for those of you who are going to Iquitos, make sure you are very clear with your guide about where he is taking you, and know how long it should take to get there.

Holding the Macaw…Olivia wasn’t so sure about this.

Our next stop was the Butterfly Farm. We thought we were going to the Pilpintuwassi Butterfly Farm, which is a rescue center for jungle wildlife around Peru.  However, it wasn’t until afterwards that we realized no where had we seen the name anywhere….again we had been duped.

It was really neat seeing the lifecycle of the Amazon butterflies up close. Olivia loved all the caterpillars and was very excited to get to hold a couple of them.

Caterpillar

We saw all the life stages, from the eggs, to tiny caterpillars, to the large caterpillars, chrysalis and cocoons, and butterflies.

Holding a butterfly

Then we got to see the butterfly house, where the butterflies fed on fruit and flowers. At the end, our guide let us release two butterflies from the cages and then picked some fruit off a tree to send with us. The fruit was reminiscent of a lime, and they eat it dipped in salt. They told us pregnant women in Iquitos love it, and I approved :). It was pretty refreshing in that heat!

More about our time in the Amazon coming soon!

Iquitos: Off to the Amazon

  Our much anticipated trip to the Amazon had finally arrived. When I used to think of South America, that’s what usually would come to mind. That huge river with wildlife so diverse and exotic that documentaries and books hardly did it justice. We hadn’t originally planned on taking the kids on this trip, but after living in Peru for nine months, we’d adjusted to the idea of traveling into more adventurous places with our littles. We talked to a few people who had done it successfully with children and found (not much, but some) information online as well. We got a great deal on flights when LAN was running a special, and though we waited on the Tarmac for about an hour, the savings was still worth the mediocre flight.

We arrived in Iquitos around noon, feeling the full force of the hot sun and the jungle humidity. Iquitos is an interesting city. The largest city in the world that’s not reachable by road. It’s full of motorcycles and mototaxis – literally hundreds crowd the streets in the afternoons and evenings.  

Cliff riding a MotoTaxi with Aunt Katelyn & Uncle David

We were staying at the Nativa Apartments. A good, clean place to stay for a few days, or an extended period of time. Plus, they had a room big enough for all six of us. We were traveling with John’s brother and his wife, who had been staying with us and traveling around Peru the last few weeks.

That first day we didn’t do much, besides walk to the riverfront and grab lunch. 

Walking around Iquitos

Artwork by the river 

  We talked to a tour guide and got some information on day tours for later in the week. 

Talking to a guide

We were all pretty wiped out, and wilting in the heat and humidity, so we got a rest and then headed out to a local market nearby our hotel.

It was dusk as we arrived and some of the market was already closing up. The smell hit us before we even could see it. It was a pretty dirty market, maybe because we arrived at closing. We were looking for fruit and veggies to snack on since we had a small kitchenette at the hotel. We were also hoping to find some dinner…but didn’t have much luck amid the sea of chicken carcasses and gutted fishes. David did manage to find some grilled smallish fish and plantain that they bagged up for him, but none of the rest of us felt so brave (or had much appetite with all the strong smells surrounding us). We decided it would be best to go down to the river and eat at a restaurant for dinner.

When we got there we were amazed at the number of people out and about. It was a fun crowd. Lots of locals, kids, and tourists mingled along the riverwalk. We ordered some food at a patio seating area while the kids sat on the sidewalk and watched the busy excitement before them. It wasn’t long before a teenage girl came up to the kids and started talking to them.  

Blowing bubbles with new friends

 It happens everywhere we go – especially with teenage girls. They want to know their names, where they’re from, and if they speak English. Then they usually want a picture together. The kids have been through this routine so many times now that they can give their own answers in Spanish and just need the occasional verification from us on the pronunciation of their names. It’s pretty funny to watch, really. They’ve gotten really comfortable with it. The young girl had a toddler with her, and after talking to the kids for a while, she went and bought a cup of bubbles. The kids had a lot of fun with that. 

Blowing bubbles

 When a group of about 10 young people came over they agreed to take pictures with all of them one at a time. They looked like they were thoroughly enjoying themselves. As long as they don’t seem bothered, we don’t mind. When they want space they know to come back to us, and we always watch closely to see if they’re being smothered.

Surrounded by friendly Peruvian teenagers

The food at Dawn on the Amazon was really good. Delicious local fish with a twice baked potato and some coconut milk smoothies to finish it off. We were glad we’d gotten to see a bit of the town, too, since during the heat of the day it had been pretty desolate. We were learning quickly. In this heat and humidity, enjoy the morning, go home for a nap, and come back out for the night. Seemed to be the way to do it!

Cartagena: Within the Walled City

Our last night we stayed in the walled city.

Inside the walled city

Walking through the city

 We had quite an adventure trying to find dinner that night.  After checking into our hotel we loaded the kids up in the stroller and walked outside the walls to what looked like a promising restaurant on TripAdvisor.  We walked up and down the dark street, navigating piles of trash along the broken up pieces of sidewalk.  Cartagena wasn’t unlike most other cities we’d visited in South America in that respect.  We finally gave up locating the restaurant and headed back to the walled city.  We thought we’d have an easier time finding a good eatery there, but it also proved challenging.  Eventually, we stumbled upon a tiny local, over-decorated and somewhat dusty Colombian restaurant.  The food was decent, and at that point we didn’t really care too much anyways!  It was bedtime already for the kids, so we ordered some coconut rice as soon as we sat down in our chairs and they started chowing down.  Coconut rice was the kids favorite Colombian treat (after Arepas, of course).  It was browned and sweet, cooked in coconut water, and went great with the local whole fried fish they served up in Cartagena.  Dinner was long and a little painful with two very sleepy toddlers, but we survived!  The next morning we got an early start.  The breakfast at the hotel was wonderful and the kids loved all the fresh juices.  After that, we started out on a walk around the Walled City.

Walking through the city

At the edge of the city

The lookouts were really fun to see.  Took us a while to find an empty one!  Popular place!

Hola!

Hanging out in the sun

 From the opening you could see the Caribbean, just across the road.  It was hot, hot, hot, by this time.  We were glad for a little shade.

Me and my girl

In the lookout

Enjoying Cartagena

 We’d promised the kids another ice cream popsicle, so we headed back to the center of the city.

Cliff loves “caballos”

Livi and daddy

Buying some fresh squeezed orange juice

Enjoying the city

 While we were waiting for it to open, we grabbed some iced coffees for us adults at a delicious local coffee shop.

Being “patient” in the coffee shop

Iced Colombian coffee!

 The kids were good, with the promise of ice cream looming, and soon they were holding their fruity ice cream pops.

La Paletteria

Delicious ice cream popsicles

Happy kids

 It was almost time for us to leave this beautiful place, but we had one more fun thing planned….the hotel pool.

Splish-splash!

Fun times!

 Just seconds after this picture, Cliff plummeted into the water.  He’s a tough boy though, and was laughing it off just a few minutes later.

Fun with daddy

 Olivia was super excited to get to use her “eye-gols” again.  Those kids crack me up sometimes.  It was a great end to our time in Colombia.

Beautiful warm people and bright colors

We’d really enjoyed this country!

Cartagena: San Felipe de Barajas Castle

Our third day in Cartagena, Colombia we toured the San Felipe de Barajas Castle, or Fort, as our tour guide stressed.

San Felipe de Barajas Castle

The fort

This castle was hard to imagine anyone living in, and surely was not meant for luxurious living; but it was a very strong, obvious fortress.  There were dozens of cannons stationed throughout the fort (or trains, as Cliff was convinced).

Cliff and the cannon

Ready, aim, pose!

The sun felt unbearably hot by just 10am and we did our best to stay shaded.

Cool in the shade

Little man

The heat just seemed to be reflected back at us from the stone under our feet.

Trying to stay cool in the hot sun

Beneath the fort was a maze of tunnels (which added to Cliff’s belief that the cannons were trains).  They provided a nice respite from the heat.

Down into the tunnel

Tunnels!

The guide explained to us that when the fort was under attack, men with muskets would hide in the little alcoves, waiting for enemy attackers to walk by them.

In the tunnel alcoves

In the tunnels

There was a great view from the top of the fort and the Colombian flag was really beautiful against the backdrop of the city.

The top of the fort

Colombian flag

Near the end of the tour we spotted some large iguanas in the grassy square beneath the fort.

Iguanas

The kids did great for this tour, but if we had it to do over, we would definitely go in the early morning or the evening, as the sun was setting.  Cartagena was sure proving to be a warm place!

Touring the fort!

In case you missed our first two days in Cartagena, you can read them here and here.

Cartagena: the Caribbean

Our second full day in Cartagena, we decided to do a boat tour. Looking back, we probably should have planned it better and done a little more research for a good, fast boat. It took over 3 hours to reach the first stop. The island we visited first had a little “SeaWorld” type show and tanks of fish and sea turtles.

Sea turtles

Watching the sea turtles

Watching the sharks

There were even dolphins!

Showing Cliff the dolphin

Though we hadn’t planned on doing the show, we actually enjoyed it. These sharks had been trained to all climb up the side of this platform on command, and then go back into the water after feeding.

The sharks

There was a dolphin show at the end that the kids really liked, too.

The dolphin show

Jumping

It was a cool experience, even if it was pretty commercialized.

Next, we made for the real island – Playa Blanca. By this time we were starving because it was after 2pm and we’d boarded the ship at 9am.  We’d been on the boat a long time!

Almost to land!

Changing a diaper on the ship….real life

We were so happy when we saw land. We took small ferries to the shore of the island.  It was a bit scary, since the waves were so rocky!  Thankfully there were plenty of helpful people as I boarded the small ferry with Olivia sleeping in my arms.  Lunch was local fish and some plantains and rice, which was pretty good. We finally got beach time after that.

On the beach

Building huge sandcastles

The waves were crazy big, so the kids didn’t spend much time in the water, but we all had fun building sandcastles and watching the tide come in and wash them out.

Cliff wasn’t so sure about the sand

We only had an hour on the beach before time to leave for the long ride back to Cartagena. At least we didn’t have too much time in the sun! It was a long day, and all of us were glad to be on dry land after all that rocking!  This was our second full day in Cartagena; to read about our first day click here.