Thanksgiving on the Coast

Tara, Kelsi and I never could figure out how to get to the island of Providencia for less than $700 in plane tickets, but after our marvelous Thanksgiving 2009 on the beaches of San Andres we also were not ready to give up the idea of Thanksgiving on a beach.

After some research and discussion with colleagues we settled on the Caribbean Coast of Colombia, between the historic city of Cartagena and the Panamanian border. Sandwiched between these two landmarks is a coastal line that is relatively untouched in a tourist sense. Many Colombians go here on long weekends or holidays, but the towns themselves are not really popular destinations for foreigners.

Thursday we flew to Monteria, Colombia in the northwestern part of the country before continuing on a three hour car ride to the small town of Rincon del Mar. Our hotel, Aracuara, was situated right on the beach of this town where the streets were literally made of sand. In fact, the car couldn't even go all the way to the hotel, so we had to get out and cross a bridge then walk through more sandy streets in order to get there! After an adventurous beginning to the trip we were ready to relax.

The rest of the vacation included reading, relaxing, and not much else. I loved having time to swim, play with the kids on the beach, take naps on the beach (the best types of naps!), read without feeling like I should be working on lesson plans, walk along the shore, and just chat with Tara and Kelsi.

Some photos from our trip:

The perfect view.

Beachside naps. HI KELSI!

Huge shells we found walking along the shore.

The perfect locale for our beachside reading.

Nothing to do. Nowhere to be. A simple little kind of free.*

Making new friends with the kids in town :)

Every Thanksgiving should include Coco Locos (rum-filled coconuts).

Happy Thanksgiving!

I hope everyone had a fun and restful Thanksgiving weekend! This week we were back to school with all the craziness that comes with finishing up the semester! Only one week of classes left, then a week of finals and then.............MINNESOTA!!! That's right in 13 days I will be writing to you from the frozen tundra that is the midwest....where there will most definitely not be beaches and coco locos but instead snowmen and peppermint mochas. :)

Happy Sunday!

*Name those lyrics.