72 Hours in Baru

On our second day in Colombia, we all hopped on an airplane and headed to the coast to Cartagena. I had asked L about doing something outside of Cundinamarca and we had discussed a few options but ultimately landed on the idea of going to Baru, a v. tropical little peninsula south of Cartagena.

I arranged a transfer to our hotel in Baru via Juan Ballena because it was way more affordable than to do it through our hotel. I would highly recommend them; they were super reliable and communicative and the price was right.

We flew to Cartagena via Avianca. The flight was quick and easy and the terrain was pretty nuts and beautiful to look at from above.

Las Islas Hotel

The drive from the Cartagena airport to Las Islas hotel took about an hour and a half. Apparently it used to be basically impossible to do the drive that we did except that they recently put in a bridge to connect the small islet to the mainland and now it's a pretty easy commute. Some of the roads were dirt and washed out so that's probably what made the short distance take such a long time.

I fell in love with this hotel at first site while I was searching for places to stay. L had originally suggested a different venue but I insisted on this one and all of us were smitten when we arrived. Our car transfer dropped us off at the initial reception area where we waited for golf carts to come pick us up to check us in. While we waited, we partook from a bowl of fruit and L had me try granadilla. To eat it, you crack it in half and suck out the pulpy, juicy, crunchy seeds.

Once the golf carts collected us, we checked in with the main reception area (where we watched some little raccoon-like creature steal some fruit) and then headed to our room. We stayed in Bungalow 5, which is a 4-person accommodation with a room upstairs and downstairs and a private saltwater pool. It was so luxe and awesome.

I truly loved our room. Not only was it comfy and spacious, the aesthetic was so on point. It really felt like we were living in a treehouse.

After we dropped off our bags, we asked the golf cart to take us to 'El Clubhouse' so we could watch the sunset and then get some dinner.

While not bad, all of us agreed that the caliber of the food did not exactly match the surroundings. The hotel felt so luxe and high end and gorgeous and the food, while good, did not knock anyone's socks off.

After dinner, we went to our respective rooms and called it a night. In the morning, I woke up bright and early (out of habit) and decided to walk along the grounds and do some exploring.

There are a few rooms that are actual treehouses with some awesome views. I don't know how much I'd relish climbing all those stairs every time I wanted in and out of my room, but it's a total vibe.

We all met for breakfast, which was in the little spot adjacent to our bungalow and that was super convenient, because as it turns out, ordering a golf cart to pick us up was sometimes a chore and they were often really late.

After breakfast, all of us headed down to the private beach, Playa Tranquila, to enjoy the complimentary water sports, including ocean kayaking and stand up paddleboarding.

I had signed us up for every possible free activity offered by the hotel and the first one up was a cooking class. We learned how to make ceviche. And when I say "we" I mean J because I told him he should do everything since I cook all the time already.

Since we were already at El Clubhouse, we walked downstairs to Las Guacas for dinner.

In the morning, we partook in our second free activity of the trip, a boat ride to the hotel's private island, Isleta. It's just a quiet little place with a quaint beach, hammocks, and sun loungers. It's nice if you want a little change of scenery.

L and D wanted to try ocean kayaking and they discovered that the island of Cholon was just around the corner from where we were lounging. I followed them in a stand up paddle board and we spent the afternoon sipping on island cocktails and we indulged in an awesome fried fish lunch.

The next day, we had booked in a snorkeling tour through the friend of one of the servers we met at breakfast. It felt a little shady at first but it ended up being a pretty awesome day.

We were picked up by one of this dude's friends in a car and brought to a pier in Baru. Then we hopped into a boat and headed out to Corales de Rosario. We indulged in yet another fried fish lunch that day and it wasn't quite as good as the red snapper from the day before but it was still delicious.

We had attempted to hit up the astronomy tower twice on this trip but we were denied by weather. However, we were able to go on one last free hotel-sponsored outing: a bioluminescent plankton tour! It was super cool. We rode out in a boat during a lightning storm, which was kind of nuts. We ended up at Cholon, where we had just been the day before, and we were handed snorkels and instructed to agitate the water to activate the plankton's luminscence.

And then the next morning, we ended our time at Las Islas with breakfast, a little more beach time, and many tears.

I love you, Las Islas! I'll be back!

xoxo.