Stuck in Bahia Solano

The morning we were set to fly out of Bahía Solano, the weather turned rainy.  Not surprising actually, considering how rainy it usually is there.  I felt really blessed that we had so many beautiful days.  

We were up early and waiting for the guys on motorcycles to take us into El Valle.

I took a couple shots of the trash on the beach because the video I had taken was lost at sea.  But yeah, crocs. The Pacific Ocean is a trash can, and I chose photos carefully so you don't see it in most of the photos I posted, but EVERYWHERE was covered in plastic garbage.  Well, at least along this beach, the beaches we rode boats to were clean.

The tide hadn't completely gone out yet, which I think was slowing the motorcyclists down.  

I took this while on the motorbike.  I wanted to take a video because we were riding through the waves half the time, but I was scared I'd lose another phone.

I did take this one though.

After a tuktuk ride to Bahia Solano, we got to the airport and found out that the plane had been delayed.  There's three flights a day in and out of Bahia Solano (I think that was the number?).  And no roads.  The only way there is by plane or boat.

So we waited. 

This is out the front door of the airport.  We had lunch at the restaurant next door. It was good.

And then we waited more. 

A lot more.  So we took photos for fun.  We also had cards and played card games like Fruit Salad. 

And looked over all the things the indigenous people were selling. 

The airport was tiny, and mostly filled with fish packaged to fly out in coolers.  But also a bunch of tourists.

Waiting some more.  Some older tourists from Colombia rented a private plane to fly out and tried to convince Leo to go in with them.  It was tempting because Leo needed to be back for work, but he was smart and didn't and then they couldn't get out anyway and the company wouldn't refund their money because weather isn't in their control.  

Eventually, we gave up for the day and went to Bahia Solano (only 10 mins away) for the night  at a hostel the TukTuk driver recommended.   No flights made it out that day.

This was a view from the "social living room".

Also from the social living room.

And the bedrooms.  

Okay, I wish I knew what restaurant we went to that night, because their fish was the best we had the entire trip.  Elena's fish there was SOOOO good.  She gave me a bite.  So was mine and Sebastian's.

Ah, this was the front of the hostel.

Checking out all our bites.  It really kind of stunk, because we had to be waiting at the airport for any clearing of the weather, we couldn't enjoy our extra time there (which we would have loved) and we were out of clean clothes.  Our towels were gross so even showering was only partially useful.

Elena's hair is so curly in humidity!!!  And both Leo's and my Colombia burner phone had issues with the humidity.  I ended up having to buy a new cheap phone when we got back to Bogotá, and Leo's never would charge the same.  So yeah, we lost 3 phones (sort of) to the weather and the sea.

Sebastian caught a gecko and put it in his room to hopefully catch some of the mosquitos.

Breakfast of rolls we bought at pandería (bakery).  But then we went back because the kids were still hungry.

No let up in the weather.

Back at the pandería.

And then we wandered down to the beach.

Look we were there!! I think there's letter signs of the town names in 95% of every Colombian town.  Not just the tourist spots by any means.

This was the elementary school.  We could hear them having lessons.

And then back to the airport to wait some more.  It was one of the most stressful vacations we've ever been on.  I knew we had to pay cash for everything while we were there (one ATM in town that sometimes has money), but the prices I gathered from blogs and rare business websites were outdated and everything was practically double in cost, so we were worried we'd run out of money, literally.  Then all of our skin started disintegrating, and ALL of our feet were destroyed with  sores and bites (we all started wearing socks with our sandals).  FYI, sand fly bites are not a good mix with Google.  I started freaking about all the crazy tropical diseases you can get, even though I knew about them ahead of time too.  

The tropics do not like us. Seriously, Lando, Efraim, and I were covered in rashes by the end. All of us were bitten to pieces by sand flies, and hopefully none of us end up with Leishmaniasis. Sebastian kept pointing to our disintergrating skin and saying, "Look, your skin is decomposing on you." Or "Look, you're biodegradable.”

This is how everyone felt.  But unlike the group of Italian tourists who had waited 3 days, we actually made the flight the second day.   It was so weird, it wasn't a rolling wait list, you had to sign up for which flight you wanted to try for, and if you didn't make it, that was your only chance for the day, you just had to gamble for which flight would make it the next day. Those Italians were mad.  But since we had little kids, they prioritized us and we got on the first flight to make it out. 

The whole airport cheered for us when we got on.  It was hilarious.  I mean, I get it, we were the only ones with kids there and six kids stand out anywhere now.  

Bye, Bahia Solano!

And a quick one hour flight to Medellín.

Leo took us to a delicious restaurant there, Sancho Paisa.  It was really good, and then we walked back to the airport for our flight to Bogotá.

Bogotá!

And we found that the little tube connecting the water and toilet had broken in our bathroom and had been spraying water for who knows how long. 

Enough time for it to seep down two floors.

Despite everything, I'm so glad we went!!  It was my favorite trip we took in Colombia and it just was so unique and surreal.  Only Leo is still not a fan, because all my kids said they would go back in a heartbeat.  It was incredible!!