Late breakfast again – Andres took a while to settle down last night and so slept late this morning.
After breakfest we headed back to the room and eventually Andres went back to sleep for his regular morning nap while we got ourselves a bit more organised (and I had a bit of a nap myself). Andres actually slept for nearly 3 hours until after 1pm.
It was a dull and overcast day, so we decided not to go out looking for photo opportunities, instead we decided to go to the beach. It had simply been too hot on previous days – unlike the locals, our lily white skin would have burned too quickly in the scorching sun.
We headed across the road to the hotel’s beach-side restaurant for lunch, but found that most of their dishes were expensive seafood or steak, and so just ordered some empanadas con carne to eat and Colombiana to drink (we’ve become a bit addicted to this local softdrink – has a nice subtle flavour and is not too sugary).
After we’d eaten, we went down to the waters edge where one of the hotel staff set us up with chairs in one of their “cabanas” (tents) where we could sit out of the sun. Within minutes we started getting the local touts come up trying to sell us their wares – the girls offering massages (they actually try and start massaging, we have to shoo them away), guys selling necklaces, watches, sunglasses, cigars. We’ve found the tshirt guys are actually the most persistent – trying to show us every design they have, insisting that they have my size (they don’t really), and then pulling out the kids sizes for Andres (all way too big). There are also the icecream and drink sales people roaming up and down the beach, plus there was an older lady selling fresh fruit from her cart – although she was a bit scary when she headed off down the beach armed with a large knife (and a pineapple). Mostly we just shook our heads and said “no” and that was enough to get rid of them – there was just a constant stream of people coming past our seats offering us stuff.
We did get other attention too – Andres hasn’t lost any of his charm, and is still proving to be a real chick magnet (some guys stop and comment too). Mostly it’s the older ladies (most of whom offer massages on the beach), but some of the younger girls there on holidays stopped to admire him and would ask the standard questions: what is his name, how old is he, (and sometimes: is he yours). We also occasionally had people ask us where we are from, we explain Andres is from Cali and people usually appreciate that – they all know where Cali is.
The hotel staff all love Andres too – the cleaning staff will usually stop and say hello, as do the waiters – and even the maintenance guys smile at Andres. Some of the guests seem a bit unsure, but many of then come up to say hello to Andres (they ignore us mostly, they just want to tell Andres how cute he is). We’re getting used to all the attention – hardly any of it has been bad, mostly because Andres really is so cute!
At the beach, Andres played in the sand quite happily, but after a while he did get a bit grizzly, I think he started getting sand in awkward places, and had been rubbing his face with sandy hands, which was uncomfortable for him. Leanne took him down to the water to see how he liked it. Like the first time we bathed him in the baby bath back in Cali, he was very nervous of the water – and didn’t really like the waves washing over his feet and legs. He didn’t mind us walking through the water with him, but he did complain when we dunked his legs in the water. I think it’s just a bit new and scary for him – he now loves bathtime and splashes around and makes a huge mess – so I’m sure that with a few more visits to the beach, he’ll begin to love it.
While I sat on the beach with Andres, Leanne went out for a swim, enjoying the beautiful warm Caribbean water. Later we swapped and I went out for a swim while Leanne stayed with Andres. It really was a very pleasant afternoon (even with the constant attention from touts).
After a few hours, we walked back across the road and found the outdoor showers the hotel provides for guests and cleaned off all the sand. Then we went upstairs and had showers and gave Andres his bath (making sure we got rid of all the sand!).
We then sat around for a few hours waiting for dinner – we had decided that we would go down for the Friday night buffet, since there was supposed to be a live band and special Colombian food and music. It turned out to be a couple of guys playing CDs, which was disappointing. The buffet was okay, nothing special. After dinner, we sat by the pool for a while enjoying the cooler evening air before heading back to our room to put Andres to bed.
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