Colombia Tales

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Colombia has the most incredible people. Of all the places we have travelled, they are right up there for the nicest people on the planet.

Here’s an example: Dale, Chani and I had just returned from a tiny beach town called Palomino. We took a bus from there back to Santa Marta, arriving at 7pm. The next morning, by 8 am, we needed to be on a bus out of there for the next great Colombia adventure.

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We popped over to the restaurant across the street from our hotel which we had gone to the week before. Sitting down for a dinner of fresh Watermelon and Lulo juice, along with an entree or two, I noticed that my driving glasses were missing. I rushed back over to our hotel to look, only to discover that I probably left them back in Palomino, a solid 2+ hour drive. I just knew that I would never see them again as Palomino is so small that even if I found out they were there, no one could ever ship them to me from there. Ah the beauty of traveling to various Timbuktu’s.

Anyway, after I contacted our Air BNB host, she texted me a picture of my glasses in her hand. Yep, I left them there. Chani is having a fun time talking to our waiter in Spanish, when she says: Mum, he says that he has a cousin who lives in Palomino and might be interested in bringing them to you for a small fee.

I admit, my initial reaction was: Yeah Right.

Long story short, his cousin drives his motorcycle over to the Air BNB, grabs my glasses, texts Chani a picture that he has them. (I, on the other hand, think, OMG they are going to be ruined without being in a case for protection)

Then he leaves on his motorcycle at 4:00 am so that he can miss the traffic that he says would be very dangerous to drive in. He arrives at our hotel at 6:30 am, delivers my glasses intact, collects $25 for his trouble, goes out to breakfast across the street to visit his cousin, then leaves the city.

I’m wearing those glasses right now after loosing them over a year ago.

Thank you Colombia people for your kindness!




Monica Caulfield