Cat & Terre in Santa Marta: a colorful and chic town

Who: Sébastien, Alice, Louis, Stella, Owen, Solveig and Naïa the dog

Where: Santa Marta, Colombia, Caribbean Sea

Boat: Lagoon 42

Blog: www.legentycatamaranautourdumonde.com

We have been in Santa Marta for 3 weeks. For the first week, the idea was to catch up on the kids’ schooling. Each morning we went to the skippers’ lounge which was air-conditioned. Tenth grade lessons for Stella, second grade math and French for Solveig and some drawing and coloring for Owen. There’s no slacking! The CNED (French home-schooling system) is tough and the first math test kept us very busy! Louis is also working out every morning with Sebastien, his personal coach. They get up early, go running then hit the gym and swim in the afternoon. Our future Paris or Marseille firefighter needs to develop his stamina and strength. In the afternoon after the siesta, we go for a walk in the town. The historic quarter is a stone’s throw from the marina, and is full of colorful houses, frescoes and graffiti. There is a good atmosphere and the people are friendly. The food is good and very cheap. For example, at lunchtime you can eat soup and a dish of the day in a restaurant for €4, or a sandwich in the street for less than a euro.

Later on, Stella got a badly infected finger which meant that we had to go to a clinic in the town to get her some antibiotics and painkillers. A week later, our health insurance recommended that she go and get the finger checked out in Baranquilla (2-3 hours each way on the bus). The result was that she had her nail removed! Ouch! She was in a lot of pain, but thankfully it is now starting to get better, although there are still bandages to change. The Columbian hospitals offer good care, but not everyone can afford it… We are waiting for this episode to be over to start exploring the forests outside of the town which apparently are full of birdlife.