We’re back, it’s hot, it’s wet!

Welcome back to the Everetts In Colombia blog! We have returned to this amazing country, over 2 years after our original family adventure.

By Brae and Oren:

After a long day of travelling we finally arrived at our old apartment in Rodadero, near Santa Marta, Colombia. As we walked into the building we were greeted  warmly by the ‘portero’, as if we were long lost friends. We were so happy to see him too and it felt so great to be back.  Just then, it started raining. We were pretty surprised because we don’t think we saw a single drop of rain during the several months that we lived here, two years ago. We thought it would stop quickly but we were very wrong.

View from taxi

We already had plans for our first day, so before long we set out to visit our Colombian charity friends. We took a taxi into Santa Marta (our local city) and the rain just kept falling. As the water flowed in rivers down from the hillsides, and swirled around the taxi, with thunder and lightening crashing around us, we were starting to get a bit worried. Dad spotted a teenage boy, taking a shower in the street, using the water that was streaming off one of the roofs, overflowing out of the end of a gutter. Lots of people don’t have showers in their homes so he was smart to take advantage of the opportunity. Then the taxi driver said that he couldn’t take us any further because the water was just too deep and his taxi would flood.

When we got out, we still hadn’t got to the place where we were meeting our friends, so we bravely tried to continue our journey on foot.

Sometimes we had to turn back and try a different route when the water got too deep, but we didn’t give up easily and eventually we got to a place where we could almost see the cafe we were heading to. But disaster! – the water on these final few streets was waist deep and fast flowing and it was just too dangerous to go any further. Also, at this moment, Oren suddenly noticed bugs crawling along the walls on the other side of the road. We looked closer and discovered that loads of ‘cucarachas’ (cockroaches) had scrambled up the side of someone’s house. They had fled there in search of dry land as their usual hiding places were under water. It was disgusting!

Can you see the cucarachas! And I didn’t notice this at the time, but isn’t that a toilet just inside the front door? Expect the unexpected!

I should mention that even though it was raining and we were drenched from head to toe, it was very, very, very, hot. We reluctantly decided to head back home to Rodadero, and give up on our mission for that day.

To cheer ourselves up, on the way we had our favourite Colombian  ice cream flavours (maracuyá and arequipe) for lunch. We didn’t mind about not having a proper lunch because we had already had some Colombian food at the airport at three o’ clock in the morning while we waited for our connecting plane: buñuelos, palitos de queso, pan de bono, arepa de queso…..yuuummmm!

We really enjoyed our first day and the apartment feels like a second home even though it’s extremely different from our Norfolk home. Today’s adventure felt like just the beginning of a long line of adventures to come over the next month.

6 thoughts on “We’re back, it’s hot, it’s wet!”

  1. Glad you arrived ok. Sounds scary getting caught in such torrential rain. Glad you are ok -with the help of an ice cream . Rain must have followed you from the lot on Sunday, it is lovely and sunny here again now.hope you have time to repeat your trip to the charity . Enjoy your swim . impressed you have filled in your blog so quickly especially as you must be tired.
    lots of love
    From Grandma xx

    1. Hi Grandma. Thanks for our first comment of 2018. It is very sunny and hot this morning. I’m looking forward to getting an arepa and going for a swim. Then we’re going to do the trip with the charity in the afternoon. We didn’t get too much jet lag last night, hopefully we won’t get any today. Lots of love from Brae xxxx

  2. Here comes comment #2: I must confess that your cockroach story gave me the creeps! There was a time when they infested my New York apartment, and just thinking of their crunchy varnish coloured bodies makes me want to advise you to watch your step.
    When do you plan to visit the school? Are your old teachers still there, and the same people cooking eggs on the road along the way? Keen to learn more!!! Xxx

    1. Hi Anne. The same people are cooking the arepas, but I don’t think we are going to visit the school this time.

      Brae xxx

  3. That’s a lot of rain there!! I’ve never seen that much in my life and i live England so that’s surprising.

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