Americas

[Visited: April 2023]

History and geography often have funny and interesting contradictions and illogical situations. One of them is that San Andrés, which is the largest island of an archipelago also consisting of Providencia and Santa Catalina, while lying closer to Nicaragua, actually belongs to Colombia. San Andrés is also the largest island of Colombia. After having travelled around Colombia for the fifth time, I feel it is time to also see San Andrés. Soon after we touch down, it feels like we are in a different country altogether. That morning, we departed from Leticia, which is the southernmost point of Colombia, tucked away deep into the Amazon jungle. Here we are on a distinctly Caribbean island, with an atmosphere to go with it. After hearing birds, frogs, and monkeys, seeing pink dolphins and the massive rainforest of the Amazon, we are now surrounded by partygoers, by manmade noise, by asphalt, by neon lights. It only underlines what an enormously diverse country Colombia really is.
We have a late dinner after chasing a lost bag at the airport. The next morning, the bag comes back, and we are off for a short walk through La Loma, the "capital" of San Andrés. We see one shop after another, lots of people around - and when we reach the small port, there are only more people. Our plan is to go to the islets off San Andrés - but we have made one mistake: we want to do so on a Sunday. We are grouped together, and what follows is a disaster for an independent mind like ours. We are herded into one of the boats, are not allowed to sit together by a bullying staff member who then tries to create an atmosphere with jokes he must make with every group. The driver steers the boat through the surf in such a way that we hit the waves hard, and apparently takes pleasure in the screaming crowd. When we try to get away directly when we set foot on Johnny Cay, we are told that we need to follow a "briefing". But we ignore that, and take a stroll around the island instead.
Johnny Cay turns out to be a beautiful islet surrounded by crystal clear turquoise waters that are begging us to just jump in. And of course, white sand beach and palm trees. Would be paradise if there was no one else around. We want to be away from the crowd, which indeed is possible since most people here crash in the sand directly upon arrival. We get totally sunburnt, and get into the boat for a short ride to El Acuario. This turns out to be even more of a tourist trap than Johnny Cay, and at least as stunning. We walk the transparent waters to Haynes Cay, and have to carry our bags on our heads. Fantastic islets, but terribly overcrowded. We have a great dinner near a blowhole on the west coast where we watch sunset. The next morning, we walk uphill to the oldest Baptist church of San Andrés. Soon after leaving downtown La Loma behind us, we finally feel a bit of the authentic San Andrés. People getting a ride on the back of a motorbike, wooden houses, reggae, English spoken instead of Spanish, dark people that you can find anywhere: we are in the real Caribbean. The church turns out to be closed, we find a nice viewpoint further uphill and see the stunning waters that surround San Andrés. Inevitably, we ponder about the impact of tourism, how it changes societies, and how we are also part of it ourselves.

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San Andrés (Colombia)

San Andrés > Colombia > Americas

[Visited: April 2023]

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