Gualby Nation : Exploring Providencia

After a pretty painless check in we were exhausted but our stomachs were growling. With a renewed sense of energy we both didn't even know we had, Conor and I cleaned ourselves up, took the dogs to the beach and let them run out days of pent up energy and then we walked to town and got ourselves cheeseburgers and several beers.
The town of Providencia is small and cute. It looks like several years ago the town tried to re-vamp its tourism-friendly side. There are two boardwalks that are colorfully painted in bright Key West-ish colors with sea animals painted into the benches that are sporadicly placed along the boardwalks. The pictures of some areas, boasting such names as "lovers lane" are not accurate to present time condition but the towns charms and effort is still there. When we asked around for the best place to eat, several locals pointed to a packed small little cafe on the corner of the main street. We never ate there and maybe I totally missed out but the place looked hot, like sweaty B.O. has GOT to linger in that place, hot. It gets no breeze from off the water and it only has two small windows. Secondly, the corner of that street, which is the corner of the restaurant stinks like garbage and funk that has been baking in the sun. I hurry past that area with my breath held everytime I walk past. I guess it must not smell in the restaurant or the food is that good that people don't notice but I will never know, and I'm ok with that. There are several small bars scattered on and right off the main street which sell Columbian beers as well as Blatz and Milwakee's Best, two local favorites. All of the bars seem to be in a speaker competition with each other. They all blare techno-ish music (you know the kind where a siren blares within every song) at all hours of the day at a ridiculously high decibel level. You would think from the vibe of the music that the bar was bumping but when you walk by there are three dudes sitting in there looking at each other, I'm sure not able to talk to each other. We explored the small town but as our energy started to fade we decided to head back to the boat for some much needed sleep.

We awoke the next morning, refreshed, rested, happy, and delirious still? I swear I hear someone calling Conor's name. Maybe the port authority guy forgot something and needed it first thing in the morning? We stumble out into the morning sun to see the crew of Salty Dog grinning from ear to ear and waving like they are in a Thanksgiving day parade. Reunited and its feels so good. That night we drank beers and took turns exchanging stories, substituting laughter now where at one time there was fear. We spent several days relaxing and then decided to follow the locals advice on the way to see the island, on hogs. I guess, technically, we rented scooters for the day, but they were referenced all day and will be referenced thus forward in all stories, as hogs.

The boys relaxing on the hogs

The boys, their hogs, and their biatches on the back (I said "biatches" so it's not offensive)

Practicing with the remote (notice Conor's left hand)

We went on a short hike while touring the island and discovered another great view

The countryside

The path we took

The view from where we stopped, and we aren't even at top the the mountains!

The only place on the whole island that has internet, we checked weather and were gone

Shannon and Meg cool off in a beautiful, deserted cove. It gets hot riding around on hogs.

Conor and Ted relaxing while the girls went for a swim

And what two girlfriends wouldn't be inspired to have a photo session in a deserted, tropical cove? We have a million of these photos and they make me laugh out loud every time I look at them.