The midmorning heat at the Simon Bolivar International
Airport in Santa Marta was almost unbearable. Pico, the guy who was supposed to
pick us up from the airport, arrived in his beat up Toyota an hour late. With a
big, lazy grin on his face, he was holding up a crumpled paper with my name on
it. That set the tone for our entire trip to South America: Being late is the
norm and being laid-back is the way of life.
We
then drove an hour and a half to our ecolodge along Colombia’s Caribbean coast.
Upon arrival we were told by the manager
that there won’t be any electricity from 5 am to 5 pm for the length of our
stay due to some “technical issues” in the solar panels they’re using. I knew
that the lodge doesn’t have wifi, but the lack of electricity is something I
did not expect.
At first we balked at the idea of spending several days in a
Thoreauvian fashion, but we got used to it and later on even embraced it. In
Santa Marta, we were stripped to the bare essentials: no phones, no television,
no hot showers, no Internet connection, no air conditioning, and no room
service. All we had—and all we needed—was the placidity and stillness of that
palm tree covered beach away from the ceaseless tumult of city life and each
other. Except for that day hike to the marvelous Tayrona National Park, our
days were wrapped in uneventful simplicity. Lying on those plastic lounge
chairs facing the shore, we slept the afternoons away. We talked, read books,
played cards, and walked along the beach.
Divested of modern luxuries, we saw beauty in the mundane. The
things that we usually take for granted beckoned our prolonged attention: The smell of fresh coffee wafting through the
window screen early in the morning; the sight of damp swimsuits left to dry
over the back of a chair looking as if they haven’t recovered from the fun they
had the past day; the sound of conversations in Spanish, half of which I did not understand; the taste of freshly
cooked patacones (twice fried
plantain slices) served with ever meal; the texture of sand and crushed shells
under my feet and the coolness of the waves washing over my legs. We were content simply to be in that place at
that time.
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