Baru, Colombia

Paradise is indeed not pristine. Baru is far from a manicured oasis as a friend and I discovered on an overnight trip to the island during our five-day Colombian sojourn.

As one trip advisor described this peninsula some 45-mins off the cost of Cartagena, it is more “Jurassic Park than Sandals Resort”.

In the height of the heat of May, Mawena and I set off by boat from Bocagrande to Baru, watching the ocean turn from a murky grey to emerald green as we drifted farther and farther from the animation of Cartagena. We were greeted by water so clear that we could see the bright orange flesh of starfish clinging to the pebble-lined floor.

Our lodging at Casa San Augustin’s Baru location, a small hotel of 3 bungalows (casitas) situated a top a hill overlooking the Colombian Caribbean, was the stuff of storybooks. Ceiling fans, bright white walls, and rocking chairs overlooking a veranda: the entire domicile was done by Bogota-based designer Gustavo Pinto and successfully completes the feeling of truly being in another world.

There really was no reason to ever ( and I mean, EVER) leave the comfort of our room, not with a private infinity pool within steps of our verandah. Still, the idyllic private beach (thought not without a plastic bottle or two strewn about to bring us back down to earth), 5 minutes away and accessible only by boat, gave us enough cause to stir from indolent reverie and trek down multitude of the stairs in search of enough sand and sea to which to drown a lifetime of sorrows. Though the skies were overcast by the time we arrived at the shore, the peacock greens and blues of the my suit by Natori, aptly nicknamed Paradise, brought enough brisk colour to overshadow the shadows.