Ladrilleros

Bad picture of the storm-troopers
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After being in the mountains for about a week I wanted to go to the coast,  to a village called Ladrilleros where groups of humpback whales are going north with their newly born babies.

To do this, you need to take a small boat from Colombia's largest port city of Buenaventura.  There was a small little hick-up in this plan.  On the day we were doing this there was some type of "peaceful" demonstration blocking the road through the city.  The bus didn't take us any further and we had to walk by the demonstration.

Taxi Please!!!!
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One of the people on the bus was kind enough to act as a guide to get to the center of town.  We were stopped a few time by the police, but they always said that there was no danger and we could continue... this was even when we saw bus loads of riot police (police in black storm-trooper gear) who were chatting with us.  When we made it thru the guide went back.  Standing on the side of the road a police van pulled up, and a bunch of police jumped out with their guns.  Don't worry they all have big guns, these were just some of the police we had talked to earlier.  To make a long story short, we jumped in the back of the van, and in no time were listening to reggaton music and hitting the siren whenever we needed to get around someone and were at a hotel near the dock.

Some of the great coastal scenery
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Really it was a crazy experience, but just another reason that I think Colombia is such a great place, filled with friendly people.  It has a really bad reputation, but things seem to be changing.

The next day I arrived at Ladrilleros after a bumpy boat right, found a hotel after being harassed by lots of small children, and then jumped in the pool.  Yeah, it was like a resort... I only feel a little guilty.

Come to find out I might have been there a couple of weeks early for the whale season.  We did see a few, but no tales impressive views... the highlight of the trip was definitely take a ride with the police.