October is not really known as the best travel month for the Caribbean because of hurricane season, but it is my absolute favorite month to travel there. The airfare is at it's lowest point for the year, most hotels have specials, and all inclusive resorts are your best friends.
This year, I went to a small island off the coast of Nicaragua called San Andres. It is a property of Colombia and is about an hour and half flight from Medellin. The process of getting there is quite a feat. First: you have to purchase a tourist card to get onto the island which costs $117,000 Colombian Pesos (about $34 USD). Second: You go through airport security where you go through the metal detectors and document checks, then at the gate, they separate the men from the women and do a pat-down while a dog sniffs you as you go to board the plane. Lastly: once you get off the plane, your luggage gets scanned and searched. The hotels on the island usually include transportation to and from the airport, but transportation on the island is all you. Luckily, its not that expensive: we had a group of 10 and we traveled in minivan taxis of 5 each and were charged 20-25,000 pesos (about $6-7) for each trip. Not too bad, but then again, the island is only about 10 square miles.
The resort we stayed at is part of the Decameron All Inclusive Hotels and Resorts, located in San Luis. The resort included the room (bathroom, turn-down service, air conditioning, cable TV, refrigerator stocked with bottles of fresh water), 3 meals a day at the restaurant and a snack period between lunch and dinner, every night had special shows/events, non-motor water sports (kayaking, paddle boarding, windsurfing), and, the best part: alcohol. They even allow you to make reservations for lunch or dinner at a participating hotel if you'd like. Honestly, if you didn't want to leave the resort, you wouldn't have to, but there are a lot of fun places to go. You can rent a buggie and do a DIY tour of the island in one day (hell, you can do it in like 2 hours if you don't stop), and on that DIY tour, you can go to Captain Morgan's cave, shop in the city center, hang out at the beach, go eat lobster at Johnny Cay, walk to Johnny Cay from a small sandbank next to it, scuba diving, jet skiing, El Hoyo Soplador, speed boat, bubble helmet diving, and, my favorite, snorkeling! The views are amazing and the colors of the water were gorgeous.
Yes, it did rained every single day, multiple times per day, but no hurricane! We had a lot of fun and we got a lot of much needed rest and relaxation.
Talking with some of the locals, we found out a lot about the political climate there and how they do their business there. Few to none of the drivers there do not have a drivers license, and the taxi drivers do not have taxi permits, they just put the stickers on their cars and charge people for rides. This is because there is no office on the island for them to go and test/get their licenses. They would have to fly to the mainland and get their permits and licenses. We also found out that Nicaragua has been trying to take over the island to drill for oil. The locals do not want Nicaragua to take over because the drilling would destroy the reefs surrounding the island. They also do not want to continue being a part of Colombia since they feel that the country has abandoned the island since the majority of the population is living at or below the poverty line, the only places to work are hotels and shops, the roads (besides the main road) are falling apart, if the building is not a hotel, it's falling apart. It was shocking to see the difference between the resort and every day homes. Honestly, Colombia should invest more money in that island to revamp the island and make it appear more hospitable and more like paradise.
Overall, I can't wait to go back, but I think I won't leave the resort because since I went with a group, everyone wanted to do something and wanted to start early while I just wanted to sleep.
