Part 6.a: Solace in the Ocean

Going back to Colombia was the easiest decision, but Mama and I both knew that we wanted to visit a different city. The cheapest flight for both of us from Guatemala City and Panama City was directly to Cartagena, a touristy beach destination on the Caribbean coast.

It was so nice to be back with Mama again. We rented a tiny little one bedroom Airbnb right on the beach and spent every waking moment either in the water or wandering through the beautiful streets.

The old town in Cartagena reminded me so much of our family vacations years before to Puerto Rico. The streets were so similar, but I was so very different.

Give Mama and I a beach and nothing to do, and you'll find us walking back and forth along the water, talking about everything you could possibly think of for hours on end. There were so many doubts and uncertainties that we still had about this lifestyle that neither of us had ever imagined. So much to discuss.

Something I didn't see coming was Nicholas arriving a couple of weeks into our stay! Good thing our tiny little Airbnb had three beds. All of a sudden, a trip that I had started by myself a couple of months ago now included my mom and my brother! Some might've felt that their style was being cramped - not me. I couldn't have been happier.

The days were long and with no real purpose. It was in Cartagena that Mama and I learned how to eat fish when it still looked like fish, eyeballs and all. I noticed that I was becoming more and more comfortable with things that just months before seemed impossible to me. I was adapting. I was turning into somebody new.

That was an extremely disconcerting feeling. Usually change happens so slowly that you don't even notice until you look back after years. This was happening month to month, week to week, almost day to day. I was watching myself in real time change faster than I ever had before.

I was never somebody who embraced change. It scared me. I didn't want to lose who I was or what I had. This was forcing me to let go of my fear and realize that change is inevitable, and you can never truly lose yourself. What I didn't know was that my next trip was going to hit me like an absolute ton of bricks.