Hey, fellow wanderer!

Yes… it's really me. After almost two months of silence.

Remember when I told you Colombia was 6 days away and I was panicking about packing 4 outfits for one sunset?

Well. I packed the outfits. And then I basically vanished.

What was supposed to be a trip turned into 6 weeks of falling completely, stupidly in love with a country.

Warm air. Slow mornings. Long walks with nowhere to be. Except this time… it wasn't in my head anymore. I was living it.

SHORE NOTES

I made a decision before I left: this trip wasn't going to happen through a screen.

So in April and May, I went under the radar. Mostly offline. No posting in real time. No "content brain" following me around the beach.

Just… soaking every single moment.

And here's the part I keep coming back to: nothing fell apart while I was gone.

The blog kept getting read. The system kept doing its quiet little job in the background.

That's the whole point of building something that doesn't reset when you stop. Turns out it also doesn't reset when you're barefoot on an island with no wifi. ♡

THIS WEEK'S LETTER

Okay. Colombia.

I don't even know where to start, so let me just take you along the coast the way I lived it.

Cartagena first. Those pastel streets, bougainvillea spilling over every balcony.. Evenings on the old city walls when the heat finally softens. I could've stayed there alone for 6 weeks and been happy.

But then the islands started calling.

The Rosario Islands are less than an hour by boat from Cartagena… and it's a different world. I skipped the busiest spots and stayed on Isla Grande. Quieter, slower, water so clear it doesn't look real.

Then further down the coast to the San Bernardo islands. Tiny Isla Múcura felt like the Caribbean before anyone told it to perform for tourists. Hammocks, fresh fish, and absolutely nothing to do. My favorite kind of itinerary.

Then east. Santa Marta, and Tayrona National Park, where the jungle literally walks into the sea. Golden beaches backed by mountains, monkeys in the trees above you. You hike in, and by the time you reach the water, you've earned it.

And then… the part I'm still not over.

I flew out to San Andrés and Providencia. Two little islands that are technically Colombia but sit way out in the Caribbean, closer to Nicaragua than to the mainland.

San Andrés has this famous "sea of seven colors" and I thought it was a marketing line. It's not. I counted.

But Providencia… Providencia broke me a little. They call it the flower of the ocean. No big resorts. No crowds. Just colorful houses, reggae drifting from somewhere, and a floating wooden bridge to a tiny island called Santa Catalina. Locals say couples who cross it together stay together forever.

I crossed it alone and decided it counts for me and the sea. ♡

I came home with hundreds of notes and thousands of photos… and I'm slowly turning all of it into proper guides. The beaches worth the boat ride, where I stayed, what I'd skip. They're coming to the blog over the next few weeks, so keep an eye on these letters.

And because apparently I don't know how to sit still. Straight after Colombia I flew to Spain, back to one of my forever loves: the Costa Brava. Those little hidden coves between Calella and Cadaqués… if you missed it, I already wrote about them here:

→ My Costa Brava Guide — coves, villages & where to stay​

And right now? I'm writing this from Crete. Greek coffee next to me, the Aegean doing its show outside the window. (Yes, there's a fresh guide from here too → My Crete Guide)

Which brings me to the important part:

the weekly letters are officially back. Every Tuesday, like before.

But first.. I want to hear from you. Hit reply and tell me: what do you want more of in these letters? Trip stories? Hidden places? The behind-the-scenes of how the blog runs while I'm offline?

I read every reply. Actually me, actually reading.

COMING NEXT TUESDAY

Providencia deserves its own letter. I'll take you through the whole island. How to get there, where I stayed, the beach I almost didn't share… and the one mistake that almost ruined my first two days.

(It's also the first Colombia guide I'm working on for the blog… so you'll get it here before anyone else.)

FROM MY TABS THIS WEEK

❤︎❤︎ Mallorca — an older love of mine, but honestly one of my favorite things I've ever written. If you're dreaming of Balearic summers, start here.

🍵 These letters are free, ad-free, and always will be. No sponsors telling me which beaches to love. What keeps them going is the boat tickets, the hostel nights, the "let's check one more cove" detours. If one of my guides has ever saved you hours of research (or found you the beach), you can buy me a matcha from wherever you're reading this. It genuinely goes straight into the next island. Send a matcha →​

If you've been dreaming about Colombia… or just about building a life where you can disappear for 6 weeks… I hope this letter felt like a little postcard from both.

See you next Tuesday — from Thailand, hopefully.

Love, Maya

P.S. 💌 Enough about me. What about you? Where are you off to this summer… or where do you wish you were going? Hit reply and tell me. Even one line. If enough of you are dreaming about the same place, I might just make it the next guide. ♡