Cartagena Colombia.
Arriving at the small airport in Cartagena you feel the heat straight away, its 32 degrees here. I found a taxi and headed to the hotel I booked. I like staying in hostels but couldn't find anything that didn't involve "party till you drop" my party normally drops around 10 o'clock these days. It was a quick journey from the airport, the taxi driver was saving wear and tear on his breaks by not using them! I'll put the experience down to my first tourist adventure here in Cartagena. The hotel was an old colonial villa with a big open forecourt and balconies it was a nice room with fan and air con, small bathroom with only cold water. It's a real wake up moment showering in the morning I can tell you! but I'm happy enough. I unpack and get my shorts on, time to get some colour on my legs. I took a short walk up the street to the hippy street as I called it. Bars restuarants, shops, it was rammed, I fancied sea food and being on the coast where better. I got a seafood pasta, in Colombia they tend to eat a lot of fried stuff....chips fried Banana, fried meats so a pasta was a safe bet it wouldn't be fried! It went down well and after paying up I took a slow walk through the park which was still all lit up with Christmas trees and decorations, it was nice. in the park people milled about, dancers performed from various ethnic groups, drums thumped, maracas maraced, people danced. It made a nice change not to see drunken yobs sprawled on the floor, or fights, these people were happy. I turned in after an eventful first day. That A/C is definitely going on.
I was up early showered under ice and went upstairs to the roof for breakfast, fresh fruit, toast eggs, juice and musli served by a smiling big creole lady who was lovely, always so happy ( bet she had a hot shower!) . Fully nourished I went to the old part of Cartagena, a national heritage site with its old colonial buildings massive walls surrounding the whole place, it was like being in a pirates of the carribean film, back in time you really got a feel how it was in the 16th 17th century here, I loved it. it was quite commercial, creole ladies walking around in colourful dresses asking for 20000 cop to take a picture with them, hawkers selling bracelets, cigars t-shirt, hats sunglasses. You have to admire them, to try to sell you a pair of sunglasses when your standing in front of them wearing a pair of sunglasses. The old buildings had little descriptions on them of the history, I walked through "pond street" every one here had a pond in the back garden for water to wash cook or drink....There was a massive cathedral, which had a sermon everyday, a big park where you could shade under the trees and watch street performers, artisans, pigeon man feeding pigeons and selling birdseed so you too could be covered in birdcrap, and people milling about. The night time the place was still alive, the same sunglass seller still trying to sell me a pair, these people must work sun up to sundown. The dancers performed in the park, I spent ages watching them, beggers begged, tourists milled about, I decided to come back again tomorrow but now I needed food.
I spent the next few days walking around, stopping and cooling down. I wanted to check out a beach but the beaches around Cartagena are not very "beachy" you have to take a boat to the islands with an excursion with names like 'paradise Island'...'party Island' vip island....with a fear I'd be burnt to a frazzle sitting on a beach waiting for the boat to come back I decided to wait for Rio to do my beach bit and get my white bits bronzed. Me, Copacobana beach in a mankini you'll read it here ;-) The temperatures in the day here have reached 36 degrees, even I'm struggling and I lived in the Middle East for years.The food and water a pretty cheap here, there's supermarkets you can buy anything from, once you get past the "thousands" in the price it works out nearly half the price you would pay to Europe. Menu del dia a fiver, bottle of water 40p a beer £2.00.
I visited the old Fort today, it took nearly a hundred years to build! Cartagena was a major trade center for the Spanish and raids by Pirates and the English made it necessary to fortify Cartagena, it was impressive and an innovative design years ahead of its time, unfortunately for the Spanish once it was completed they would be ejected from Colombia 25 years later. It was my last day in Cartagena so I need to do my washing ( I mean to say take my washing for someone else to do ) There's a place called "beer & Laundry" Just around the corner to my hotel you can literally sit there and have beer, eat pizza or waffles while they do your washing, can you imagine opening a place like that in the UK a glass of vino while you get your washing done! A plate of waffles and a juice plus 2 hours later I had my clean skids and clothes smelling fresh as a daisy. 23000 COP £5.00 . I repacked my back pack and took a last wander around. I did like it here, it's so colourful, buzzing and old world, after visiting the Spanish Cartagena I can see the similarities. I still prefer Medellin, it was much more raw more to see but Im glad I've seen Cartagena. Tomorrow I fly to the Colombian Capital of Bogota, 2650 meters above sea level its one of the highest capitals in the Americas. Stay tuned.