The weather is another hot day, 33 C or 91 F. And humid. My Brillo hair sprouted almost instantly, but the beautiful blue sky made it worth while.
I was beyond excited to go to Cartagena, I don't know why, but it's one of those places that has always been on the top of my "gotta see" list. The fact that the shipped stopped here was one of the reasons I chose this tour. The other islands didn't matter, I was fine with seeing any of them, but Cartagena was a must. I was really nervous that the weather might be awful, or that the itinerary would suddenly change, which happens more frequently than one would think, but luckily, all worked out.
We had a room service breakfast today, just to check it out and see if they really did deliver at the time you asked (and they did) and to see if everything arrived fresh and hot (or cold, as in the case of juice) and it did. We had to get up at 6:30 In order to be ready to disembark by 7:30 and I couldn't bear the thought of early morning line ups in the buffet before I even had coffee. Steven had his egg mcmuffin sandwich and juice on the balcony and watched the "backing in" procedure.
The little tug you see was our pilot boat to assist in docking.
"Hello, I am a pelly-can....my beak can hold more than my belly-can" (I had to spell it that way to make sure you read it in a rhyming way. Of course I know it's "pelican" 😊)
The port of Cartagena was one of the ones where you wouldn't (and weren't allowed anyhow) wander around by yourself, not so much the danger aspect, but there was nothing to see or do. These containers stretched almost as far as the eye could see and reminded me of every action movie ever made that had wild chases and gunfights. I was disappointed to not see someone running and leaping from container top to container top. I also wondered how many were filled with drugs and stowaways. Everything looked extremely clean and organized.
We took a partial tour. We hopped on a bus and drove through the port and through an older, poorer part of the city and then parked outside the walls of the old city. We walked to this main square in the below picture where we were given a little rundown of the history of Cartagena, we were given a map with sights to see and locations of clean bathrooms, and then we went walked through the gate you see (those are the walls that surround the old city). After a quick orientation we were on our own. Let me tell you, at 8:00AM it was HOT! HOT! HOT! already. I could feel, literally, the sweat running down my neck. Omg. It was deadly.
But the city is stunning and was as enjoyable as I had hoped. We didn't really follow the map we were given because we tried to stay on the shady side of the street. The buildings were really colorful and the balconies were covered with bougainvillea and hibiscus, and the fragrance was noticeable, even down where we were. They have competitions every year as to who has the loveliest balcony, which is fun, it encourages the owners to take pride in their little area....and not to string underwear and laundry across the rails!
We would walk a couple of blocks and then head back to the main square and then head a couple of blocks in another direction. I didn't want to go too far and get disoriented and miss the bus back to the port. I get turned around way too easily and I'm quite lost all the time. Later in this trip, I actually led a plane load of people the wrong way. Not a shining moment. I'll talk about that in a couple of posts from now.
This is the square we were to return to to meet our driver. You can see it had virtually no tourists, partly because we got there early, and partly because it's the beginning the off-season and partly because Hurricane Micheal deterred a lot of people, and probably partly because of the heat.
I know these ladies dress like this and pose for tourists, but it's still a beautiful sight and they are in their national costumes.
The street signs were the same as in Havana, and they didn't always match the names written on our map, which was another good reason fo us to continue our "back and forth" meandering from the main square. Steven is incredible in the forest and woods and backcountry for knowing his way around, but not so much in a city, and me? Well, I'm always turned around.
We came across a little park, where we tried to sit and escape the humidity and heat, but to no avail. It was just as hot in the shade as in the sun, but it was still a nice place to sit and people watch, or, I guess bird watch since there was only one old fellow who was cleaning the cannons. You can see his lawnchair by his cannon in the third picture down. I say "his" cannon because he seemed to get quite huffy at me when I took a photo. We scurried off because I wasn't sure what he said and if I had done something wrong. Colombia isn't the kind of place you want to get in trouble in, even if its just picture taking!
However, a waiter came out and I tried to speak to him in my extremely limited Spanish, I guess I did ok because I wanted 2 Coke and 2 Cake and this is what I got:
And soooo good, some sort of nutmeg/cinnamon cake with a caramel topping. I could have eaten Steven's slice as well.
We continued wandering and found and old church and the library. Sadly, both were closed as I'll bet they were both cool inside
The doors all have fancy doorknockers, and the larger the knocker, the wealthier you are. Also, the more majestic the knockers, the wealthier you are. So a huge lion is "better" than a small lion, but a small lion is still better than any of these. A caste system, if you will. It's very strictly adhered too.
I like this picture because it shows the new city just past the walls of the old city
A bit of a closer view
A lovely apartment building. I'm not sure why all the chairs and tables are covered
The church where we were to meet our driver, and below that a lime juice vendor. He'd squeeze the limes and add some sugar and ice. So very refreshing. I tried it at home, but it wasn't the same. Lack of ambience I suppose.
Before long, our day in Cartagena was over. I'd love to come back and spend more time there, there was so much more to see....museums, galleries, bars and restaurants. It looked so intriguing.
Outside the city walls.
Here I am, back on the ship, watching Cartagena slip away....
Look how gorgeous.
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