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The bus ride to Cartagena was less than comfortable . Although it was only a short trip four hours, I had picked the wrong place to sit i jumped in the back seat and the leg room was not big enough for a child. Once I arrived in cartagena I found that there was a place hotter than santa marta. The humidity was nearly unbearable I was dying for a shower. The bus dropped me out the front of a hostel called the media luna art hostel it was right in the centre of getsmani which was cartagenas zona rosa. It was beautiful it had a huge courtard with a pool it was luxury compared to the last two i stayed at the price was high but i felt i had earned a comfortable place to sleep. It seemed like a lively place too lots of people drinking and hanging out by the coutyard. About 10 mins after I checked in a french guy called Niko and a dutch fella called Alex arrived we hit it off right away they where great guys we made plans to hit the town that night after we had a few drinks at the hostal.
Walking around at night in getsmani was intresting lots of drug dealers and hookers but the area was lively with some great club and bars even though there where some unsavoury characters about i never felt as though i was in any sort of danger I had heard cartagena can be a bit dodgy at night but I never experienced anything like that my entire stay. We went to a club called mister babilla where we hooked up with some irish lads i had met at the hostal aswell. it was pumping we could barely move in the place. I stayed for about 3 hours but i was tired as i had a huge night in taganga the night before and about 2 hours sleep. The next day I went for a walk through town but forgot to bring a map or something to refer to, im glad i did because i think from my experience the best way to explore cartagena is to just get lost. Cartagena has tWo main parts, the old town and the new town. In the new town there are many hotels and resorts where as the old town is trapped in the 17th century.
the old town is surrounded by a wall built to protect the city from pirates. It is a spectacular the architecture and colours are stunning you could take a photo down every street it is so beautiful, but very expensive and touristy. I walked around until the heat became too much so i headed back for a swim and a beer at the hostel. I found a nice cheap place for food next door which had set menus with lunch for 2 bucks 50 including a soup a plate of rice meat beans and salad and a juice.
The irish boys had booked themselves on a tour of the isle de rosaria and playa blanca. there where many islands just off the coast of cartagena and the tour stopped at one of these then headed north of cartagena to a beach called playa blanca which i had been told was a beautiful beach so niko alex and i decided we would jump on board it was only 25 dollars with lunch included.
we where up at 7 for our boat trip and the tour guide was waiting for us in the lobby he seemed like a sweet guy
he told me about his boat and that he would be taking 12 of us and on the way he would tell us all about the history of the area on our tour sounded like it would be a good day. so i handed over my money but i only had 60000 i needed 10000 change but then he said oh no 10000 tax for the boat! that didnt sound right to me the other guys had already paid and they didnt get taxed so i said no ill take the 10000 and if there is a tax ill pay at the dock myself, he tried to talk me out of it but he could see i was getting very aggitated so he handed the money back. this was the beggining of a very shit day on a very shit tour. in the car on the way i told the boys what had happended and thought the old guy was sus and i asked them where they met him when they told me they met him on the street i should have taken my cash back then and there but i thought id give it a chance i wanted to
do the tour so i was hoping for the best. we arrived at the dock it was a public holiday so the place was crazy epople everywhere he rushed us through the turnstyles and handed us over to soe woman then we never saw him again. i was expectiong a small boat to be sitting waiting for us but no it was a battered up old ferry with about 200 colombians on their long weekend pushing and shoving to get on.... we got on. i wish we hadnt. the entire trip they had music playing so damn loud it actually hurt and some wanker dj who just loved the sound of his own voice and would not shut up. it took us 4 hours to reach isle de rosario and 3 other boast with 200 people on each arrived at the same time. the island was tiny there was barely enough room for all of us on there. we stayed for an hour and there was nothing to do no beach but i still had a swim. we finally left for playa blanca i hoped it wasnt far as the boat was returning at 5 and it was already 2
the trip took another hour or so the beaach looked lovely from the boat but upon closer inspection it was more packed than bondi beach and about as clean as kuta on a bad day. i was pissed off i just hoped the food was good. we had fish and we had to wait in line for 30 mins till we where served it was an undersized fried crappy little thing with some rice on the side . we now had 40 mins to enjoy the beach before the boat left the water was luke warm and filthy with rubbish papers everywhere boats pulling in left right and centre and so many people hassling you to buy their crappy jewelry. all we could do is laugh so we sat there had abeer and made the most of it. the trip back was terrible but when we got back to the hostal we got a bottle of rum and sat around laughing at how we all got scammed.
i spent the next couple of days just hanging out walking around town did i few museaums and plenty of partying niko and the irish lads where heading off so we decided
to go out to this bar called havana it was sensational they had a live band playing latin music so many awesome dancers none of us got up it was a little intimidation. we booked ourselves a trip on a chiva bus which is just a party bus which does a tour of the city with a live band and a bottle of rum .At the end of the tour we where dropped back at the hostal where we decided to kick on and finda bar or club to finish the night off. problem was every place we found that was open was a hooker club so we decided on the nicest one and danced away the girls where not too happy that none of us where showing any intrest but we where buying booze so the doorman let us stay. i got a little too much booze in me and ecided to jump on the podium and do a pole dance for all the lovely hookers unfortunately we got photos too...
after the guys left the hostel was very quiet i met another couple fomr the uk who had been travelling all over aus for 2 years. i
was planning on heading to the mud volcano and they ended up joining me. I t was a strange experience, the volcano was baout 18 metres hight they had bult stairs going up to it when i stepped into the mud it was very silty and warm and i lay on my back as one of the locals rubbed mud all over me the pushed me and i just semmed to skim accross the mud it was hard to get my legs down beacuse i was so boyant everybody had the giggles it was a really strange feeling. they had fresh water lake close by where you could wash yourself down. it wasnt spectacular but im glad i went.
the next day i just chilled about the pool at listened to music i decided id done everything i could do in cartagena and the humidity was getting to me, cartagena is such a beautiful place a little touristy but good fun . my next stop was medellin the fake boob capital of the americas and also once upon a time the centre of the cocain empire and one of the most dangerous cities in the world. these days its
reputaion is more of adventure sports and excellent nightlife, i had heard from some people that it was definately worth spending a week there because there was so much to do so i headed off at 7 am the very next day for a 15 hour bus ride to medellin...
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tony
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the pictures are great like to have a mud bath to.you are looking fit and healthy, and having a ball.great to meet so many different people, pud is back home,awaiting youre next adventure dad