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Published: December 2nd 2013
Hey, I am so happy right now and quite motivated to keep writing. Please find an entry of our international city, Cartagena; I was there with a group of teachers from UDES university as the uni has some cabanas out there, I really enjoyed the trip so much and thanks Orlando Joya and Oscar Ruiz, the Coordinators of the excursion, for organising such an unforgettable 4-day journey. It was so good that I do not resent being stranded when the driver left me there, sth some do not forget, ah, J)
Cartagena, the best city Being to Cartagena is like being in a fairy-tale as the city is synonymous with beaches, history, huge churches, horse-drawn carriages, cobbled alleys and enormous balconies, all of it within an area surrounded by 2,000 miles of Colombian coastline. And this added to the squares throbbing with street vendors and tourists watching a marvellous spectacle while eating chorizo and drinking aguardiente. In fact, there´s no doubt that Cartagena is indeed one of the continent's greatest cultural treasures.
Having been an inspiration for our biggest writer Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Cartagena is the adorable place to
Monument to the India Catalina
The Festival of Cartagena adopted this statue as the winning prize for the annual Cinema Festival in Cartagenaforget it all; it is indeed there, where Gabo, penniless at that time, was able to write his very first magical tales. And who can blame him for that? the magic of Cartagena is seldom missed and even less by a very observable writer. In fact, Gabo has chosen this paradise for the setting of one of his biggest novels,
Love in the Times of Cholera, as you read it, you surely recognise the descriptions as belonging to this beautiful paradise.
Now, to come to Cartagena without knowing part of its history would be such a shame as one can partly miss the enjoyment of it. So let´s look into some information I have gathered through the net or some books I found.
History The importance of Cartagena stems from the fact that it was the first sanctuary in South America where free African slaves could go and pray. The city also has a long history of protecting galleons of gold, pirates stealing treasures, epic battles, Catholicism imposing its laws and slavery being abolished.
Cartagena, the most popular destination for foreign tourists in Colombia lies in
the northern coast of our beautiful country. Even for nationals, as soon as there is a tiny rumour of holidays, many start calling agencies and organising their trip to our Caribbean city, a proof of that are the crammed buses and traffic jams in November, December or the holy week. mind you, avoid these if you don´t enjoy being in the crowd.
Where to go? The Walled Colonial City La "Ciudad Amurallada" has it all; the term makes me think of Londonderry in Ireland as I remember comparing the walls of that Irish fortified city to Cartagena´s. You can find many fancy restaurants, emerald shops, chain stores and worldwide famous hotels. As for the latter, if what you want is to face the beach, then Bocagrande is your call, fancy hotels, glass and concrete buildings, slick boutiques, everything for you to choose from. Mind you, do not intend to buy property there as prices are astronomical!!!
As for fun, you can find a flurry of drinking places, Spanish bars, lovely salsa clubs, and boutique hotels around the San Felipe de Barajas Fort.
If you are interested in
history, a place to visit is the Museum of the Inquisition where you learn how difficult life was for those suffering from the
heresy illness, does it ring a bell? as well as the inquisition laws, so adaptable to the church according to their needs of power. I hope my childhood friend forgives me for having said that, oops!
Something sad... As in China, it is sad to see that some longstanding buildings have been transformed to catch worldwide tourists´attention; although we cannot have a say on this unforgivable transformation, one cannot help but feeling a bit guilty; to illustrate that, I can think of some beautiful cobblestone streets that have been modernised to cater to the increasing demand of tons of tourists or markets into driveways and there, I totally agree with Gabo as he has been an everlasting protester of Cartagena´s modernisation.
Another thing that worries me is the fact that as things in my country are sometimes uncontrolled and we open up our land to everybody, some foreigners might misinterpret this and are actually taking advantage of the situation. Don´t get me wrong, we like foreigners to come
The Monument to the Old Shoes
This sculpture, behind San Felipe de Barajas Castle, depicts a pair of worn-out boots. The Monument was made in honour of a Colombian poet, Luis Carlos Lopez, who said something about old boots in one of his poems. to our country and this, in fact is one of my blog objectives, that is change our bad image abroad, but still, for that sake, we cannot pretend to overlook some injustice!
Let´s take Santamarta, for example, it seems that some foreigners have been building bungallows in some free areas and as a result, they are actually taking over the areas nearby. A friend of mine told me that they went to Santamarta and some zone areas that used to be for everybody are now being occupied by foreigners who even shouted at my friends for walking on passages that are supposed to be public. My friends shouted back to them and stated that they were in their own country and refused leaving the pathways; good for them!
I can only imagine Colombians doing the same in Europe, we would be crucified. The Colombian government has to mull things over so that they understand that while it is true we welcome foreigners here, it is not at any price!!!
Castillo San Felipe de Barajas As Cartagena is a city of fortresses erected in the 16th and 17th centuries,
the biggest we have, built by the Spanish during the colonial era, did certainly become vital; in fact, there is no doubt that this is Cartagena's most notable monument.
Given the strategic position of the venue, the giant fortress of San Felipe de Barajas was the guardian of the city during that past era. The castle, whose name was given in honour of Philip IV of Spain, was begun in 1536 and expanded in 1657. From Wikipedia, I learned that the castle was built in a triangular shape on top of the hill, with eight guns and a garrison of 20 soldiers and 4 gunners.
With its long history, the castle speaks by itself, it actually survived to the intents of foreign overtakes. It was in 1697 during the War of the Grand Alliance that it fell to the Baron de Pointis, a French privateer,
you see, we were almost colonised by the French, tant pis, on aurait pu avoid la Tour Eiffel ici. But not only them, the British also attacked the castle in 1741 during the War of Cartagena de Indias, and there the Spanish defeated the intents of the British Admiral.
Csstillo de San Felipe
The tunnels inside show how the Spanish had conquered the top of military architecture. In 1816 the Spanish had control of the region again.
The castle is striking for its grand entrance and its complex maze of tunnels; indeed, inside, you find lots of subterranean galleries and dark passages built with slave labour to keep lots of powder in case the castle was held by the enemy in which case it would be exploited. As a result, this not-to-be-missed building is the most formidable defensive complex of Spanish military architecture. Therefore, it was not a surprise that in 1984, UNESCO included it in the list of the World Heritage Sites and since then, it is the headquarters for important events, meetings and celebrations to foreign governments.
Monumento a la India Catalina
I guess you have heard of the India Catalina, our most representative indigenous character belonging to the ethnic Calamari, who happened to be quite wealthy as she was the daughter of the chief or a Mokana Caribbean ethnicity, the Cacique Zamba.
In 1509, the ¨good¨ Spanish conquerors actually kidnapped her when she was only 14 and taken to Santo Domingo. Oh, wait a second, does it mean that
kidnapping in Colombia goes back to the times of colonisation and that it was also triggered by the Spanish?. Well, apparently, she was taken as an interpreter to the Spanish, she might have done a good job for they only allowed her to return to her native place 16 years later where she had to continue being the vehicle of communication between the Spanish and the indigenous tribes.
History has it that some years later she was taken to Spain where she raised a family and died; I believe legend wants to remember her as a pacifier as she allowed communication between them, I don´t know for I also learned that the tribe was wiped out by the Spanish conquerors.
And that´s why, in our beautiful LOCOmbia, our government is so thankful to the Spanish and it actually gave them a found collection of golden indigenous objects as a ¨thank you¨ sign for the colonisation. Anyway, the monument is beautiful and you can visit it on Pedro de Heredia Avenue.
Access to the city by plane Cartagena is well served by international airports where
you can fly from, Madrid, Canada, Miami, Panama, etc. Rafael Nuñez international airport is quite busy most of the year. Copa Airlines offers good deals from NY. As for domestic flights, you can travel from my city, Cúcuta, Bogotá, Medellin, Cali, San Andrés, name it and they have it.
And once there, the international tourists know now how to do it as the system is organised in such a way that they shouldn´t be afraid of being ripped off by some taxi drivers. All you have to do is go to the official taxi stand, say where you are heading to and you´ll get a voucher to be given to the taxi driver.
What else to do in Cartagena? If all you want is to learn Spanish, Cartagena also offers some good schools, you can find information about it on the net. I just checked some of them that advertise learning Spanish as¨"Come to Cartagena, learn Spanish and dance". Quite tempting, I must say, let´s hope that it is more than dancing and that they will teach you more than the English they taught Miss Venezuela last year, you
see, she lost the crown to Miss US due to her cursito online as she ended up saying in her final interview that she would pass a laws for sea waves to go in one direction, whatever. 😊 Sorry, I am being mean, Spanish inquisition, please come to me and punish me!
Or if you are more into having your own fun with big groups of people, you can pay for excursions to fishing villages up the coast, why not paying a local music group to enjoy dancing wherever you want. Or why not having a tour of the Islas del Rosario and a larger island such as Barú in case you want to find some more relaxing environments.
What to eat? If exotic cuisine and great culinary arts are what you are looking for, you got to the right place as Cartagenan cuisine features Spanish, African, Creole and Arab mixtures; they have demonstrated why they have such a long history as it is reflected in their own particular menus.
Cartagena features a variety of restaurants offering dishes such as steamed or grilled seafood sprinkled with the right
I wanna go back, please send me an invite
Hehe, my excolleagues and I having fun drinking una friita. Hey, and the trip to Margarita? Se amagó! :( sauces, spices and vegetables. Their exotic food makes me think of Thai´s food as they use a lot of mango and coconut to accompany delicious salads and soups. Their specialty is brown rice with raisins and coconut milk shrimp in creamy lemon sauce, with caramelized onions
The fiery flavors of food from other regions are offered too, sancocho, the seviche appetizers are so tasteful, you have to try them. Added to this, they offer cow's-milk cheese, filet mignon, you name it and you have it.
Otra Noche en Cartagena... And now, I think it is quite easy to feel like a writer in Cartagena, when you are surrounded by so much beauty then, the pen starts its own zig zag and beautiful words come out of the blue. I guess this is what happened to Alfonso de la Espriella, the prolific Colombian composer and writer of Cartagena Contigo: It goes like this, a shame if I translate it so...
"Otra noche en Cartagena pero contigo Los luceros y la luna irán conmigo; Un cochero chambacunero nos llevará
Entre balcones calle rincones de su vida colonial entre balcones
calles rincones. Caracoles y corales formaran un sendero tapizado hacia el mar luego en la playa sin atarraya te pescare sobre la arena de cartagena tu piel morena besare sobre la arena de cartagena tu piel morena besare."
Verdict I strongly advice you to come and visit Cartagena to enjoy the hospitality of the
costeños, you can just relax at one of the city´s open-air cafés or eat at some of their expensive restaurants, have a fiesta organised by the city or yourself or enjoy an evening swim; so, why not being one more of the legions of tourists that are drawn to the beauty of the city?
and now you don´t have to worry about safety matters as a lot has been done thanks to our former president Alvaro Uribe. And also, we are about to finally have peace in Colombia… I…we think.
In the past, there remained all those episodes with guerrillas, paramilitaries, narcotics or kidnappings. Well, sort of… it´s still on the pipeline. Anyway, Cartagena is pretty safe, try it out and you will be amazed by the serenity of foreign tourists walking down the
streets of this awesome city at night; if they feel safe, why not giving it a go, you will find out why Colombia is Passion and as our two latest TV campaigns claim, the only risk is staying!
Or if, on the other hand, you want like this gentleman continue building castles on the air or on the sand, call your agency and come to build your daydream castle in the lovely and gentle Cartagena de Indias,
Voilá, et a bientot!
Frank
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taracloud
Tara Cloud
I can hardly wait...
Cartagena sounds so lovely, I can hardly wait to go there. I've always heard it was wonderful, and your blog brought it to life! How great also that your university has a vacation place for its teachers--something I've found in other parts of South America, but not in the US. Lucky Colombians!