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Published: August 7th 2007
The Colombian Navy
Marching in honour of a presidential visit to CartagenaOur overland truck was still not with us with us. It was currently taking a significant detour through the backroads of Colombia, avoiding known blackspots where vehicles have been held up by bandits, and avoiding the areas where guerillas were potentially active. It would catch up with us in a few days time. In the meantime, we took another flight to the city of Cartagena, on the north coast. (To give you an idea of the size of Colombia, the country has almost 2,000 km of coastline!)
Cartagena is situated on the Carribean Sea, and was one of Colombia´s first cities to be built back in the early 16th Century. It was the main port for shipping the gold and emeralds mined from South America, and as such, it was constantly being attacked by pirates. (Arrrr! Shiver me timbers. Splice the mainsail, and fetch me a noggin´of rum will ye matey) However, the city was heavily fortified, and it´s ingenious fortress design repelled eleven consecutive attacks by these scurvy-ridden seadogs. Until it was finally taken by a seafaring gentleman whom you may have heard of - Sir Francis Drake. Nice one England!
Cartagena also has an interesting mix of
people. The Spanish imported many slaves from Africa, and when slavery was abolished, many of them settled here. So the population are of mixed blood from Spanish, native Indian and black African descent.
Well, back to our arrival. As soon as we got off the plane, we were hit by a wave of sweltering heat. A proper tropical climate in contrast to the chillier highlands we had just left. We took an airconditioned bus to our accomodation, but as soon as I got off, I was drenched in sweat only minutes later. Luckily the rooms had fans to keep us cool. The electric fan above my bed was simply enormous! I swear it had must have been taken off the wing of a light airplane. But perhaps this is what it takes to cool a room in this climate? It had five settings. On number five, it achieved a speed previously unheard of in the world of indoor domestic fanning. It made a deep "whoop-whoop-whoop" noise, and was wobbling precariously, with bits of plaster falling off the ceiling. Perhaps it HAD been taken off a plane? Perhaps in the night it would pull the whole ceiling down whilst simultaneously
another side to Cartagena
This is the "new town" area of Cartagena. Luxury hotels and apartments built along a thin peninsula. The most expensive place to live in the whole of Colombia decapitating me? To be on the safe side, I turned it down to three.
While we were in town there was a "Miss Colombia" beauty pagent. Unfortunately we didn´t manage to gatecrash. The president was also in town, so for one day there was a large military presence, with soldiers sweating in army fatigues on every corner.
On our last day we visited a mud volcano! This was a "baby volcano" about thirty metres high, and insted of lava, it´s cone was full with hot mud. We spent several hours wallowing and splashing around like little piggies. The mud had the texture of melted chocolate and was so buoyant, you hardly sank at all. You could arrange yourself in any position and the mud would hold you there. Then afterwards, we all walked to the local lake, looking like bizarre mud creatures, and were washed off by the local women. My skin felt fantastic afterwards. Oil of Ulay - watch out, you have some serious competition!
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Icklestew
non-member comment
Column of Beer!!
Looks more like a Bong to me!! Good idea though. Sounds like you are having lots and lots of different experiences good and bad! Enjoy!