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Published: August 10th 2011
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Hi all, from a ridiculously hot internet cafe in Cartagena, Colombia. The space bar barely works, the sliding mechanism on my keyboard tray is broken so everytime I begin to type it slides back under the desk and the guy next to me is sweating for Colombia! Some of you may have already worked out that this is Olie and not Em. We thought that as we havent done a huge amount since we last updated the blog that it would be a good opportunity for me to wet my ears and write the whole thing... I know - Im as scared as you are!!
After a comparatively easy 5 hour bus ride along the coast (see Olies busblog episode 5 - you cant actually see it yet but I thought it sounded good, and it does exist!) we arrived in Cartagena. To set the scene for you Cartagena is Colombia´s most picturesque city and a UNESCO world heritage site. Lying on the Caribbean coast, it was formerly a Spanish strong hold in the 1600´s and one of the principle ports for the arrival of slaves from Africa. The city has retained all of its Spanish colonial grandeur in the
4 main central districts of Centro, Gestamani, Bocagrande and something Domingo I think, and the streets are a mixture of museums (next!), cafe´s (better), market stalls and bars (perfecto!). And of course there´s a token Parque de Simon Bolivar. All the guidebooks say pretty much the same thing - forget about exploring and just roll from cafe to bar to restaurant and enjoy your surroundings inside the walled city. So, thats pretty much exactly what we´ve been doing for the last week! ...but before you all load up the BBC sports pages and start trawling through the football gossip columns in disgust and what a pointless and boring blog entry this was, we did get up to a few other things including taking a mud bath in a volcano and my first scuba dive where sickness was the name of the day!
1. Our hotel(s)
According to some random statistic Cartagena is Colombia´s most expensive city. So for those of you that know my thrifty nature, I was is a cold sweat as I trawled the internet looking for cheap accomodation with no joy. So we ended up going a tad over budget and booking into Casa Sweety (really
gay name!). It was amazing and pretty much our own colonial house with our room leading onto the open plan kitchen and swimming pool. There were a couple of others guests but we soon took over with our evening cooking (desperately trying to reign in the $) and pretty much had the place to ourselves.
Unfortunately after three days (we hadnt pre-booked anymore - that was my job...ooops!) we had to move on and, with the aim of our next place being cheapness, it brought us to the Holiday Hostel. Our three days here cost us less than one night at Casa Sweety and it was worth every penny less. I´m not sure what woke me up first at 3 in the morning on our first night, the grotesque 65 year old Dutch guy coughing his guts up in the room opposite, our shoddily fixed mosquito net getting entangled in my beard or a sweat soaked Emma sitting outside in her bra and pants trying to cool off. In a word it was grim and so after 3 nights there we have moved again and are now somewhere else (cant remember the name but it has aircon, a soft mattress,
a toilet seat and a shower that definitelty pumps out water!
2. Volcano Tutomo
On the 5th August we headed to the grandly named Volcano Tutomo. Legend has it that maybe about 100 years ago (maybe more) the volcano began to spue ash and fire. The local priest, thinking this the work of the devil, ran to the top and doused the flames with holy water. It was this act that has left the top of the volcano full of a goey hot mud that you can now pay 30p to sit in all day and a pound more for a local to give you a famous mud massage! It was, all in all, very bizare but a lot of fun. I think calling it a volcano was stretching things a bit - its a mound of mud about 50 foot high. The mud was fun though and held you in any position you moved into. We went with a little group on an organised tour which included a Venezuelan family. The dad - a big fat man - jumped into the mud, went completely under, and came out looking like a giant baby! Our tour guide had explained
to us on the way that you could have a massage in the mud and be washed afterwards in the lagoon by locals for a small fee. ´If you dont want this just say no...´ As if - as soon as we were in they dragged Em over to the other side flipped her over and began to massage her head and stomach. Mass giggling ensued before the same was done to myself and then an American girl we had befriended on the mini-bus. Likewise in the lagoon having said no 5 times a woman dunked my head underwater, whipped off my board shorts and began to wash them and me. We even had to pay some kids to wash our shoes! The tour then went on to Manzanillo, another really nice beach, where a fresh Mojarda (caribbean fish) served with coconut rice and fried (of course) plantain followed by a doze on a hammock brought preceedings to an end.
3. Scuba Diving
I believe that every person has a weakness - one achilles heel that renders them weak and helpless. Supermans is Kryptonite, Ems is anything that will involve her falling off or into something and mine is
apparently diving! I was rubbish! In fact we were both pretty rubbish throughout the trip but it was good fun and I have done dives one and two of my very long winded PADI qualification. From the treacherous waters of Clophill swimming pool to the choppy and seasick inducing waters of the Colombian sea! We started off at about eight in the morning at the 5* Caribe hotel, the location of our dive school, and set off on a small boat (one instructor, one driver, two dogs, two experienced divers... and us two!) After a choppy journey Em was looking pretty ropey so the instructor (Juan Jose - great name!) let her put everything on in the water. I then joined her and the dive began. It was in all honesty fairly unspectatcular but there were some cool fish and some nice coral. I manaaged to use all my air in about half the time your meant to so headed back to the surface. As soon as I got out of the boat I started to feel pretty rough. Em then emerged about 50 metres away 5 minutes later. As the boat slowed down to pick her up I couldnt hold it any longer and was sick practically on top of an already pale looking Em. Half way up the ladder she was to weak to continue and had to have all her gear removed by the driver as she clung on. Moments later our experienced divers and the instructor returned to the boat to the sounds of Ems vomit and my painful recovery. After a brief recovery period on one of the beaches on the Isle de Baru it was off to dive site two and the promise of calmer waters! They were, and the dive was a lot better around a massive ship wreck. Once again I managed to empty my air in record time and was merrily bobbing around on the surface when the rest returned. The boat then went back to the mainland, Em got sick again and we went and abused the 5* hotels facilities in the afternoon!
Thats pretty much all the excitement we´ve had this week. Its been a nice chilled few days in what is defintiley Colombia´s best city and probably our favourite one too! We´re flying (local Colombian airline...) tomorrow to Medellin and are looking forward to some cooler weather! Hope you are all well and that wasnt too long! Adios Amigos.
I resent the ´we were rubbish´comment! Olie can speak for himself...I was just suffering from seasickness, my diving was fine thank you! Speak to you next time... E xx
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Mum, Dad and Degs
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Ace divers
Well what can we say - a sport that Oliver Summers can't do!!! Seriously though sounds like you are still having great time. Love the look of Casa Sweety and your maud bath looks like great fun. Take care and continue to have a great time. Love you.