Martes

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Buenas Tardes,

So after the weekend adventure our 2nd day in Cartagena was a nice relaxing day on the beautiful Caribbean coast. We are staying in the Bocogrande area of Cartagena which our cab driver from yesterday would describe is like Miami, which honestly it does look like the strip on South Beach, high rise condos by the water, lots of people out enjoying the water and working on their tans. Colombia is a Spanish speaking country so I been practicing my Spanish for the last few months to get ready for this trip, been to Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and we live in Texas so we’re pretty familiar with many Spanish phrases but I’m not fluent so I was practicing with duolingo and have google translate on my phone to help me out.

The sun rises in Cartagena before 6AM so if your not a morning person be warned and sunsets at 6pm, which is very early cause in Texas it sets at about 830pm. That kinda caught me off guard the first day while we were out and I thought it was much later cause of the sun going down. We both got a good night of sleep, we’re up to the beautiful ocean view and we’re hungry, did a google search to find what’s open and we make a selection. We get dressed and head down the street, the restaurant is about a five minute walk, another thing about Cartagena it is one of the bigger tourist areas in Colombia so it’s a lot of vendors all over the place selling all sorts of trinkets and tours, so you either say no or just ignore them, after a few times saying no I just walk right by without even acknowledging them. We make it to the restaurant and it’s not very crowded, it’s small coffee shop with some nice decor, the waitress tells us to sit anywhere and then comes with two menus that will look over and try to interpret, I see my old breakfast favorite, pancakes and my wife orders french toast. Outside of the United States people don’t put preservatives in their food so it has a lighter feel on your stomach these pancakes were no different they were light and fluffy and my juice was delicious, my wife loved her drink so much that she got one to go. So we leave then I stop by the ATM to get some cash, the American dollar goes a long way down here, the average meal is about $8USD. Of course the ATM is in Spanish but I understand enough to withdraw money then head back to the room, it’s still early so we watch some tv, yes it’s in Spanish but it’s old episode of Will and Grace so I know what is going on. End up taking a nap then wake up hungry and head to eat lunch, go to a place called Crepes and Waffles but it doesn’t open until noon yeah I know makes no sense to me either so heard great things about this place and we both order our food with juice, so far this juice down here is incredible, I had raspberry juice this time and my wife had lemonade with mango. We ate our food then the waitress gives us a dessert menu, it’s vacation why not, we’ll be back in the gym next week but right now I’m going to enjoy this ice cream and we’re both full now heading back to the condo.

The pool isn’t too crowded so we put on our swimsuits and head down to the pool for some relaxation. You couldn’t ask for a better day to head out to the pool, nice breeze and sun beaming down, hung out for a while to work on my tan, well not really that part but the water was cool and took a few laps before laying under the canopy to dry off. The customer service rep in Miami recommended we head down to Cafe Del Mar inside the Walled City to view the sunset so that was our next destination after the pool. You can see the Walled City from our condo but a cab is much quicker and it’s only about $1USD to get there. The Walled City of Cartagena was built by the Spanish in the 16th century it was one of Spain’s most important ports. Now it is the number one tourist destination in Cartagena and that’s where we’re headed. The Cafe Del Mar is hard to miss it has a giant Colombian flag on top of the fort and the cab driver drops us off right in front, we walk to the top and it’s full of people all hanging out watching the sunset. I was warned that is pricey compared to other places in Cartagena and it’s a tourist trap, we sat down and observed the scene, too be honest we were not impressed, we did order some drinks stayed for about 30 minutes then we left. We decided to roam the streets of The Walled City, it felt like being in the French Quarter or Old San Juan with the cobblestone streets and colorful buildings. Some young guys saw us walking then they dropped a beat and one of them start to rap, he had a nice flow I will admit but I wasn’t stopping to listen or give him a tip so we kept moving, my wife saw a restaurant with a nice menu, and we decided to eat there. It was located in a hotel it had some beautiful architecture that was very European, it was outside so it was pretty humid but the waiter turned the fan on us which was a relief. Then we ordered, I ordered lamb chops and she had lobster ravioli with red wine, I was drinking beer earlier so I had another Colombian beer, the food was excellent. The waiter asked if we wanted dessert and I said no mas, they asked where we were from and we told them Texas. They told us they were Astros fans, they had a few Colombian players on the team and gotta support the hometown players who made it to the majors. So after another great meal in Cartagena we got a cab to head back to the condo, got back to the room and the US open was on, watched some tennis before crashing for the night, so buenos noches from Colombia.

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