Miercoles

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Buenas Tardes,

I’m in my usual location sitting on the balcony enjoying this amazing view of Bocagrande, this is what vacation is all about. Miercoles is Spanish for Wednesday or midweek, in case you hadn’t googled the title of today’s blog entry. Normally when we go on vacation I plan out everyday and make a list of sites for us to see but Mrs. Woods said we don't get anytime to relax when we go on trips so I decided to tone down my overplanning like I’m Bill Belichick in the Super Bowl and take it easy while we’re in Colombia. You know the old saying happy wife, happy life so today that’s what we did was relax and took it easy. I got up early and picked up some breakfast for us to eat, got some French Toast and juice, made at stop at the ATM to get some pesos for the day then came back to the condo. We did a lot of people watching on the balcony then it as almost time for lunch and I made a pizza run, have to admit the pizza was really good. The rest of the day we were lazy bums, relaxing and watching Friends in Spanish.

Night time comes and we finally decide to head out to hit these Cartagena streets, taxis are always waiting on front of the condo to drive people around. We walk out front and within a minute we get a taxi, we’re heading to dinner and I show him the address, he says he knows where it’s at. We got a dinner recommendation so that’s where we’re going to tonight, it’s in the Getsemani part of town, which is the artist neighborhood of Cartagena, lots of street art on the walls and where most of the backpackers stay in hostels when they come to Cartagena. Getsemani has a more authentic feel it’s not touristy like Bocagrande or the Walled City this is where the locals hang out. So he takes us right to the restaurant, I pay him and we get out of the cab. The restaurant is not crowded so we walk right in and sit down, we order some sangria and look over the menu. I order cazuela especial which is casserole with shrimp, prawns, fish and squid, it remains me of seafood gumbo and my wife orders au gratin seafood cazuela. Her casserole has octopus, squid, shrimp and fish in it, the meal was delicious then we somehow managed to share a tre leches cake. We were stuffed then the waitress comes with the check and I pay the bill, then the manager comes back holding two of the bills I paid with, telling me they were fake. She told me to feel them and feel the other money it felt like paper nd the real bills had a rougher feel to them, I said the cab driver gave them to me. I gave her two more bills and she checked them they were real, the bills equaled only about $10USD but I was hoodwinked and bamboozled by the cab driver, the rest of the trip I’m giving cab drivers exact change, she gave them two fake bills back, I ripped them up and threw them away.

Dinner was over so we walked down to the Plaza De La Trinidad it’s a local square in Getsmani where people hang out at night, sometimes they will be some performers out and people dancing. We just wanted to go soak up some Colombian culture, the walk wasn’t too far from the restaurant and the closer we got we started to see a lot more people, soon you can hear the music. Vendors were out selling fruit and water, bars were open trying to get us to come in buy drinks and of course more rappers trying to showcase their skills and get a tip. We hung out in the square for a while then we started to wander around the neighborhood and enjoy the sights and sounds. The weather was nice and it was a lot of people out enjoying themselves, when we go on trips I like to go to where locals hang out to see a more authentic side of where we’re at, it was getting pretty late and we decided we’re going to come back during the day to see more of the street art. So we waved down a cab and headed back to Bocagrande, it was a fun night but we’re both tired, so buenos noches.

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