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Published: October 7th 2023
Saturday, Sept. 30
The flight from Medellín takes just under an hour and we arrive in Cartagena at 8.45pm. on exiting the airport we immediately take a taxi, state our destination, but along the way it becomes evident that the driver doesn’t have a clue where the hotel is. Finally he announces our arrival, but on attempting to check in are told “your hotel is not this one“ and the one you want is in Getsemani near the old town. Another taxi sees us going slowly through Saturday night revellers to a hotel just outside the historic district. Not quite what we thought we were getting, but it has an elevator, the room is clean and they do a great breakfast. It’s fine for the 7 nights we are in town.
The first thing I noticed is the oppressive heat, it’s 10.15pm and it’s hot and humid. Dick and I are both hungry, so drop our cases in our rooms and head out to find a bite to eat. The streets are humming with people, so we find street food easy to come by and I wash mine down with a Corona.
Sunday, Oct 1
After a good nights sleep we have breakfast and are picked up for a city tour, which consists of stops at 2 of Cartagenas forts and entry to Conventa Santa Cruz de La Popa which sits on top of a hill overlooking the town. Touristas are constantly approached to buy water, beer, trinkets or to have their photos taken with Mamasitas in colourful outfits with fruit bowls on their heads. A simple “No,Gracias” does not deter the more determined ones, so it’s often easier just to walk away. The opening line of “where are you from” gets very tiresome after the 20th time of hearing it and knowing that the sales pitch is still to come.
Anyway, we take lots of photos on our tour and 3 hours later return to the hotel for a nap and an obligatory shower. Cartagena is hot an humid and it looks like a 3 shower day will not be uncommon.
In the evening we head out around 7pm, have a meal in a nearby restaurant and then join the crowds in one of Cartagena’s many plazas. It appears as though people are waiting for something to happen, but it turns out
the are just sitting around the periphery of the plaza eating, talking and drinking.
We make our way back to the hotel around 9.20pm thinking we may have actually missed something.
Monday, 2 October.
We are up early in an attempt avoid the heat, and first hit the Banco. Getting Money out of the ATM is quite difficult and expensive, the maximum I have been able extract is 400,000 pesos approximately $100 USD and for the privilege the bank fee at the ATM is often 18,000 pesos. And of course you will be hit on the other end as well. Still, I need money so have to do two transactions.
The temperature today was 30c and 85% humidity, so lots of water and hydration salts.
Myself and Dick wander the town taking lots of photos of the mostly beautifully preserved colonial architecture. Cartagena was built by the Spanish and the buildings are mostly between mid 1500’s to late 1700s. It really is extremely colourful, but traffic within the historic area is abundant and just when you think you have the perfect shot around the corner comes a yellow taxi. Another problem, at high tide the
sewers back up and there is 6 ins of water on parts of streets. More on the history of Cartagena later.
After lunch it’s back to the hotel for a shower, and a nap in our air conditioned environment.
The evening sees on the make our way to one of the many plazas to partake of vendors selling street food. Also, it seems to be ok to walk the streets with alcohol.
Tuesday, Oct 3
Dick has a thing about markets so after breakfast we take a taxi to the market in the poorer section of town. It‘s a maize of stalls, unlike Medellin this one is not undercover, but vendors litter alleys and the streets selling everything from fruit and vegetable, fish, live chickens and ducks to clothes. It’s a one stop shop! Eventually we end up by the waters edge and are approached by ( we’ll call him Jose) to take a two hour boat trip along the coastline, see the city and eventually to Isle Tierra Bomba. The boatman stops at small pier in the centre of the township. We disembark and are immediately joined by one of Jose’s relatives that speaks a
little English. It’s a local community, however the shoreline is littered with debris and trash and there doesn’t seem to be any effort to clean any of it up. There are also several mini dumps by the side of some of the houses. Anyway, we make a 20 minute walk and return to the pier, and immediately the hand goes out for “propina, tip”. My change consists of two 2000 peso notes which I give him, and he is most indignant at which I tell him in English that he imposed himself on us and we New Zealanders don’t do propina. Back on the boat we hug the shoreline past a couple of well manicured beaches with local resorts and then head across the bay to the market area. The trip back is not as enthusiatic as our outbound journey, obviously the thought of no propina dried up the conversation. However on disembarking, I do fish out 2 notes to the equivalent of US $5 and hand one to Jose and the skipper.
Time for lunch, it’s a market experience, and we have lobster and fishy rice. This is not gourmet, but it does fill our stomachs, after which
we return to the hotel for some down time. Around 4pm we hit the local lavenderia to do our washing.
Street food for dinner and a couple of cheap traveller beers.
Wednesday, Oct 4
Back to old town to add to our photos. Then, we spy the Palacio de La Inquisicion, let’s face it “No one expects the Spanish Inquisition” per an old Monty Python sketch. Very interesting and a chance to have a sit down as well.
A light lunch, as we are having dinner at one of the top restaurants in Cartagena. After our obligatory afternoon nap we catch a taxi to Mar y Zeilo, and have a gourmet experience. The flavours in the food are amazing as is the service. And now that we have eaten at an excellent restaurant, I for one mean to carry this on. Pricey by Colombian standards, but to us, very reasonable.
Thursday, Oct 5
Back into old town to the Navel Museum and this is fantastic as we meet a guide at the door who is animated and speaks excellent English. He is full of energy and explains a shortened history of Colombia
from the mid fifteen hundreds to around 1800. We hear about Drake sacking Cartagena and later about Admiral Vernon and the Battle for Cartagena ( The war of Jenkins Ear) between 1739 and 1748. Our guide is telling the story with such gusto it certainly enthralled the two of us. Then, we head upstairs where there is the bridge of a Colombian Coastguard cutter and a submarine control Center are housed. He asks for my iPhone and proceeds to direct movies for the 2 exhibits with Dick and me playing our parts. It was the best 30000 pesos (US 7.50) for 1 hour of total entertainment and learning.
It’s lunchtime, so today we head to another upscale restaurant, Mistura for Colombian Asian Fusion food. Again it is excellent and only makes me more keen to continue eating one meal a day in an upscale restaurant. By the end of the trip to Colombia we should both look something like artist Botero’s bronzes.
Friday, Oct 6
I message Dick and meet him in the lobby of the hotel at 5.25 am to catch a taxi to the airport for our flight to Bogota.
WrapUp
My thoughts on Cartagena. The old town is charming and the architecture stunning. The restoration on most of the old buildings is first class and for me the colors make for great photographs. However traffic is a problem and the streets are full of parked cars and an endless stream of yellow taxis honking horns and looking for customers. Hawkers and pedlers abound and like any tourist town they want your money, so you are constantly approached and some of these people are very persistent. The weather is hot, and extremely humid, so after walking in the sun for an hour you are wet and uncomfortable.
Our hotel was in an area called Getsemani just outside the walls of the old town. And in Getsemani there is still a lot of great Spanish architecture and the evening throngs with people walking the streets. Street food is cheap and also good.
The new town is on located along the beach, but from what I saw, you don’t want to swim in the sea. Sky scrapers run along the beach so you might as well be in Miami.
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Bueno
Que interesante!