A not so quiet New Year in Cartagena

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¡Feliz Año Nuevo!

After spending xmas on the beach Steve and I decided to do what all the Colombians do for new year and head to Cartagena. Unfortunately because everyone goes there it's really difficult to find accommodation but luckily Felipe, our hostel owner in Taganga, phoned around loads of places in Cartagena and managed to find us a hotel.

Hotel Las Vegas was in a great part of the old town and right above a bakery so every morning one of us would run downstairs and bring back some pastries and coffee to start the day. To our amusement Las Vegas also doubles as a love hotel so we got to see some rather odd looking 'couples' coming and going throughout the day and night!

On new year's eve we met up with a big group of backpackers, some of whom we'd spent xmas with in Taganga, and a few others. We started by having some drinks (beer and rum is all we ever drink as everything else is so expensive) before heading to the city walls to watch the fireworks. The difference in new year celebrations here is that the clubs don't open until after midnight so once the fireworks were over we all headed to a club for some dancing and more drinking. I am loving the salsa here and and luckily for me Steve is game so we've been giving it a good go.

After new year we ended up staying in Cartagena for over a week. It is such a beautiful city with a really laid back atmosphere that we couldn't bring ourselves to leave. We moved to Getsemini, the cheaper backpacker area of the city and spent most of our days sightseeing or going to beach, eating and going out dancing. The food here is great - we've been living off a diet of seafood, fresh fruit juices, street food (which is generally some form of deep fried pancake) and pastries. It's not exactly the healthiest food in the world and I don't think we've seen a vegetable since Australia but what the hell - we're on holiday!

Next onto Medellin....

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Photos

Cartagena
Steve and the pirate

Comments

[Julia]

Nina, you are gonna need to invent a third stock photo pose, but Steve good work on the statue imitation!

[laura]

I'm from Cartagena but I live in FL.. a little bit ago I was in google looking for some pictures of cartagena and found your blog, I loved the fact that you enjoyed your stay it truthly is a beautiful place to visit. you got the places to stay at for a backpacker down and if you didnt get the chance to visit the island you should do it next time.