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Published: September 22nd 2009
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Cartagena arriving by bus does not look appealing, outside of the center its quite dirty and unattractive. From the bus station i took a taxi, 12,000 pesos, took about half hour to get to the centro, i got dropped off at Casa Viena, they have no rooms available but the woman there was kind enough to phone places for me around the area, Hotel marlin has one dorm bed available, a/c for 15,000 pesos, i checked it out and like it so I took it. Met my roomie CJ from OZ chubby talkative girl, looks a bit stuck up, then met Stefan and the last of my roomie, an Israeli dude who hardly talk. This guys friend is using our room to get ready for his flight to Bogota, changing, repacking, I stayed in the room till he left cause there's no storage locker, and this guy does not belong there, not being too paranoid but just protecting my interests. Both of them also smells of B.O. a fact that CJ later complained to the recepcion, i overheard her say something, as if they can do anything about it.
Had a walk around town at night, still not appealed by
this city quite surprised, reminds me of Ciudad Viejo in Panama, a bit rough on the edge, am sure the old walled city will be nicer which I shall go to tomorrow. Had a set meal at Gethsemani restaurant then came back to the Hostel, in the room CJ is busy getting ready for her nite out on a bus thing that goea around town with band playing free rum and coke all you can drink for couple hours, Stefan and his friend Johanne is also going. I dont feel like partying tonite, when the guys left the Israeli dude asked me where i had dinner and he went there cause its cheap. Off to bed then around 1am Stefan and CJ came back. Stefan quickly passed out and started snoring, a fact I will rib him later on. Meanwhile the only girl in the room CJ brought a guy, she sleeps below me on the bunk bed, annoying English dudes keep going in and out of the room, I got woken up many times, i saw the Israeli dude leave the room more than once did not say anything, I wish he did.
Needless to say CJ and
a guy named Ritchie started shagging below the bunk bed where I am at, took a good 10 minutes I timed it! When they finished I fell asleep again only to wake up again with them at it again! I should have said something but was too tired to have a confrontation, all this time Stefan is passed out and israeli dude left the room in disgust. The next morning I got ready tosee the town, there is no water in the toilet! I asked the cleaning lady, a pipe burst in the city and they are fixing it, meantime i was given a bucket with water to flush the toilet with.
I walked around the perimeter of the old town walls, then entered in one of the back doors. I was right away impressed, quite orderly and cleaner than the outside walls, cool old styled buildings lots of vendors of course, Walked around for most of the day exploring every nook and cranny, i found a Botero sculpture near the church. it got so hot so I went back to the hostel, there was water now ,good, I will shower later on. Stefan and CJ still passed out,
the Israeli dude checked out, I opted to rent a storage locker for my valuables. That afternoon CJ complained that a dude working there stole her money in the room, we were both in the reception desk , I have the key so I gave it to her, she claims she was surprised someone was in the room, she lost 80,000 pesos, I dont know whether she confronted him or what, the whole reception was on her case, I just heard bits and pieces. That's why I rented a locker.
In the eve, anew roomie from OZ living in New York, she won a green card in a lottery! Quite friendly and easy to talk with,gave her some tips on places I have been to, Stefan told me they go to Playa Blanca so I asked if I can tag along as I plan to leave in the eve and need something to do the rest of the day, cool with them. early to bed the 3 of us, Cj came late and woke me up again but this time no guy.
We woke up at 7am, me and Stefan and Johanne went to the dock and touts
approached us, we asked for a discount since there was 3 of us, we got it down to 25,000 pesos each with lunch included. Our boat is big, CJ and the rest of the loud party animal English kids were in another boat, thank god. Turns out there is entertainment in the boat, they have games, we tried to avoid being part of it, they asked where we are from, we were gonna say Iceland as no one knows where it is we think! They played loud music, we fell asleep in the back and completely ignored what was going on.
Arrived on our 1st stop Isla Rosario where there is an aquarium, neither one of us is keen in seeing it as you have to pay, so we got changed and went for a swim instead. After 2 hours we left for Playa Blanca. It was a nice white sand beach but a bit crowded with tourists, we were hauled into this smaller boat all standing up, our boat cant go any closer to shore, we were taken like herds of cows forcefully fitted in this small space good thing its only 3 minutes to shore. Had a
lunch of fried fish and rice and patacon, very good but not enough for us, there were guys selling big shrimps for 2,000 pesos each!(1$) No one bought any. We enjoyed the swim, lots of rocks near the beach and I cut my feet in one, quite windy and rocky water. Before we know it time to go back, took about 1 hour and a half, got back at 5:30pm said my goodbye to my new German friends and walked back to the hostel got ready to leave.
Hailed a taxi, my mistake did not ask for the price up front expecting it will all be the same, took a good 45 minutes to get to the bus station due to traffic, all the while the taxi dude kept talking to me I cant understand him he speaks so fast and with silent "s" all the time, and he has a lisp too. Got to the terminal and he was asking for 22,000 pesos, thief I called him, gave him 15,000 to settle as I was in a rush from what I was told a bus leaves at 7pm I have 5 minutes to spare. I pretend to take
his license plate number, walked away calling him ladron!
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Todd Harris
non-member comment
Your Travels
Gil, (I think that is your real name correct me if its not) I have been following your blog for about 2 years and I am amazed at all of your travels! I have come to the conclusion that you have to be independently wealthy to be able to stay on the road as long as you have. Do you ever get tired of not staying in a "home"?? You have an amazing passport stamp on your resume and I envy you!! Is there anywhere you havent traveled to, maybe Antarctica?? Anyway, if you ever come to Atlanta, I would love to take you out for a drink, (and no im not gay). Safe travels, Todd from Atlanta harris1014@hotmail.com