Cartagena

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First of all...check out Bocas del Toro pictures! I finally got some up.

As our cruise came to an end, we woke to the rising South American sun coming into port at Cartagena, Colombia. As we got closer to land, we were greeted by the sound of gunshots, helicopters, and more loud explosions. Our first thought was 'great....welcome to Colombia!' Come to find out, we were arriving at the beginning of the Colombian Day of Independence and the loud sounds were fireworks and other forms of celebration. After securing our hostel, we went out into the streets to watch the parade. The Colombians really like to party...the streets were full of people spraying eachother with foam, setting off fireworks, and drinking lots of beer. There parade was alot more exciting than the uninterested school children playing the same songs for the Panamanian Independence Day. An added bonus was that in Cartagena, they celebrate with a beauty pageant at the end of the parade. If you know anything about Colombian women, you can trust me that it was good stuff. I took some pictures especially for you Grandpa! We hung out in Cartagena for a couple days, because it was impossible to get anywhere during the 5-day long celebrations.

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Photos

Our Hostel
Complete with swimming pool. It is damn hot here.

Parade
These guys were especially annoying during the day. They would run around with big buckets of liquid dye and threaten to throw it on you if you didnt give them money.

Night Party
View from the top of the hostel

Barbershop
Taylor in the process of finally upholding his end of the bargain.

Comments

[anonymous]

Seems like every where you go there is a parade celebrating their independence. Glad you are having fun!!!