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Published: January 6th 2011
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We booked our ticket about a week before flying to cartagena with yoshi. Prices were a bit higher because its the holiday season and our plans were pretty short notice but none the less, it was pretty affordable. We were set to fly out on friday morning until monday night after which, yoshi had to catch a flight home the next morning.
we arrived at the airport about an hour before our flight hoping that, because it was a local destination, the checkin process would be relatively quick (not my idea). To our dismay, we found the great wall of china was lined up for registration. It would have taken no less than 2 hours to register, even though we had no bags to hand in... luckily, the airport in bogota must have recently installed the quick checkin terminals (when you require no baggage) because they were standing there by themselves, unoccupied, like a godsend. We quickly found a wifi hotspot and got the e-ticket information from my iphone (thank you mr jobs, thank you) which then allowed us to get our boarding passes from these terminals and jump through all the checks. We made our flight with 15 minutes
to spare... too easy!
We arrived in Cartagena airport about an hour later. Bogota is pretty cool and rainy with chance of sun, where a jacket is a constant necessary precaution. Cartagena, on the other hand, reminded me a bit of dubai with absurdly high humidity and a stable temperature 30C. The airport was partially open air and we did not have to go through any baggage or passport control so we walked straight out. We hadnt made any accommodation arrangements so we could do a bit of improvisation on hostels. Cartagena is a tourist destination so at any time, there was bound to be something. We consulted our travel booklet and found a decently priced hostel, jumped in a cab and headed over to the old city. Thing that struck me in the cab ride were that these were not the same colombians as in bogota. They were much darker, african looking and I definitely stuck out here. In bogota, i could pass off for a local and avoid extra bother, but here i was a white man in a black neighborhood. The street peddlers mercilessly pestered us at every corner offering everything from chewing gum to scarfs
to drugs. In this town, you were either a tourist or trying to sell something to the tourists.
We arrived at our hostel which was in the poorer part of the old city but was very nicely designed. There was a open courtyard in the centre filled with greenery and a nice sitting area where we got to see more of the patrons. Our room was quite small but had 2 beds and an AC unit which is a lifesaver in this weather. The shower was a single stream of cold water and leaked all over the floor, seeping into the sleeping area. Still, not too bad.
We spent the night there, going out in the evening and exploring the city. We dined in an overpriced restaurant and returned to the room to meet some of our neighbors. Most were career travelers, going from one town to the next and exploring and meeting people along the way. One of our co-habitants was a 64 year old american fellow who was part of the hippie movement in the 60s and 70s. It was fascinating to hear him giving a first hand account of what i had only read about
in books and seen in films.. this guy was a piece of walking history!
The next day, we relocated to another hostel in the nicer part of the old city which was a little bit less expensive, had 4 beds in the room, but no AC unit. sleeping there was a challenge! We spent the next 2 days there, going out exploring the city, eating in different restaurants and visiting some of the local tourist attractions. We visited the beach along the cityline which we were told was not much to see. It was pretty disgusting. the beach was long, dirty, filled with too many people and seemingly unpleasant to spend any time in. we returned to our part of town to have a meal at our favourite restaurant (cheap italian place in bad part of town with DELICIOUS food: a gem in a pile of coal) and then visited our favourite bar lounge (expensive outdoor lounge overlooking the old and new city).
The last day before we left, we set sail to the Rosa Islands which are one of the main attractions of the city. it is a series of small islands right next to each other,
some only fitting one house on it. Now this would be a great place to retire!! the water was clear and beautiful and coupled with the hot sun and humidity, it is a mix than can not be beat! Because we were traveling with a tour boat, we couldnt spend much time in any of the places of our choosing but the trip served as a great demo for where to go on the next time around.
The trip back was relatively tame. we arrived the night before yoshi had to fly back to the US (poor guy). It was a great trip to a nice city but I can't say I was thoroughly impressed. i think colombia has more to offer than this hot sweaty, tourist trap...
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