Colombia - Laid Back Cartagena

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Before I start today’s blog I thought I should advise readers of how we work at this end. I write the blog which Norma then reads and edits. The editor is also the photographer.

Myself and the editor have been having a difference of opinion over one of the local products to northern South America – The arepa, is a type of corn bread. They sell them everywhere here. Personally I think they are disgusting.

I will describe one to you. They are about the size of a pitta bread but one weighs about as much as a whole packet of pitta’s. They are an obnoxious yellow / amber colour and if you break one open it is filled with a ghastly sweet and sickly cream cheese like goo that smells like gone off yoghurt. If you eat one it is likely to lie on your stomach for ages and make you feel like you have eaten a ton of cement. If you ever get offered one anywhere (which I doubt as no one is daft enough to import them) if I were you – I would politely refuse. One last point on the arepa - last Thursday I opened my bowels a world record (for me) seven times in one day, now it might have been something else, but I doubt it.

Anyway – back to the blog.

After 3 days in Bogota we were picked up and driven north about 150 miles to the small old Spanish colonial town of Villa De Leyva. On route we did an excursion to the impressive underground salt cathedral. This is a salt mine where the miners built a cathedral inside the mine. The guided tour was very Jesus focused and would have been more appropriate if we were Catholic and not Jewish.

Talking of which when we checked in to our charming little posada there was a picture of Jesus and Mary on the wall. We asked them to change it to one of a couple of jews but they didn’t really understand and they brought us two glasses of papaya juice.

Villa De Leyva is a charming small town in a valley with an enormous central plaza, cobbled streets and full of little shops, cafes and antique shops. It is very popular with Bogotarians during the weekend. It’s not as sophisticated as somewhere like a Cotswold town, but then again – you wouldn’t expect it to be.

Two nights and one day in the town then driven back to Bogota airport for a short internal flight to Cartagena on the northern Caribbean coast. This is where we are now. For the first time on the trip we are staying at a luxury hotel with a nice swimming pool. The old walled town is a lot like Havana but much more commercial with bright colours and lots of quality restaurants, clothes shops etc. It is popular with Caribbean cruise boats and is considered to be the jewel in Colombia’s tourist crown. Cartagena is a brilliant and atmospheric place and by far our best stop in Colombia and for the last 2 days we have done nothing much at all except chiil out, wander and sunbathe.

Just to the south is an area called Bocagrande. Here there are high rise blocks, sandy beaches and lots of development including proposed new Intercontinental, Hyatt and Marriott hotels. They have just started direct flights from some East Coast US cities. With Colombia’s economy growing and the drugs problem subsiding it is very likely this area will boom over the next few years.

We leave on Tuesday for more wildlife spotting in Amazonias, Brazil.

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