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Published: October 11th 2015
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entry to the old town Once we had pulled ourselves away from new york, we were headed to colombia, awful hangover in tow. Not sure what possessed us to think we would be okay drinking the day before an early flight, but we struggled on the long route to the airport, but made it! We hadnt booked any accomodation so we decided to just get an airport hotel for a night as we were exhausted. Best idea we ever had! Was within walking distance from the airport and had air con, so was perfect as the cool-ish NY temperature was gone and we were back to 33+ humidity. Once we got settled we got a menu del dia (huge lunch with soup, drink, and your typical south american meat, rice, salad and beans), relaxed and pretty much slept for the rest of the day ad night! Was definately needed.
We were then able to sort out our accomodation for Cartagena, and the next day a guy from the hotel gave us a ride. Once we arrived, it felt like being in a colourful version of Spain! The streets were all very quaint, pretty and colourful. IT is a colonial town so it makes sense as
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they love the curves here! to why it looks Spanish. the city is 1.8 million people but it felt like more of a town in the centre. The place has a very afro caribe feel, with a high concentration of black people. We took a walking tour which was really good, it lasted about 2 hours and we were told all about its history, and the battle of freedom from the spanish. The reason there was such a high concentration of blacks is because the spaniards who moved over basically brought them from Africa as slaves and made them make it into the strong fort that it is. The old town is a walled city, to protect them from the war, but sad to think that it is made from "african blood" because they said so many died doing the hard labour. The last attempt to destroy Cartagena was from Sir frances drake, but they failed despite having 10 times the amount of men. Loads of them died from malaria and the heat and the town was so well constructed that it was literally unbreakable. Go on colombia!
Cartagena is definately a mix of old meets new, with spanish, african and other influences, a
definite melting pot. At the town squares there is regular dances by African groups and there are lots of ladies selling exotic fruit and wearing colourful outfits. There is loads of impressive street art, and spanish architecture and is just generally a cool place. We went on a Chiva tour which is like a big colourful jeep, it took us round the city (unfortunately for Gary it was only spanish commentary!) and we saw the new town, where 15% of the city live, i-e the wealthy. They live in big high rises next to the beach, the rest of the city live in varying degrees of houses from poor to ´"normal". Cartagena is considered the safest city in Colombia though so it was probably a nice intro to the country!
On that tour, we visited the old fort and a monastery up in the mountains with impressive views, as well as being able to take in the general surroundings. The humidity in Cartagena was unreal though and when doing any sightseeing you were praying that it would be cloudy. Beachwise, they werent up to much, but we did take a side trip to Playa Blanca which is about 1h
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wee soul. hope hes ok. gave him some food away and considered the best beach in the area. We decided to stay overnight, and once we arrived found chep digs in a cabaña (like a beach hut). It had a fan, but the electricity onl y went on at 7pm. The beach itself was lovely, turqoise water and white sands, but there were a lot of venders which could get tiresome. I guess our timing was unfortunate as it was the weekend and it was hoaching with locals. For some reason though, they seemed to stick to one busy side of the beach, so going to the other end was pretty quiet. The water was lovely and was amazing just to lie back on a lounger. Through the night though was a different matter! Despite lashings of mozzie spray because the place essentially didnt have a roof we got quite a lot of bites and the fan done little to help the heat. The shower came in the form of throwing a bucket of water over you which is fine in a washroom but doing it on the beach doesnt really help much wtih getting rid of any sand as you are covered in it as soon as youve
washed! As soon as the sun came up you need to get up due to the heat, but we were glad to escape the room to be honest! So we spent another (semi) relaxing day at the beach, got burnt in to the process, then left again for one more night in cartagena. The beach was great, but getting back to civilisation, air con, showers and wifi felt fantastic!
We had one more night in Cartagena then it was off to Santa MArta in the morning. We have been staying at the same hostel on and off and using it as a base to explore the rest of northern colombia. The hostel is an ex cartel house so kind of like a mansion and has all the things you need. A pool, air con, restaurant, relax room, hammocks, bar and so on. Very easy not to leave!
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