All I Know about Cartagena

All I Know about Cartagena, Columbia I learned from the Michael Douglas/Kathleen Turner movie, “Romancing the Stone”

Our Panama Canal cruise has been wonderful so far – three days at sea interspersed with a day in Aruba – what’s not to love.  Our upcoming destinations will provide a bit more of our attention and today’s port was Cartagena, Columbia.

But to back track for a moment – I didn't mean to imply that Aruba didn't have our full attention. We spent the morning on a catamaran complete with swimming and snorkeling with lots of tropical fish, a glimpse of the Antilla (a 1940ish sunken ship), and rum punch to round off our day. Oh and a bit of sunburn…. Note to self – remember to reapply after swimming.  Then it was lunch and an afternoon of shopping – phew! – an exhausting day all in all – haha!  We had never been to Aruba and from what we saw from the catamaran, the beaches are lovely, lots of hotels from which to choose, and the turquoise water is amazing.

 

But now, back to Cartagena (pronounced “carta-hey-na”). It’s hot and very humid here- 88%+ humidity and a year round temperature of 82 degrees.  Our tour (almost 5 hours) took us to Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas, a fortress built by the Spanish for protection against pirates while shipping gold out to Europe. It overlooks the city and the harbor. We came upon a sad, homeless puppy as we headed up the fortress. We ventured into the old city, the walled historic center of Cartagena which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Narrow winding streets with colorfully painted buildings, beautiful flowers all in a Spanish Colonial style of architecture. We visited San Peter Claver Church along the way and also walked through the Historical Museum of Cartagena, notably seeing the display of instruments of torture from the Spanish Inquisition – that was some lovely images to swallow right before lunch (sarcasm here).

And then there were the men in a motorboat bringing home a new refrigerator – I guess that’s how you get your purchase home if you don’t have a pickup truck!

The flavor of the city?  Lots and lots of people trying to sell you stuff.  They come right up to you as you exit the bus, or are walking on the sidewalk, or are sitting in your bus, and ‘hawk’ their wares – jewelry, hats, caps, t-shirts, cigars, tablecloths, beer (actually the beer tasted great – Ed bought it for himself but I also drank a bit of it – you know it was hot and humid if I was drinking beer. And NO, Ed did not change his name to Angel Gomez – we all had to wear a tag with our guide’s name on it so we wouldn't get lost!). Ladies dressed in Columbian dress with baskets of fruit on their heads posing for pictures with you for a mere $2.00. And my personal favorite, at one of our stops (for $2.00) you could hold and have your picture taken with a three-toed Sloth!  Yes, you heard correctly – a three toed sloth, I wasn't going to miss that one.  Her name was Maria and I think she liked me as she certainly wrapped her legs and arms around me and held on tight!

Our guide told us that there is no government welfare system – everyone is expected to work; so, if you don’t have a job, then you are out on the street trying to sell whatever you can.  And even in the shops, it’s an extremely ‘hard sell’ – we said “no” over and over again to many, many people.  And if you touch an item, they are hounding you, dropping the price quicker than you can blink.

So our whirlwind visit to Cartagena came to an end as quickly as it started.  We arrived at 7:00 a.m. and were sailing away at 2:00 p.m.  The pilot boat waved goodbye and we were on our way. Next up…transiting the Panama Canal.

Till then…