We are staying at an Air B&B, a condo just outside the main part of the city. The condo itself is very nice and our hostess Elizabeth is nothing short of amazing. She actually flew from her home in Bogota to meet us and give us a tour of the condo, the entire building, and the neighbourhood. The best feature of our place on the 14th floor of the building is the balcony which faces south into a beautiful lagoon. I was originally disappointed that it didn't face north toward the Caribbean but that disappointment was short-lived. There is actually much more to see from our angle. The building has 24 hour security, a pool with nearby bbqs, a fitness area and even a games room.
Our first full day here started somewhat negatively as apparently Montezuma had made the trip from Mexico to Colombia during the night to exact his revenge on me. Not sure what I ever did to him to deserve revenge but after a few hours the plumbing was back to normal. Iron Guts Sarah was just fine, as usual. Damn this sissy stomach of mine!
We had a great day which started with a 15 minute walk to the middle of the Old City (heads up, history lesson coming your way), a walled area founded in 1533. The location of Cartagena was very strategic for trading, in particular Peruvian silver to Spain. It seems that the city was constantly under attack by pirates so it needed to be heavily fortified (lesson over). We wandered around for a bit, then Sarah bought a funky hat, and then we went for a coffee. Very narrow stone streets as you might expect but an interesting and exciting place.
Later on we cooled off in the condo swimming pool and then walked along the walls of the old city and watched the sunset. That experience was so emotional that a drink at Cafe Del Mar was necessary. It is a huge outdoor patio that was mentioned in every article we read about Cartagena so it was pretty much a must to go there. After that we wandered through the old town which was full of life. Lots of people, music everywhere, dancing in one of the squares vendors selling hats, selfie sticks, noisemakers, water, beer. Bars and restaurants galore. I love the way the restaurants have someone on the street trying to entice you into coming into their establishment. Do you think that practice could ever catch on in Canada? We ended up at a place called Mona Lisa Pub where we ate and drank. Our waiter, Jesus (Hey Seuss) is a young guy who speaks excellent English which he told us he learned from watching tv as a kid in Venezuela. (All I learned from tv as a kid was that you could use a saw across the top of a person's head, then use two fingers to poke him in both eyes, all with apparently no damage done whatsoever.) Finally we bought a drink from a convenience store and wandered the old city streets some more before finally heading home. As with a lot of countries not named Canada or United States, walking around with a beer in public is quite acceptable.
We didn't hear any English during the day except for once when I heard a guy say "sorry" so I assume he is from Canada. When Sarah bought her hat I asked the employee how to say "hat" in Spanish but she didn't seem to understand and asked the other girl there. We finally figured out that she was trying to find the exact word for that specific type of hat. Looks like we'll be working on our Spanish for the next two months.
Hasta luego.
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