Week 2 --- From A to Z (Agua to Zumba)

As you might expect in a climate where it is 30 degrees every day, water is important. Who knew it came in bags though?

Some of the colourful streets and buildings of Cartagena.

Our favourite coffee place in the middle of the walled city. Sarah made me pose inside but didn't anticipate the photobomber stepping in front.

We met Alyssa and Oscar at a place called the Clock Pub on Saturday when we went to see the NFL playoffs. She is from upstate New York and he is from Bogota but they have settled in Cartagena. A wonderful couple and even though Oscar looks quite fierce in this photo (he is a former MMA fighter) he is extremely kind and thoughtful.

Sarah and friends Buba and Kim went on a chivas bus which is basically a party bus that drives around the city while its inhabitants drink and sing. I was at the library researching the history of Colombian cuisine.

I finally tracked down my old workboots that I lost in high school. Actually this sculpture is entitled Los Zapatos Viejos (The Old Shoes) and is a tribute to Cartagena poet Luis Carlos Lopez.

Castillo de San Felipe, which we can see clearly from our balcony, was named after Philip 1V of Spain and was built in 1536. A very popular tourist attraction but we're waiting for visitors to arrive before we actually go in.

Notice that the guy on the motorcycle has an extra helmet over his left arm. These guys are all over the place and will pick up people and take them to their destination for a fee. Unlicensed taxis, really. When I first saw so many motorcyclists honking at what I thought was always women, I assumed they hadn't got wind of the #metoo movement but it turns out their motives are purely for monetary gain. Thanks to Alyssa and Oscar for setting me straight on this issue.

I include this photo for two reasons ---- first, it's a pretty cool mural and second, through some trick of photography it actually appears that I have a bicep of some substance.

Gabriel Garcia Marquez is from Cartagena and wrote such classics as Love in the Time of Cholera and One Hundred Years of Solitude.

Cartagena is a popular stop for cruise ships.

Sunday night at Plaza de la Trinidad is public zumba time. Hundreds of crazy people dancing like maniacs and sweating like, like, like, (please insert your own simile here cuz I got nothin'). I'm only sad that I didn't get to participate as I had to take photos and watch the purses. Darn my luck!

Hasta luego!

End of Week 1 in Cartagena

Our first week here seemed to go by quickly and we've become fairly well oriented to Cartagena, I think. Most of our time so far has been spent inside the old town but now we'll start to venture to other places. Being here 9 weeks means we don't have to rush around trying to do everything at once. A major challenge of finding your way in the old town (which can be walked from one end to the other in about 20 minutes) is that the street name changes at each intersection. So Mantilla becomes Soledad which changes to San Augustin which morphs into Moneda which transforms into Cruz, all while walking straight ahead.

This fine gentleman (Ender) led us on a free walking tour of the old city. A very entertaining fellow who was anxious to give us lots of information about the history of the city. We thought it was going to be more like an orientation so, while you history buffs out there might have loved it, we found all the info a bit overwhelming. Perspective is an interesting thing though, as he talked about how Sir Francis Drake was nothing more to them than a despicable, marauding pirate whereas it seems to me that our schooling taught us something quite different. Aside: although Ender probably made more than 100 "mistakes" with the English language during the tour, we understood every word, which is sort of a lesson to us that we don't need to worry about speaking perfect Spanish.

A fancy coffee shop/book store called Abacus that we visited. Most of the books were in Spanish but they did have an English section.

No body image problems in this city, we thought, until ......

It's all fun and games until both eyes get poked out.

What do the pointy headed women do for a living?

This little girl got her father to buy something to eat from the nice ladies. Sun is setting in the background.

We took a drink down to the beach to watch the sun set as well as the locals enjoying a holiday. The feast of 3 kings which we call Epiphany.

Sarah did a no-no, taking a picture of this Palenquera without asking or paying. In fairness, we weren't told that information until after the picture. Originally these women came from a village called San Basillo de Palenque which was founded by freed and escaped slaves. Now they simply pose for the tourists, take some money and go home to watch Jeopardy in Spanish.

Meet my friend "Fat Gertrude" (La Gorda Gertrudis), a sculpture by Fernando Botero. Legend has it that if you touch her left breast it brings you good luck.

The Clock Tower, picture taken from just outside the old city walls.

Free hugs, but they also gave us a free shot of rum along with a little bit of chocolate once inside. This place is in a part of Cartagena called Getsamani, a name which will be familiar to most Christians. The name of the bar is The Rum Box and we went there to meet ...........

....... these fantastic Canadian expats. Want to hear something weird? All 3 women in this picture have a sister who lives in Edmonton.

Hasta luego!

First Full Day in Cartagena

How did we end up in Colombia? I think it started years ago when I read an article about the best places to retire and the Colombian city of Medellin was near the top. I would never have thought of Colombia as a place to visit or live but the article never really left our minds and eventually we decided on Cartagena to try out for two months to see how we like it. We will be taking a trip to Medellin with our friends John and Brenda Geen when they come for a visit in February. Cartagena is a city of about 1 million people located on the northwest coast of South America. It's a plane trip of only a little over 5 hours and direct flights are available. It is approximately 30 degrees every day of the year, a little warm for me but perfect for Sarah. She always gets her way.

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.

Day 1 in Cartagena

Cars and horses are so small here!

May in Cuenca

As May comes to a close, it's time for us to say "good-bye for now" to Cuenca. We've really enjoyed our stay here.

This month we participated in the Azuay Theatre Company's first ever performance. All three of our shows were sold out, including standing room only. It was great fun to be on the stage again. And of course the friends you make while doing a show are friends forever.  Here are a few photos of friends at our little after party:

This is Christine, the director of Ambivalent, co-producer and co-founder of ACT.

Kris & Hugh Loomims

Kris, Laura and Hugh

This is Regina, our first Cuenca contact thanks to friends we met in Thailand.

We went on an doubledecker bus tour of the city and discovered some new places.

Our tour bus followed these giggling girls for a little while.

This is our condo building, Casa San Sabastian, and our friend Rich in the doorway.

This is one of the most expensive houses in El Centro. It overlooks the river.

The museum ... fantastic and FREE!

The view from Turi overlooking our beautiful little city in the mountains. 

Our tour bus.

Lunch is ready!

Another beautiful building on our street. 

We found a band that plays some good ol Rock & Roll and listened to them twice. The lead singer/keyboard player, Brian Gary, also plays solo and we managed to listen to him twice as well. Brian toured and played for Eddie Money for 8 years. How cool is that?! Click here to see his website.
We also found a duo called The Musical Nomads and really enjoyed their music. Click here to see their facebook page.

We've been to yoga class - and when I say we, I mean it. Mike went to yoga ... more than once. More than me actually! Our friend, Kris Loomis, is a wonderful instructor with classes 4 days a week in two different locations.

We discovered Almuerzo! (lunch) You can get it anywhere in the city but there is a little place just around the corner from us called Soup's On Restaurant that we go to all the time. For $2.50 each you get a glass of freshly squeezed juice, popcorn, a bowl of homemade soup of the day, a plate of rice, meat and salad AND dessert. Now that's a deal!

We've both completely warn out our running shoes with all the exercise we've gotten by walking/jogging along the river and working out in the park. We walk to 95% of the places we want to go here. Our rented condo is so central to everything there isn't much need to take the bus or a taxi. (although we have taken both with no problems at all. The bus only costs a quarter!)

This is the park that we work out in 3 days a week, Parque de la Madre.

We took the spiral staircase to the roof of the Cathedral for another panoramic view of Cuenca.

 

And then we went inside for on more look around this enormous structure in the center of town.

 

I was honoured to be asked to take engagement photos for a couple we met while doing the play, Mike & Tamara, and on Saturday we had a successful 90 minute photo session in the park. You can find a few more samples of the engagement session on the Imagine Photography facebook page.

Tamara and Mike

Yesterday, we went to the ZOO with our friends Pat and Tim. It starts high up in the mountain side and continues up and up and up. It was more like a day hike with 39 animal exhibits to look at along the way. I really enjoyed it and of course took my camera along.
If I haven't already bored you with so many photos in this post, there are about 60 more of the zoo. Here's the link!   (I've lowered the size of the photos so they will load faster, adjust the little 100 in the bottom right hand corner to 75 for optimum viewing)

Mike, Sarah, Pat & Tim in front of the Macaw's at the Zoo.

Tuesday is our last official day in Cuenca. It's time to pack up and go home. We've been away for 9 months and we miss our girls. We have a new nephew who is now 5 months old and I can't wait to meet him!

Adios Cuenca ... (por ahora)