4-6
After the sun came up in Cartagena we disembarked from the boat and our captains took care of our immigration. Elisha and I checked into our hostel, took a much needed shower and then set off to explore the city and sample the streetfood before meeting up with the boat crew for goodbye drinks in the evening.
Cartagena is a beautiful colonial city. It's full of bright colors and flowers (especially bouganvillias...my parents would love it here) and balconies overlooking narrow streets. It teems with street vendors, guys pushing carts, narrow streets, and gorgeous towering churches. There is cool festive music emanating from little houses and shops while locals nap in the heat and shaded plazas. The neighborhood where our hostel is, named Getsamani, is quiet, full of locals going about their daily business in front of colorful and flowered buildings. Our neighborhood is perhaps one of my favorite places in the city.
4-7
We had a very successful internet sesh in the borning. I booked my ticket home with airline miles. I will be arriving into Seattle so that I can see the Jovial Bison who is one of the important people I missed on my tour of friends in the northwest before I left, so I am stoked for that. Also cancelled my completely refundable ticket that I had booked in order to be able to even leave the states. You must have a return ticket booked to leave the US, but Elisha's miles had come through yet, so we couldnt buy our return tickets them, so we figured out a loophole of buying a completely refundable return ticket so that we could leave.
I then took Elisha on a walking tour of the city (using my guidebook). We toured churches, monasteries, convents, an inquisition palace, a slave market (now ironically used as a market for sweets), plazas, old boats, and saw the big spanish fort and walls of the ancient city. We also stopped by quite a few icecream shops as we walked in the tropical heat. Our puchase of the day: 6 liters of water in a bag for 2000COP equals $1.
That night we went to church in one of the big cathedrals and made sure to plop ourselves down by one of the pews with fans. At night there are horse-drawn carriages with lanterns everywhere. We went and got some tasty, tasty streetfood at a plaza in our neighborhood where all te locals were having a zumba dance party.
On our way home from an ATM, we were stopped by two Policia. We were strip searched as they searched for drugs on us. They tried to be intimidating, but we weren't too worried considering we obviously had no drugs. Elisha carries this natural sugar substitute stuff called Stevia around. It's a little white powder. Everyone in Antarctica called it her drugs, the way she would measure it out with this tiny spoon device. I joked that we were lucky she wasn't carrying that or we would maybe have found out what the inside of a Colombian jail looks like!
4-8
We took a bus to Tatagana further east along the Caribbean coast. It's a cute little fishing village on a bay with a beach. We scoped out the town today and booked a tour to Ciudad Perdida...the lost city. After that we walked down by the beach for sunset and had some tasty street food from a very happy go lucky family. I asked them where I might be able to find a barber shop as my hair is too hot and long for the sweaty jungle. The guy was so nice that he had me hop on his motorbike and he drove me to some gal's house who was a friend of his. She let me into her house and sat me down on the chair. Her husband showed up and he was super friendly. He brought out a fan just for me and gave me two beers to drink while I got my hairs cut. He turned on some nice music and then chatted with me. After a little while, the street vendor brought Elisha up so she could witness the spectacle. She was of course received with a beer and a big smile.
My haircut is pretty nice. I somehow managed to ask for a feaux hawk which is popular here and similar to the haircut (though not as short) as the character Puck on Glee.
Tomorrow we leave for the lost city jungle trek which will take 5 days. From there we may do a 2 day trek into Tayrona NP, so it may not be until then that you hear from us. Pray that the mosquitoes aren't too bad!!
After the sun came up in Cartagena we disembarked from the boat and our captains took care of our immigration. Elisha and I checked into our hostel, took a much needed shower and then set off to explore the city and sample the streetfood before meeting up with the boat crew for goodbye drinks in the evening.
Cartagena is a beautiful colonial city. It's full of bright colors and flowers (especially bouganvillias...my parents would love it here) and balconies overlooking narrow streets. It teems with street vendors, guys pushing carts, narrow streets, and gorgeous towering churches. There is cool festive music emanating from little houses and shops while locals nap in the heat and shaded plazas. The neighborhood where our hostel is, named Getsamani, is quiet, full of locals going about their daily business in front of colorful and flowered buildings. Our neighborhood is perhaps one of my favorite places in the city.
4-7
We had a very successful internet sesh in the borning. I booked my ticket home with airline miles. I will be arriving into Seattle so that I can see the Jovial Bison who is one of the important people I missed on my tour of friends in the northwest before I left, so I am stoked for that. Also cancelled my completely refundable ticket that I had booked in order to be able to even leave the states. You must have a return ticket booked to leave the US, but Elisha's miles had come through yet, so we couldnt buy our return tickets them, so we figured out a loophole of buying a completely refundable return ticket so that we could leave.
I then took Elisha on a walking tour of the city (using my guidebook). We toured churches, monasteries, convents, an inquisition palace, a slave market (now ironically used as a market for sweets), plazas, old boats, and saw the big spanish fort and walls of the ancient city. We also stopped by quite a few icecream shops as we walked in the tropical heat. Our puchase of the day: 6 liters of water in a bag for 2000COP equals $1.
That night we went to church in one of the big cathedrals and made sure to plop ourselves down by one of the pews with fans. At night there are horse-drawn carriages with lanterns everywhere. We went and got some tasty, tasty streetfood at a plaza in our neighborhood where all te locals were having a zumba dance party.
On our way home from an ATM, we were stopped by two Policia. We were strip searched as they searched for drugs on us. They tried to be intimidating, but we weren't too worried considering we obviously had no drugs. Elisha carries this natural sugar substitute stuff called Stevia around. It's a little white powder. Everyone in Antarctica called it her drugs, the way she would measure it out with this tiny spoon device. I joked that we were lucky she wasn't carrying that or we would maybe have found out what the inside of a Colombian jail looks like!
4-8
We took a bus to Tatagana further east along the Caribbean coast. It's a cute little fishing village on a bay with a beach. We scoped out the town today and booked a tour to Ciudad Perdida...the lost city. After that we walked down by the beach for sunset and had some tasty street food from a very happy go lucky family. I asked them where I might be able to find a barber shop as my hair is too hot and long for the sweaty jungle. The guy was so nice that he had me hop on his motorbike and he drove me to some gal's house who was a friend of his. She let me into her house and sat me down on the chair. Her husband showed up and he was super friendly. He brought out a fan just for me and gave me two beers to drink while I got my hairs cut. He turned on some nice music and then chatted with me. After a little while, the street vendor brought Elisha up so she could witness the spectacle. She was of course received with a beer and a big smile.
My haircut is pretty nice. I somehow managed to ask for a feaux hawk which is popular here and similar to the haircut (though not as short) as the character Puck on Glee.
Tomorrow we leave for the lost city jungle trek which will take 5 days. From there we may do a 2 day trek into Tayrona NP, so it may not be until then that you hear from us. Pray that the mosquitoes aren't too bad!!
1 comment:
Cartegena gets 2 thumbs up! But...it was pretty hot, I must say. I was thankful for our hostels air con and cool showers!
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