The Blaus - South America and Europe

6 de Junio - Cartagena, Colombia

We flew from Quito through Bogota to Cartagena. We heard that crossing the border over land to Colombia can be a bit dicey, so we decided to take a flight to Colombia instead. Cartagena is on the Caribbean, and therefore is quite hot, but the city is an incredible mixture of Latin and Caribbean cultures. We took a taxi from the airport to our guest house in the Getsemani part of Cartagena. When we arrived we felt like we were in a totally different world. The culture, sounds, and sights are much different than what we had become accustomed to seeing in the Andean regions of South America. We were a little nervous about being in Colombia since we have heard so much negative news about the country, so when we wanted to go get dinner our first night the owner of our guest house sent his daughter to walk us to the restaurant to ease our nerves. As we walked through the narrow streets, there were people sitting outside of their doorsteps, each with different sounds of salsa, cumbia, and different caribbean beats blasting out of the houses. People were dancing, drinking, socializing, cooling off, and playing soccer or baseball in the streets. It felt like a giant party. We both felt that it looked exactly like the pictures we have seen of Cuba. There was a group of 5 old men sitting on chairs on the side of the street drinking and arguing about God knows what with their hands flying all over the place and their voices raised. Every once in a while they would all start laughing and sit back down before another argument would start up. It was a great scene to watch.

We spent some time walking around the main square, where a troop of local Caribbean dancers no more than 16 years old perform different dances every night. They move thier bodies so quickly and with amazing precision, we were mesmerized by their performances. The girls wear white dresses, and the boys wear yellow shirts and blue pants, that look like pirate gear. The streets are filled with horse drawn carriages, and people walking around the city looking for restaurants and bars and salsa clubs. We ate at a very nice place right on San Pedro de Claver Plaza, and then explored a bit before we got in a taxi to go home. We were exhausted from travel and from generally being so nervous about going to Colombia, but realized that Cartagena is a safe city designed for nightlife.

The next day we went out to explore the city by foot. The city is just absolutely spectacular. It is surrounded by a huge wall that was used to keep the pirates out and erected in the late 1680s, complete with the old canons still intact surrounding the city. The city is full of colonial style houses and buildings, but they all are painted very bright, tropical colors, so it makes the place look almost like a hollywood set, too good to be true. We wandered all throughout the city, avoiding the many street vendors who won`t let you pass if you show any interest in any of their products, but also meeting people and having some great conversations. The most common hustle is to try and get you to buy emeralds. Something like 75% of the emeralds in the world are from Colombia, and they try to sell them to you all over the street. We met one guy who was trying to get us to go into a store for emeralds, but instead he just came with us as we ate breakfast, and talked with us until we were done then he went back to work. The people here are all very friendly, more so than any other place we have been. Later in the day we were invited to a friend of a friend´s house for Colombian coffee (Tinto) and an orientation to Cartagena. We talked about politics and all kinds of things, and agreed that because Colombia has such a bad name, people don`t come to visit as much as they should.

The next day we went down to the beach to a part of town called Bocagrande. The water is incredibly warm, but since a river lets out right next to the city, the water is not crystal clear. The beach, like the town, is filled with vendors selling crabs, oysters, massages, hats, t-shirts, and just about everything else a tourist would want. It is a little too aggressive though, as once you sit down you have at least five people trying to massage you, fit you for a t-shirt, put sun glasses on you, and shove crab meat in your mouth (which is supposed to be dangerous to eat because it is out in the sun all day). Our relaxing day at the beach was not relaxing at all, and we decided that there must be a better way to beat the heat.

The next day was Billy`s birthday, so we decided to splurge a little bit. We went to the fanciest hotel in town and sat around their pool during the day. We pretended we didn`t know any Spanish when they asked us our room number, and were never bothered again. We had a mojito in their sleek bar and watched the Colombia versus Peru soccer game with a bunch of crazy Colombian fans, then moved on to Cafe del Mar for sunset. Cafe del Mar is set outside on the Western wall of the city. They play perfect sunset music and the weather is perfect as the sun goes down and so does the heat. We were joined by Stewart, and Australian guy we met in Ecuador, and a couple we had met on the beach from San Diego the day before. We all had a few drinks, then went to dinner at a fancy restaurant in the old town. After that, we went to watch salsa dancing in the square where the place was totally alive with people and music, and we took in the sights until we walked home at about 2:00am.

The next evening we were invited to go salsa dancing by the daughter of the owner of our hostal, Daniella, who is 17. Her Dad was going to come with, but could not, so it ended up just being Jen, Billy, Daniella and her boyfriend David. Her poor Dad looked so concerned letting his only daughter out to go dancing, as we think he was only doing it as a favor to us. We had a lot of fun dancing, even though we have a long way to go before we can call ourselves proficient salsa dancers. We had a curfew imposed by Daniella`s Dad, so we escorted the youngsters home by midnight. It was a bit sad for Billy, who realized that he is now twice as old as them, but we were both able to keep up with them pretty well. Daniella`s Dad was very happy to have his daughter home in one piece, and has since taken on the role of social chair for us. Every day he has a different plan of what we can do, and where we should eat. They really look after us, as does everyone in this city. When we were at the beach we went to a pharmacy to get a bottle of water, and the guy that worked there very timidly asked Billy, "Excuse me sir, but do you have any suntan lotion on?" Seeing Billy´s light skin made him truly concerned about us spending time in the sun.

We have also tried to take the ferry to the islands off the coast where there are beautiful white sand beaches and blue waters, but it has rained heavily the last two days. We walked to the port to get on the boat in a tropical downpour, and in the biggest surprise of the trip, they let us change our tickets for the next day with no charge. Something like that happening in South America is quite rare, and we could hardly believe it. When we asked the lady at the counter to change our tickets, she called her mother who also works there, introduced us to her, and they made the change right there, no hay problema. Again, it just feels like everyone is looking out for us here.

After a few nights of going out we are tired and need a night off, so we will see if we can avoid the nice people at the guest house who have offered again to show us around town and take us to another salsa club. If the weather is good we are going to head to the Islas Del Rosario tomorrow.

posted by The Blaus @ 4:44 PM