Having got up at 3 am, we were at Panama airport by 3.45
am for our flight to Panama at 5.45.
What a stupid hour to be up an about !! Regardless, Avianca had us
leaving on time, and a one hour flight to – Bogota !! Yup, no cheap direct
flights
today, folks – just via Bogota !
And of course Bogota is at 2200 metres, so it isn’t exactly warm at 6.45
in the morning ! Thankfully it is a
short layover, and by 10 am we finally landed in Cartagena, where it was a
lovely sunny day, and at sea level quite warm and humid. I went into the bank to change some $, and
that involved so much paperwork and photocopying of passports that by the time
I came out 25 minutes later, although the sun was still shining, I was
surprised to find the streets not just wet but actually under about 6 inches of
water, and Janet hiding in a doorway with the bags ! What had happened while I was in the bank ?
It turned out there had just been a really short and very
sharp downpour ! And as we climbed into
our tiny little microcar Hyundai taxi to go to our hotel (bags on the front
seat, no boot to put them in !) , the water was lapping the underneath the car
and we thought for a while we were going to get our feet wet while inside the
car ! Apart from the flooded roads everywhere, not a very exciting drive to our
hotel along the Caribbean sea front, but I was pleased that my instructions in
Spanish to the taxi driver did enable him to take us directly to our hotel !!
The Spanish lessons in Panajachel must be starting to pay off !
Stepping out of the taxi, carefully avoiding the water in
the road, we entered our whitewashed and very smart little hotel, Casa Mary –
And walked straight into the Best Exotic Marigold Hotel – We even had a Sonny
!! “Everything will be all right in the
end – And if everything is not yet all right, then we are not yet at the end”
!!!! Actually it is very nice, but they
were mopping up the water from the storm (a lot of the hotel is open to the
skies), and they are obviously trying very hard. Just a quaint little hotel !! Perfect. Not sure what their fascination is with
Halloween though !
We originally had a room with a little balcony overlooking the
street which we thought was rather cute.
Janet bought some local hamburguesas for lunch which actually weren’t
too bad, and after a lazy afternoon snoozing after our early start, we set off
down the road to explore in the evening.
We headed up towards the local church and square (about 50 yards up our
road) and found a live band playing, hot dogs and bbq trolleys on every corner,
crowds of people milling around, and lots of great little restaurants with
tables on the sidewalk. And kids playing soccer in the streets in the middle of
it all. We grabbed a table at Café de La
Trinidad, and had the most wonderful evening on the edge of the sidewalk, people
promenading, drinking beer and wine and sharing a delicious pizza. Life in Cartagena seemed pretty good ! In due course we wandered back to the hotel,
where I took my hearing aids out and slept like a log, while Janet, even with
her ear plugs in, heard every single car, hawker, drunk going home under our
balcony, and apparently didn’t sleep a wink all night ! I never noticed !
So first thing in the morning, after our complimentary
breakfast up on the 3rd floor open terrace looking out over the town’s
old tiled rooftops, Janet was off downstairs to arrange a change of rooms –
Which I felt was unnecessary, but then it wasn’t me that had been awake all night
! A la Marigold Hotel, this took a while, and eventually, after the morning
rain storm (seems to happen every day), we went out and found a little
restaurant for lunch (still not sure what we ordered
– I think it was chicken
!!), and then we set off a la pied into the old city (only about 15 minutes
away), set behind massive stone walls that were built specifically to keep that
terrible pirate Sir Francis Drake out !! And the old city is really quite spectacular
– The wall itself has to be 40 feet thick, and then the city inside is
stunning. Some is still under renovation, but that doesn’t spoil it. Narrow
streets, wooden security bars and balconies, old churches, Spanish
Inquisition
torture chambers, lots of statues of Spanish and Columbian leaders, lots of high
fashion shops, restaurants, bars, and of course lots of touristy type shops.
Oh, and Emerald shops – Quite a number of them.
The hotels are mostly a lot more upmarket and expensive in the old town –
Some quite stunning, set into the old buildings with big internal courtyards
visible through archways. We wandered
around soaking up the vibrant atmosphere, and eventually ended up at the
Palacio de la Inquisicion. Said to be one of the finest buildings in town, heretics
and witches were denounced here and about 800 people were condemned to death,
tortured, and executed here. The palace
is today a museum, displaying the
Inquisitors’ instruments of torture, a
history of Cartagena, as well as a collection of per-Columbian pottery. We spent
a fascinating hour or two there before going back out into the Plaza Bolivar
below, sitting in the shade, buying some yummy fresh mango from a lady in
striking local costume, and continuing to just enjoy the atmosphere. The many squares in the town are striking, although
it is very difficult to photograph much of it because the We Whoops – Sorry !) who were leaving to go to
the US and then home tomorrow after several months wandering S America. So it was really interesting to chat to them
and get some travel tips that would help us on our way south. Danny also
introduced us to his son Juan Camino, an 8 year old who was out playing soccer
in the square with his friends. A very pleasant
evening.
enjoyed a gelati to help us keep cool, and
then headed back to our Casa Mary for a rest before heading back up the road to
our local square for some refreshment. Our friendly waiter Danny (Danuelo ?) at
the Café de la Trinidad was there so we ended up there again, enjoying a few
beers and Mojitos, while Janet had a corn cob smothered in parmesan off a local
bbq trolley ! We met a young couple from Canberra (Claire and ?
streets are so narrow
that you can never get everything in frame ! By about 5 pm we were walked out –
It is pretty hot and humid here, so one walks pretty slowly !
Then back to Casa Mary and our new room – One that is so
quiet that once Janet’s head hit the pillow, she didn’t move again until
breakfast time !!
Cartagena is a fascinating city, in a part of the world
that has extensive history way back to the original Karib tribes that ruled
this entire coastline in the early days, then slowly developed as a trading
post in the region, the arrival of the Spanish when it was used as a storage
place for the gold plundered from the local tribes, and thus attracted the
attention of the famous pirates like Francis Drake !! As a result they built
the almost impregnable walls and defences, but this took them 150 years, by
which time the world had changed ! The
French also came in here and did their fair share of plundering, while all the
time Cartagena was a centre for the entry of African slaves into the
region. A lot going on in Cartagena over
the years !
Now we continue to wait for Tuesday when we can start the
paperwork and customs work to get Troopie released from the port – Where hopefully
she is already sitting !
Pics are here :-
https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/0114CartagenaColumbia?authkey=Gv1sRgCNzrsOLFiPGHdQ#
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