Tag Archives: Cartagena

A little more from Cartagena

February 25, 2024Colombia, Travelbeach, Cartagena, fruit, full moon, poolkarenfranza

Feb 23 – Even though I have no real news to report, I will now share things to do during the beach part of your vacation.

Go to the beach every morning. We walk along the shore, getting accosted every five feet by touts wanting to rent us a chair or umbrella or sell us sunglasses. Jim is a strong swimmer and wanted to swim in the surf, but before he got past his waist, the lifeguard told him, “No mas!”

Do you think the pelican sees himself as an egret?

Shop at different food markets. Jim loves to compare foods available in different areas and devise recipes that contain local flavors. Did you know that milk comes in a plastic bag here? Not refrigerated, just on the shelf. You buy eggs singly, or by the 15.

Bring home fruits that you can’t identify. Here’s a test:

The one on the left has skin like an orange, but looks very different inside. It is a lulo, or naranjilla, used for juice (with added sugar), but considered too sour for eating out of hand. We juiced it and found it orangey and delightful.

If you thought the center fruit looked sort of like a tomato, you were correct. It is a tamarillo, or tree tomato. Cut it in half, then scoop out the dark center portion with a spoon. Jellylike, sweet and delicious.

The third one had us stumped, and Google was no help based on the outside. Was it a pear? A potato? Nothing to do but cut it open. Aha! Once we saw the inside, we immediately knew by color and aroma that we had a strawberry guava! It had lots of hard little seeds, but that didn’t stop us from gobbling it down.

Go to a different restaurant for lunch every day.

Whole mojarra, coconut rice and plantain

Engage with the street vendors. This is Jim’s favorite. He likes to ask the guy selling flip flops if he has a pair for him (pointing to his size 13 feet). The poor guy never does.

Sit on your balcony and watch the traffic below. This is a pleasure I did not expect. It is cool and breezy, and the motos and cars provide a mesmerizing hum. Watching the progress of the little yellow taxis, the mergings and turnings, is simultaneously relaxing and exciting.

Swim in the pool. No explanation needed.

Go back out onto the balcony after supper and appreciate the full moon.

An excellent way to spend a week.

Back to Cartagena

February 22, 2024Colombia, TravelBocagrande, bus ride, Cartagena, Indígenaskarenfranza

Feb 20 – Today is a travel day. A one hour bus ride will take us from Minca to Santa Marta, then a short cab ride to the next station, where we will get on a different bus for the four hour ride back to Cartagena.

We had one last sunrise, one last breakfast, then moseyed down to the bus stop.

An Indígenia family at the bus stop; parents dressed in white

This time our long ride was in a 15 passenger van, instead of a big bus. That was okay, as we were the first to get on, and got to sit together.

Jim bought an arepa with egg inside, and pronounced it good

When we stayed in Cartagena last time, we were in the historical walled city of Getsemani. This time Jim rented us an apartment in a high rise about two miles further down the beach, in the area called Bocagrande.

At every new place we stay in Colombia, we have only an approximate address. Their street numbering system is a mystery. Google points to a place that is definitely not it, but we are always roughly within a half mile. We have been saved several times by cab drivers who figured out where we wanted to go without a specific address.

We thought we’d figure out the system as we went along, but no such luck. Today’s Uber driver dropped us off in front of a promising looking building, but it was not our building. Several helpful passersby sent us off in all four directions. One even had an app on his phone that purported to figure out Colombian addresses, but he couldn’t give us an answer. We texted our host and asked for a clue. Once she gave us the name of the building, we had no trouble finding it, and had, in fact, been by it several times.

By the time we were done walking back and forth, I felt like this guy!

The winds blew at what felt like gale force along the beach, and there were even waves in our pool!

The wind blew the palm trees, , and pushed the water right out of the pool

When we got to our apartment on the 17th floor, the wind was screaming all around us, but everyone else was taking it in stride, so I guess we were in no danger of blowing away.

We are here for a week of swimming and relaxing. If I have any news to report, I’ll let you know!

More from Cartagena

February 12, 2024Colombia, TravelBotero Gertrudis, Cartagena, Catedral de Santa Catalina, Cervantes, iron statueskarenfranza

Feb 11 – This morning we walked down to the Catedral de Santa Catalina, which is open and airy.

In the square, we found a bronze Botero. Note the discoloration of the boobs and butt due to repeated handling!

There are lots of amusing little iron statues here:

There is a small park, with lots of people looking up. Turns out there is a resident sloth named Juan, and a few little monkeys.

As a bonus, we spied a friendly iguana who didn’t mind being photographed:

It is Super Bowl Sunday, and Jim scoped out several restaurants with big screen TVs for our dinner. We thought lots of tourists would be interested in watching the game, but we seemed to be the only ones. Congratulations to Team Taylor!

Cartagena

February 12, 2024Colombia, Travelarepas, Cartagena, door knockers, el Alcatraz, Getsemani, India Catalina, wall art, Walled citykarenfranza

Feb 10 – Our plane landed around 9pm, and a twenty minute taxi ride got us to the walled city of Cartagena (Car ta HAY na). A last minute text informed us that the apartment we rented had plumbing issues, and offered us an alternate address on a different street. Our taxi driver got us pretty close, and we walked the rest of the way down the jam-packed narrow street, bustling with tourists and music. Once at the door, Jim negotiated the coded lock, then another lock inside the lobby and a third lock at our door. This place is secure! We dropped into bed, exhausted.

Blue skies and palm trees in the morning

Statue of La India Catalina, a chief’s daughter kidnapped and enslaved by the Spaniards in the early 1500s

Cartagena is the port that the Spaniards originally used to ship their gold back to Europe. They built a fortified wall around the city to protect it from pirates (most notably Sir Francis Drake).

An excursion to the wall was our goal for the morning. While the weather in Bogotá was temperate, here it is HOT. At 9am it was 91 degrees with a real-feel of 103. Off we go!

We strolled along the wide top of the wall

A bull ring! We were told bullfighting is no longer practiced here

We are right on the Caribbean Sea, but this is not an area known for its beaches

Statue El Alcatraz (the Gannet), the local bird

After an arroz con pollo lunch (every area has their own version of chicken and rice), we retreated back to our air conditioned room to wait for the cooler temperatures of evening.

The name of our neighborhood is Getsemani, the area where the backpackers and groovy people hang out. It’s a tourist scene with lots of locals touting trinkets and offering tours.

Colorfully clad women are happy to pose with tourists…

…as long as they are adequately compensated. Their smiles are ONLY for the camera

At one point, a trio of young men with a boom box and a microphone followed gringos down the street while making up rap songs about them. Similar to mariachi bands in Mexican restaurants, they count on you to eventually pay them to leave you alone!

Since arriving in Colombia, I have been on a quest to taste an arepa – a delicious native cornflour griddle cake featured in Encanto (where Julietta’s arepas had healing powers). Every place we tried, even when the name of the restaurant had arepas in the title, we struck out. No arepas.