Cartagena

We left the city of eternal spring for a tropical inferno, a pristinely preserved vestige of Colombia´s colonial past, the caribbean city of Cartagena. With no intention of relinquishing his expert and thoughtful role as our official tour guide, Chepe coordinated to have a friend of his, Juan, pick us up from the airport and show us around Cartagena. When we arrived Sunday evening we were promptly greeted by Juan and his adorable girlfriend. They brought us to our home for the next week, the Hotel Caribe.

Over a much needed western meal of crepes and salad we discussed our itinerary for the week. Juan is an excellent resource. Having lived in London for five years and currently teaching English in Cartagena he had a command of English that was comforting in a country where you definitely can´t expect people to be able to communicate with you in English at a sophisticated level. I actually appreciate that not everyone speaks English because it has forced me to dig into my personal language archives and use my Spanish. What´s more is that knowing that I have to use Spanish as a means of survival makes a significant difference psychologically in how well I communicate. Unlike Europe where whatever language skills you may have are surely trumped by the European you are speaking with, here I am way less timide and self-concious about making errors.  

After dinner Juan and his girlfriend took us on a tour of the city pointing out some restaurants, cafes, clubs and bars. We hopped out of the car at Castillo San Felipe de Barajas to photograph the fort illuminated by the night lights. We intend the old pirate watch point again during the day time.

Monday morning Juj and I grabbed a taxi and headed to the airport to pick up Angelica! Deciding to take it easy, that day spent the afternoon by our hotel pool. We made the mistake of ordering lunch poolside, an experience that was a poor introduction to Colombian food for Angelica. She called her ceviche ¨shameful¨ and the entire meal ¨wack¨.

That afternoon we found ourselves a full service spa to do some waxing and nails. Of course it was very affordable and we were happy with all the end results. Freshly groomed we headed into the old city for a seafood dinner at a restaurant recommended to us, Juan del Mar. Being cold is the last thing on your mind here except for the climate in this well air-conditioned restaurant. After reaching her threshold Angelica requested that they turn the AC down. They brought her a baby blanket with animals on it instead.

After dinner we wandered around the colonial walled city which was glowing from all the countless street lamps and candelabras. The atmosphere was fairytale-like. I felt like I was in one of my favorite author Gabriel Garcia Marquez´s novels. We eventually ended up climbing the steps to walk on the old wall where most of Cartagená´s young residents spend the evening drinking, playing music, and dancing. We ended the night early to be well rested for our excursion to the Islas del Rosario in the morning.