Cartagena

Cartagena

The land of Joan Wilder. Cartagena is a beautiful port. It has modern buildings dotting the surrounding land sprinkled amongst old ruins and lush rainforest. There are beautiful expensive yachts and massive container ships. We have a leisurely morning as we don't dock until 10 am and have no planned excursions. We decide to go ashore at 11:30 and if nothing more than to say we were in Cartagena. None of us has high expectations after the stories we have heard about the drug cartel and the movies that have been set here. Byron decided to stay on board and be pampered with a 2 hour massage and body therapy. We first went through the official duty free stores that seem to be at every port. These were particularly nice. We we got outside to the street, the onslaught of taxi vendors was almost alarming. Negotiation is the name of the game here. Joe started negotiating with this old one eyed man who wanted $40 per person for a 4 hour tour. Joan went and found this girl who was hawking 4 hour in a cab for $20 per person. Joe went to the taxi stand and they would also do $20 per person but with 6 people we would need two cabs. I turned around and almost literaly ran into Elmo who had a van and agreed to do a 2 hour tour to the old town for $12 a person and we don't pay till we get back to the ship. I immediately accepted and we all gathered while Elmo was getting the van. Well…… Elmo first rounded up 4 other people to also pay $12 each and then he went ot get the van. The van was very nice and air conditioned. Hot Humid Rainforest is the way to describe the weather/temperature in Cartagena.

This weekend, Cartagena is celebrating it's 200th year of independence which was granted 11/11/1811. So today the old town is being blocked off to eliminate traffic as the old city becomes a huge street carnival. Elmo (who can forget a large middle aged man with a name like Elmo) was an excellent tour guide. He had the van drop us off by the outskirts of the walled city and took us for a very delightful walking tour of the old city. The old city reminds me of the French Quarter of New Orleans. It is both a historic area but an active city where people from all walks of life live. There are stores, restaurants, churches, apartments, lofts, mansions, and poor. To add to the natural vibrancy, the people were dressed and partying for carnival. There was music everywhere, people in costumes, and kids have a delight silly string and soap foam as they passed others . Several us, and especially Jan got spayed. Joe and I both talked about how this was a city worth visiting again. We were all accosted by the street vendors hawking their tshirts and knock off wares. They were persistent and particularly followed joe for the longest distances before they finally gave up. We made our way back outside and had to wait quite a spell before the van reappeared. Then all of us Hot Sweaty Stinking tourists piled into the heaven of air conditioned comfort and headed back to the ship. A brief stop in the shops and we we back on board.