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| "La Puerta" (door) to the old city |
17 January 2014 – Yes, I realize this is postdated. You’re going to have to excuse my tardiness though,
as I’ve been busy traveling. So as I was
saying, it was January 17th and I finally made it to the long awaited, much
talked about country of Colombia.
Cartagena, Colombia to be exact.
Olé!
Cartagena is a wonderful, old colonial city that was founded
in 1533 by Pedro de Heredia. Don’t worry,
there won’t be a quiz, I just thought I’d throw a little background in for you. It quickly became a bustling Spanish port
town that, “came to be the storehouse for the treasure plundered from the local
population until the galleons could ship it back to Spain” (Colombia Lonely
Planet 2012). So charming. By the 17th century, the Spanish began
building a wall around the city to ward off pirate attacks. It is this wall that encloses the famed old
city of Cartagena. Walking through “la
puerta” of Cartagena is like taking a wonderful trip back in time. The charming, old, colonial buildings are
marvelously preserved and colorful pots of flowers rest on balconies as if not
a year has gone by. Horse-drawn
carriages continue to clip throughout the cobbled streets as tourists' preferred mode of taxi transport.
While in Cartagena, I can’t say I did much more than wander
aimlessly throughout the old city marveling at the quaint plazas and old
buildings. I also made it a point to
partake in many of the fresh fruit juices the city has to offer. Colombia has so many tasty and exotic fruits,
that many don’t have English names. My
new favorites are Lulo and Guanabana.  |
| An old church |
Highs and Lows of Cartagena:
Low- Upon arriving in Cartagena I decided to stay at Hostel
de la Luna, upon the recommendation of Lonely Planet. You really must take everything the ol’ LP
says with a grain of salt because this was a happening party hostel, crawling
with Latin American 20 year olds ready to party. Me as a bright-eyed backpacker eight years
ago would have loved this place. The
very clearly, over-the-hill, tired old 29 year-old hated sharing a dorm with a
bunch of jabbering youngsters as they partied all night long and left the light
on…
This dormitory charade only lasted one night though, as I very
promptly changed hotels the next day. I
found one that was not only cheaper, quieter and cleaner, but I got my own room
too.
Highs- I got to hang out with my dear friends Lauren and
Matt on their honeymoon! While the
little lovebirds nauseated me with their gross displays of hand-holding (the
nerve!), we had an
awesome time gallivanting throughout the city. We dined on delicious ceviche made with tiger’s
milk (only the finest for us), drank the world’s greatest mojitos, danced salsa
with unsuspecting bartenders, sipped cervezas on the wall at sunset and all
in all had a wonderful time. Honeymoons
are fantastic. I highly recommend them!
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| Munching on freshly sliced mango |
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| Beers on the wall at sunset |
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| Eating delicious Argentinian food with Lauren and Matt |
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| Delicious frutas! |
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