March 5th - 7th, Cartagena Colombia
We got to Cartagena airport after 8 hours flying through Panama City. I wished we'd planned a stop in Panama as they have the incredibly beautiful San Blas beach, but the problem with traveling is that for every place you visit, you add about 7 more to the list that you need to see. And thus it never ends!
At Cartagena, or the official name Cartagena de Indias, we were immediately hit by the Caribbean vibe as well as the heat and humidity. We got to our hostel 'Iguana's House' in the walled city, and woe of woes, no AC! We decided that we'd be fine for the next two days, traveling is about adjusting after all. It was so so hot that we decided to go to the beach for a quick swim. Cartagena is on the northern coast of Colombia and the sea, the Caribbean, is about a 20 minute walk from our hostel.
The historic old town is surrounded by the city wall and is a UNESCO heritage site. The ancient stone walls were erected to protect the port as precious metals used to be transported, Cartagena was a vital sea port for Spain. The walled city has about 3 distinct neighbourhoods that we've seen. The first one is where we are staying, it's full of hostels and small hotels with narrow little streets and lots of bars and cafés and backpackers. The second area is about a 5 mins walk away and here it gets really posh. Everything is big and spread out and properly painted with lovely plants hanging off balconies and lots of expensive hotels and shops, mostly for older tourists. The third area is a sort of market area, though very tiny. Inside the walled area it's very quaint with colourful Spanish colonial buildings, cobble stoned streets and lots of bars and cafés. The buildings have big colourful doors that open into surprisingly large courtyards and every street corner has a fruit stand selling watermelon, mango and all sorts of exotic fruit juices.
The beach strip called Boca Grande is quite long coastline and split into mini coves. There is not much beach and the sand is a grey ish colour which makes the water look dirty but it's actually volcanic sand. Each cove was quite crowded but we didn't make it past the second one to check. The water was just perfect, especially coming from the gigantic Rio waves, this was exactly right. We didn't hang out on the beach as it's quite like Goa, full of vendors trying to sell foreigners massages etc. After about 45 minutes in the water, we headed home eating half ripe half raw mango from a plastic bag. It was very relaxing, I definitely need to visit the actual Caribbean Coast!
Back at the hostel, I discovered my massive tan and don't think I have ever been browner. Funny thing is Bernie is much darker than me, he loves it! We chatted with an Irish guy at the hostel who told us where the party was that night (1 block away) so we went for an Italian dinner and headed back to Calle Media Luna (the street we are staying on) which was packed with backpackers drinking at the many bars.
We had a great time, met tons of people. There were so many Brits from North London, even one from Finchley! We hung out with the Irish guy, a French guy and a Swiss most of the night and had a blast. Every few minutes a random person would join the conversation and we were a pretty big group by the end. While I was waiting for the toilet (horror story - 1 toilet for both boys and girls, welcome to Colombia), the bartender gave me a free shot of the local alcohol 'Aguardiente' which tastes a lot like Sambuca, disgusting! As I was wiping the tears out of my eyes, I met the bar manager who is an Indian girl! So they made me have another shot and that gives you an idea of the night at this bar with 24/7 happy hour.
Everyone was in a great mood, lots of Americans as Miami is only 2 hours away and we partied till the wee hours of the night.
The next day I only woke up at 1:30 pm and we didn't move at all. We were so hot, there are no words to describe how hot and tiny that room was, but the fact that we still didn't move just shows you how lazy we were. Finally at 8 pm we ventured out for an Indonesian meal which was quite nice and back in the room within the hour.
This morning we moved hotels and made sure we got an AC room. You may think we're acting spoilt but the temperature today is 35*C and the humidity is 82%!!! We ate lunch at a local sea food restaurant and once again my favourite was octopus. In the evening we walked on the wall and through the posh area just looking at everything. It's a very pretty small easy city.
Interesting facts:
Cartagena is the city most associated with pirates in the Caribbean, and the world. It's also the first city in the Americas that was conquered by Spain. It is also one of the first sanctuaries of freed African slaves in the continent. As a result, the population is a very ethnic mix. Drugs are easily bought and sold, in fact I saw about 3 transactions at the bar. Additionally, our hostel actually has a 'weed smoking bathroom' with instructions that include lighting incense so as to not bother anyone else.
Post name is from a very popular song that I was reminded of when we were partying:
I couldn't believe what I was living
So I called my friend Johnny
And I said to him:
Johnny, la gente esta muy loca
What the f*ck?
All day, all night
Viva la fiesta, viva la noche
