Cartagena surprises

March 8th, Cartagena Colombia

This morning we woke up at 9 am (shocker) and decided to walk around the old city again, my main aim was to have a cup of Colombian coffee as I still hadn't had one. We even visited 2 museums on our way, but to be honest we may have spent extra time in there for the AC!

We passed by an icecream shop that we had seen packed the previous evening, and picked our ice cream. Now here's where it gets very strange. Bernie paid the cashier and along with the change she gave us a small bag of white powder. Confused we asked what it was and couldn't really understand what she was saying. I thought maybe it was sugar, but why would she give us sugar? Turns out, it's cocaine! We got given cocaine - for free - at an icecream shop - packed with families - in the middle of the day! I don't know why I'm so surprised, we're in Colombia after all.

After that little adventure we had some Colombian coffee at a cafe (only gave us coffee, no freebies here!) though my unsophisticated pallet couldn't discern the difference between this and good old Reynolds in London.

We then went for lunch to a lovely Colombian restaurant and had a meal of rice and a meat and corn coconut milk curry, unfortunately I don't remember what it was called. It was delish.

With just 20 days to go, I thought I'd been spared the curse of the 'travellers belly'. To think I was so close to making it back home without any gross stories! Anyway it hit me as we were collecting our laundry and I had to hobble jog back to the hostel as fast as I could. For those wondering, I made it with no accidents!

Since I left Bernie at the shop to go the 2 minutes to the hostel alone, I realized that this was the first time I was by myself in Colombia. I realized this immediately as the cat calling and whistling began. As a girl, one is always more aware of her surroundings as compared to boys. As a girl who grew up in India, I'm always on high alert, because that's just how it is. However all through our travels in South America, I never once came across this behaviour so I was disappointed that these few Colombians ruined the almost eve teasing free trip.

Tonight's our last night in Cartagena as we leave for the town of Santa Marta tomorrow. It's time to say goodbye with a few mojitos, I don't think food is a wise idea!

Viva la fiesta, viva la noche

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

Adeus Brazil

March 4th, Rio de Janeiro Brazil
This morning we checked out of our hostel and shared a taxi with two Aussie girls who were also checking out and moving to a hotel in Copacabana. They were very nice and suggested we leave our big backpacks in their hotel until our flight that night. Such a relief!
We made our way over to the bottom of a mountain called Pao de Azucar or "Sugar Loaf" which has great aerial views of Rio. We wanted to see the Christ the Redeemer statue and thought about doing a helicopter tour. But we watched a couple from the road and realized that they don't go close to the statue at all, so we decided to head to the sight.
The statue is at the top of a mountain cliff, very high up but luckily they have transport right till the top. It was pretty crowded but definitely cool. You can see the figure looking over Rio from most areas downtown. You also have great views of Rio from here.
After that, we headed to the airport for our flight to Cartagena Colombia. This flight was shockingly expensive, the cost of flying from London! But there's no way we were going to take a 5 day long bus, so an 8 hour flight it was.
I definitely need to go back to Brazil, 5 days is practically nothing in such a huge country. I'm pleased to say that our stay was safe and we don't have any bad experiences to report considering how much we were scared by stories! I'll miss hearing Portuguese, but quite excited to hear the "best Spanish in South America" that's apparently spoken in Colombia.

Sugar Loaf in the distance

Surfin' in Rio

March 3rd, Rio de Janeiro Brazil

After the insane night at the Sambadrome, we woke up in the afternoon in time for our surfing lessons! We were excited but I was nervous just because the waves are so big here. I also asked for a wet suit because I thought the water was too cold when I dipped my feet in but actually it wasn't at all. The guys loaded up all the boards into their funky van and told us to walk up to the beach, the same beach we went to yesterday. I was hoping it was just to wait for them since I didn't think those waves were small at all, but no, we were going to learn there. There weren't any surfers in the water that day because the waves were "too small" apparently. 

Anyway, our instructions were exactly one minute long, just how to stand on the board and how to Eskimo roll when a wave is breaking on you. That's it, now run in. Getting through the first wave was pretty hard but after that it was much better. You use your arms a lot as your feet are on the board and have to paddle really hard and fast. As we got deep enough, the was a good wave coming that Bernie tried but fell off and was dragged almost all the way to the shore. I kept falling off the board just trying to do the jump-stand. Every time I caught a wave I'd either not stand in time, or not paddle hard enough so I'd miss it. It was very tiring. Then a couple of huge waves broke over us and I wasn't used to the size and weight of my board so my Eskimo rolls were a complete fail and I just kept drinking water and getting dragged by my board like a rag doll. By this point I realised I couldn't see Bernie nor our English speaking instructor which was worrying. Turns out Bernie got pretty wiped out by a couple of waves and went to the beach to rest. 

When the instructor came back, I tried to jump stand on my board many many times and ended up with bleeding knees and elbows because I kept falling but I finally managed to do it, though not on a wave. I tried a few more more waves for another 45 minutes but kept falling. It was very frustrating because it's so much harder than I expected and so so tiring as you have to keep paddling as the waves keep pushing you back and forth. Finally another few huge waves broke over us and I was so tired and contstantly had water dripping from my nose that I also decided to pack it up and rest with Bernie who didn't come back in, he was too knackered. 

The funny thing is that actually getting to the shore is super hard. The point where the waves break closest to the shore is where the strength is the most and getting caught in that break means spinning around like crazy in the water. So I understood now why the instructor escorted Bernie to the beach earlier. It took me a few minutes and then when I was standing at knee deep water, a wave knocked me down completely and back in I went. When I was finally out of the water, I collapsed in exhaustion. I was quite disappointed in my performance, I don't think I tried hard enough and the fear of falling off the board as the wave broke was too scary. Many times, even when I was riding it perfectly and poised for a great ride, I wouldn't stand up when I needed to. 

All in all it was an experience, I thought I'd be a natural surfer but boy was I wrong! We both also realised that when we get back to London, we need to go to the gym and work on our stamina and fitness. By the time we were back in the hostel, we were exhausted from paddling, going under even carrying the boards home on our heads for the one minute!

So surfing =1, Bernadine=0

Sambadrome

March 2nd, Rio de Janeiro Brazil

After 12 beautiful hours of sleep from our exhausting day yesterday, we woke up to a great breakfast of toasted ham and cheese sandwiches and fruits. I wish the hostels int he rest of South America had toasties, everyone would be so much happier. Since it's a rare day for us to be awake at a normal hour, we decided to use our time wisely and go to the beach. It's less that a minute's walk from the hostel and everyone goes to the beach in their swimsuits and no towel or slippers or anything, just their surfboards. Macumba beach is beautiful and most importantly not very crowded as it's quite a drive from central Rio, so it's mostly the locals hanging out here. It's sort of like a 'secret beach'. I think that Brazillians are at the beach whenever they have a free moment, I would love to live this life!

As we hit the sand, we realised that the waves here were huge. I mean so big that I was actually afraid to go into the water other than to dip my feet. This is very bad behaviour for a Goan, and that to me of all the people to be scared of the sea! Unthinkable! Bernie went in a bit more but the current was so strong that even when standing at knee level, a wave would completely overthrow you and the sand was very sinky. He came out pretty fast! We just sat around watching people and the many fishermen who were fishing from the beach with fishing rods. 

We got back home and decided to chill out a little before our hectic night at the Sambodromo which started at 9 pm. Once again we had to take a bus into town, and once again had to wait an entire hour at the bus stop. We finally reached Ipanema at around 8 pm, at this point the roads were so crowded that the bus had pretty much stopped moving and Ipanema is where the metro starts. We thought we'd have a quick bite and take the metro to reach the Sambadrome for 9 pm. We had tickets to sector 7 which is the best stand as it's opposite the judges, but there's no numbered seating so people go early to get the good seats. We knew that the show goes on from 9 pm to 6 am so we weren't too worried. 

After a quick meal and getting completely lost finding the metro, we finally made it to the station to see a massive crowd and long queues to buy metro tickets. We had no choice but to stand in the queue where we spoke to a São Paolo native who was really annoyed with the queue and 'inefficiency' and wondered what Brazil would be like for the World Cup. It's a fair thought, though Brazil definitely has the vibe and enthusiasm for the World Cup, I do actually wonder if they are prepared in terms of crowd management, traffic, crime, public transport etc.

Anyway after queuing and being held back in batches for each train, we were finally in and got off at Central station where we asked a nice volunteer for directions and he took us half way. Then again we got lost (no signage anywhere!) until we finally made it to the entrance of sector 7.

The Sambadrome is really interesting, it's actually a road with 6 bleacher stands on either side. This was built specifically for Carnival so I don't really know what else this structure could be used for. This is used for 4 days of Cranival. The first two days are cheaper and the parade consists of the samba schools that didn't qualify for the main two days. The next two days have the Top League or Special Group which consists of the best Samba schools and we went on this day. Each competing school is judged on costumes, theme, floats, lyrics, dancing, music etc. what I didn't know is that every school's entry consists of 6-8 floats and upto 4,000 people! That's bigger than the entire Goa carnival!

 It was absolutely packed with people waving flags and wearing hats and costumes and dancing in their seats. There were no seats left so we had to stand on the stairs. Suddenly there were a lot of fire works and the drums began and the floats started. Oh my gosh, the colours and the costumes and the actual floats! I've never seen anything like it. Majority of the people don't do the samba, they have huge coatumes so you can't really tell even if they are, but in front of each group they have the samba dancing girls in their magnificent costumes. It is a sight to see! Each school starts with a group of 5-8 dancers that set the mood and tone of the floats to come and since we were sitting right opposite the judges, they would stop and dance right there and these are the best dancers of each school. This is followed by the queen flag bearer in an amazing outfit along with a jester trying to make sure that all the attention is on the school flag. Then comes the first float followed by hundreds in costumes and so on. Each float took about 45 minutes from start to finish and then we had a break before the next school. 

Some of the floats and costumes we out of this world. There was a pirate themed float that actually had a cannon shoot a pirate out and he fell into a net. It was beyond amazing! They also had a lot of people selling drinks and food so it was very nice and easy. We stayed on till about 4 am watching, the only disappointing part being that it's more like a show that you watch as you can't partake more than dancing in your seat. Unfortunately we'd only taken my mobile for pictures and they aren't great so mental pictures will have to do. 

We finally got back in the metro where a drunk young guy and his girlfriend insisted on buying Bernie's hat and haggled over the price for ten minutes! And ended up returning it and asking for a refund 10 mins later. After the metro we decided to take a cab home the rest of the way, only reaching home once it was light. What an amazing once in a lifetime experience ticked off my bucket list!