Cartagena

Day 191 – Officially on the North coast of our Southern Journey

Relieved to be off our very last South American night bus alive, with all our possessions and only about 2 hours delayed, we took a minibus into the centre of town.  We were not quite sure what was going on with the driver’s paraphernalia, but with so much going on up there and all the curtains closed to keep the heat out, we couldn’t see out, missed our stop and had to stay on the bus for another circle of town and wait for it to pass somewhere near our destination.  We got a nice tour of the new town though (imagine big white skyscraping apartment blocks in a Brisvegas/Gold Coast type setting), and decided that we would be paying the extra to go stay in the old part of town.

If you look closely there is a set of yellow fluffy die in there!

After we’d ditched our packs and scoffed some much needed sustenance, consisting of the local fare “Arepa” with cheese and egg and had a shower and a tiny nap on the deck chairs, we walked over to the old part of town to look for a fancy pants restaurant that had been recommended in our Clonely Planet.  We didn’t find the restaurant, but we did find a fun little jewellery shop and a very worthy alternative eating venue called El Bistro where we enjoyed fish soup, steamed salmon, Hindu curry prawns and the best crispy roast potatoes in all of South America (we can make statements like that now – we are nearly done).  Of course all this was washed down with an interesting cocktail or two.  Mine, the house special, which I am not sure what was in it but it was blue!  And Matt, feeding his new addiction of Aguadiente (black jelly bean juice) combined with his old addiction (Pisco Sours) for an Aguasour.

After dinner we went for a wander around town and stumbled across Cafe del Mar, a huge outdoor bar sprawling along the top of one of the walls of the old city and looking back across the lights of the new.  Very pretty and pricey!  But we had to stay for a night cap.

Matt lounging at Cafe del Mar – the only available seat in the house.

The Catheral at night.

Day 192 - Out with the new, in with the old.

For our first night, we stayed in a backpackers just outside the walls of the old town called Media Luna which was fine, but not really what we were in the mood for as it was only dorm rooms, with one dodgey shower between 20, concrete army barracks style rooms infested with mozzies and staff that weren’t that interested and charged for everything!  We were also pretty keen to stay right in the centre of the old town and for a little aircon, given we hadn’t been in such heat for so long!

Media Luna courtyard.

So the first task this morning was breakfast and then a walk over to the old town to check out some hotels.  We settled on a cheap and cheerful with aircon right in the centre (only to discover it was in the guidebook – doh!) and went back to claim our bags.  We also looked up where our fancy pants restaurant had moved to and headed there for lunch.

Typical streetscape just outside the walls of the old part.

The wall of the old town, with the Chapel behind.

I’m still in love with the architecture and general style of buildings in the old parts of all these towns we have been to!

El Santísimo Restaurant didn’t let us down and we feasted on cerviche and other seafood creations and I had the best chocolate mousse in all of South America (also more than qualified to make this statement). 

Some more strolling about town:

With all that wandering we had worked up a thirst and dropped in on one of the locals bars for a beer before the sale on alcohol ban kicked in.  The salsa music was blearing and the fans whirling overtime and we chatted with a crazy old sailor from Panama (crazy because we had the same discussion 3 times) until the cops dropped in at 6pm and everyone had to skull and leave.  The ban on the sale of alcohol over the weekend was due to the elections.  We were not exactly sure what was achieved by this, as everyone just stocked up and drank at home!  Us included!

We decided that given we had been spoiled for our last two meals and that we had access to a kitchen, we had better cook.  So once it got dark, we went and got some ingredients to make risotto and retreated to our ice box to watch movies at the hostel. 

 

Day 193 – What ban?

This morning we went to visit El Castillo San Felipe de Barajas, the huge fortress overlooking the old walled town of Cartagena.  It began to be constructed in 1536, but wasn’t finished until the mid 1600s some time and was constructed to repel land attacks, equipped with sentry boxes, buildings for food and weapons storage and underground tunnels, a soldiers sick room and lots of cannons. 

It was stinking hot and with a hankering for a milkshake we walked all the way back into the centre to try and find an ice-cream shop we had previously walked past, but now having walked almost every street, we were totally confused and exhausted from the heat, so we settled on a lemonade at El Bistro.  We instantly decided to go back there for dinner too, noticing another interesting array of Indian influenced food on the daily menu.

But first I had to earn my dinner by searching out a pair of “fancy shoes” for our upcoming cruise with my parents or I would be shunned on formal night!  Sounds easy, but finding proper nice flat shoes in a society of flip flop wearing – or even worse – wedge heeled flip flop wearing ladies was not as easy as you’d think, even given my gender and genes!  We found a pair just as Matt’s tether was near the end and then headed back to El Bistro for another yummy meal.  The German owner had noticed we were now regulars and advised that if we wanted a cocktail, or wine in a different glass, to just ask!  Other fancy restaurants on the strip had a cop parked out the front and wine still flowing, so we are not really sure about this whole ban thing.

The old town at night:

Day 194 – Like pigs in…

Today we had organised a trip out to Volcán de Lodo El Totumo, a 15 metre metre mud volcano that you can hop into the crater of!  The volcano is formed by natural gases emitted by decaying organic matter underground which pushes up the mud.  The mud deposits and hardens on the surface and as more mud oozes out and spills over the edge it forms a volcano with a creamy mud crater!  The mud is supposed to contain certain minerals that are good for your skin, and much cheaper than a regular visit to a health spa.

So the agency picked up us at our hostel at 8.30am and then it was off to the Hilton and other fancy places in the new town to pick up some other, lets say older, guests.  As we were heading out of town, the minivan stopped and Matt and I were asked to leave the minivan and swap to a full sized coach parked behind.  We worked out why as soon as we got on – it was full of backpackers!  We obviously didn’t fit in with the minivan guests.

It was about an hours drive out to Totumo.  Once there, we stripped off, climbed a big staircase to the top and hopped in!  Inside the volcano were locals who moved you around by pushing you through the mud (its very difficult to move on your own) and also gave you massages and took care of your camera and took photos while you were otherwise indisposed.  I spent about 30 minutes mucking around in the mud but Matt hated it and got out after about 10 minutes!  We were the only ones not game to risk getting a tummy bug in our last few days in South America by putting our heads in.

  

After you get out of the mud and slide back down the steps, there is a nearby lake to wash in where ladies offer to take your bathers from you and tip buckets of water over your head.  We managed to avoid both and washed sufficiently to be allowed to get back on the bus to be taken to lunch.

Lunch was at Manazilla Playa (Chamomile Beach) and as lunch wasn’t quite ready yet we had time to swim at the beach (for the first time since Galapagos).  The water was like bath water (or tea?), so different to what we Aussies expect every time we go near the surf!  For lunch we had fresh fish with cocoa infused rice, fried plantain and salad and washed down with a grape lemonade.  Then we were ferried back to town.

 

We managed some chores in the afternoon and had a big pasta dinner with lemonade at one of the Italian places.

Day 195 – Shopping under pressure is not good for a marriage.

This morning was Matt’s turn to look for shoes for the cruise, as Mum couldn’t find anything (unsurprisingly!) in the mess of stuff we had left in my Granddad’s garage.  Unsuccessful and running out of time to get to our next destination, Taganga, at any decent hour we had to abort mission, have our last yummy Indian influenced lunch at El Bistro and get on the next bus to Santa Marta.  We made it to Santa Marta by about 8, took a cab the last five kilometres to Taganga and were lucky to get a spot at the lovely Divanga Hostel without a booking.

Restored ships lined the Cartagena waterfront, just like in Melbourne!