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!

San Gil

Day 186 – Mission Aborted

[Warning readers who are more in fact ‘picture lookers’, due to the nature of the activities undertaken this week the volume of text far exceeds the number of photos, you’ll have to use your mind’s eyes’.]

Mid-morning we wandered down to the Colombia Rafting office to assess our options.  In the end we settled on a rafting trip down the Rio Suarez, an exciting ride down class 5 rapids.  Shortly thereafter the van swung by our hostel to collect us and we were on our way.  Along for the ride were Erin and I, Hanneke and Maaike, a German guy and his Colombian girlfriend, two rafting guides and two safety kayakers. 

All through the hour long ride the guides were taking phone calls about the state of the river.  Apparently it was pretty much perfect for rafting, hovering just below the four metre mark on the relevant gauge.  When the gauge exceeds four metres the trip is deemed too dangerous, but just around four is ‘mas divertido’ (more fun)!  Alas we arrived at the river to discover it had risen above the magic number, the guides discussed the matter at length eventually deciding that running the river would be too risky.

The closest we ever got to the Rio Suarez.

Back at the office Maaike got a full refund, but Hanneke, Erin and I opted to trade our rafting ride in for the first day of a kayaking course.  So after lunch we arrived at the office to watch a 50 minute video on how to roll a kayak.  Just as the video was finishing the rain started and got heavier, and heavier.  We peered outside to see the steep cross street at the corner transformed into something we could have kayaked down.

The weather threatening to float the kayaks off the trailer (not to mention actually floating the car in the background).

With the rain still pouring down we got back in the van and headed for a natural pool on the outskirts of town to practice our Eskimo rolls (so named because Eskimos used to be strapped to their kayaks, hence if they couldn’t roll they drowned).  Halfway to the pool our plans again changed when it was discovered that the rain was filling the natural pool with turbid water.  So we hung a u-turn and headed for a hotel swimming pool on the other side of town. 

When we were finally in the water we took it in turns while Yeison and Jaime helped us go through the motions of the roll.  The motions are quite difficult to picture because your orientation with respect to the water and the kayak changes as you perform the steps.  In other words it’s not as simple as sitting in a kayak on the side of the pool and rehearsing the movements, you actually have to be in the pool with your head under water.  By the time it was getting dark we were all close, but not quite there.

That evening the rain really set in, so we ordered in Chinese with the girls and ate it in the covered part of the hostels courtyard.  All the thrashing around under water had taken it out of us, so we didn’t last too long once the Chinese food had had a chance to settle.

Day 187 – Ant Sauce

This morning we graduated from the pool to the river.  Ceasar replaced Jaime and called the shots.  First we paddled up and down in a little calm area practicing our different strokes, then we practiced an assisted roll, where you ditch the paddle and slap both sides of the boat until one of the guides puts his nose to your upturned boat so you can pull yourself up. 

Ceasar then wanted to see my roll (or what of it I could manage).  In the pool it was possible to open your eyes underwater and coordinate your motions a bit better.  In the river you can’t see a thing, which made it all the more difficult.  After a few failed attempts he rescued me.  He then provided one or two more pieces of advice on top of Jaime and Yeison's teaching from the day before.  Lo and behold, next time I tried I found myself sitting back upright first go!  Next he gave Erin a go and she nailed it too.

We then headed off down the river where we practiced ferry glides and pulling in and out of eddies.  We each managed stay out of the drink, hence avoiding the need practice our rolls for real.  However Caesar insisted I give it a go in the river proper, then in some light rapids, then in a small boiler and finally in some bigger rapids until I was so tired he had to come rescue me.

After a quick shower and change back at the hostel we picked up Maaike (who’d done some water sports of her own, with a trip to the local pool for some laps) and headed to the local bus terminal for our afternoon excursion to Barichara.  Barichara is renowned for its well preserved colonial architecture, laid back vibe and one fantastic restaurant. 

Starving from a energetic morning we made a beeline for the restaurant.  Being hidden down a side street on one edge of the town we had to ask directions a couple of times before we eventually found it.  Color de Hormiga (Colour of Ant) specialises in local food with a twist, most notably the Steak or Stuffed Chicken in Ant Sauce.  Erin went for the chicken and me the steak, keen to see just what ant sauce was like.

The black lumps are the ants.  And the verdict: their taste and texture is nutty, and the overall meal (including more banana chippies you’ll note) delicious.

Yep, that’s an ant.

 
Maaike had a Steak in Blue Cheese Sauce (which I sampled / helped finish), also delicious and Hanneke, the chicken curry.

After lunch we wandered around town soaking up the atmosphere (and the girls got in a bit of shopping too). 

Erin did some more dog whispering, this boy followed us from the restaurant all around town.

With thunderstorms brewing on the horizon we decided to get back on the bus and head back to San Gil. 

The Dutch girls had decided to move on to Santa Marta up north and by the time dinner came round the heavens had once again opened.  So we again fell back on the pizza place down the street, creating our own ‘vegetarian with salami’! 

Day 188 – All I want for my birthday is an Eskimo roll

I got up early to prepare Erin a birthday breakfast.  After assessing what was possible with the available kitchen utensils and grocery items we ended up with wholemeal toast, poached eggs, grilled mushrooms and tomatoes, a berry and banana smoothy and of course, a coffee.

Later in the day the kayak bus deposited Erin, Yeyson and I back at the river so we could try and get Erin her birthday wish, an Eskimo roll.  First we paddled down the river, heading a bit further downstream than the previous day through some bigger and more intimidating rapids.  All the while Yeyson kept trying to find more and more difficult places for me to execute a roll.  He also spent a fair bit of time trying talk Erin into rolling mid-river, but she was keen for a bit more practice in a calm spot first.

So we pulled into a nice little beach in San Gil’s botanical gardens where Yeyson could stand in the shallow and give Erin a hand while I took some snaps.  After a little while she wasn’t just rolling, but paddling hard, putting the paddle behind her hear, capsizing, repositioning herself and the righting herself first go.  Birthday present delivered!

Initial attempts!

My learning curve wasn’t exactly smooth either…

Finally success.

For dinner I made pasta with a cheesy mushroom and caper sauce.  Just after we’d finished eating Ricardo and Sally (who we went to Eagle’s Nest with) appeared at the hostel.  So we had a beer with them before we again collapsed exhausted.

Day 189 – Beer for services

The kayak bus dropped us by the side of the road a bit further up river than we were put in the last couple of days.  But when Yeyson found out that it was our last day he sheepishly asked if we might like to try one bigger set of rapids.  I said sure if he thought we were up to it.  No worries for you he said, if you flip you’ll ‘probably’ be able to roll, but Erin might not be able to.  Yeyson doesn’t speak much English, so this conversation was in Spanish and Erin couldn’t understand some of it, so I was left to relay this interesting proposition (in the past Erin has managed to pick up most of what Yeyson was saying, occasionally one of them would call on me to translate, or Erin would call on me to translate and Yeyson would refuse to repeat what he had said, suspicious!). 

In the end we decided to give it a crack, if Erin flipped Yeyson would have one go at rescuing her otherwise she could abandon her boat and Yeyson would retrieve it for her in the calm part of the river downstream.  I on the other hand would be left in the hands of one of the trainee instructors who happened to be floating past.  As we stood by the side of the river contemplating our fates a group of four went by in a small raft, we watched as the went into the top of the rapids, then 10 seconds later the raft shot up in the air and they went flying all directions, I was impressed Erin didn’t pick up her boat and carry it back downstream at that point!

When I’d deciphered most of what Yeyson was telling me we pushed off into the river (my major problem was that none of my previous Spanish training had included a kayaking module).  Erin followed Yeyson down first while I set off ahead of Diego.  As I hit the top off the rapids (waves over a metre high, that might not sound high, but looks big when you’re at the bottom of one!) I saw Erin go over, but I had my own problems to worry about.  I got about half way through the rapids before a big wave broke sideways over the side of my kayaking and I went over.

I knew that I would not be able to roll in the big waves, but Yeyson had told me that if I flipped I would probably be washed out the side.  So I held my breath for five or ten seconds until it felt a bit more calm around me and tried to roll.  To my absolute astonishment I found myself upright, it shows what you can do with a bit of determination (shit scared!).   To Diego’s credit I had felt his nose on my boat just before I rolled, if I’d failed he was right there to rescue me.  When Yeyson question Diego later he told him that I’d aimed for the guts of the rapids, turns out Yeyson had told me to head down one side where the waves weren’t so big, oops.

Erin on the other hand had made it nearly to the end of the rapids before coming unstuck.  Knowing that she was heading for rocks and already out of breath she bailed straight away.  Yeyson quickly quickly rounded up her, her kayak and paddle (which she’d kept hold of) and set to work emptying out her kayak.  Unfortunately Erin came unstuck a second time coming out of the eddy that Yeyson had used to rescue her,  she signalled for a rescue but Yeyson couldn’t get to her in time so she had to bail again.  Yeyson gracefully emptied her kayak again but couldn’t help suggesting that Erin owed him a couple of beers (which she gladly agreed to).

Further downstream the trainees stopped to play in a standing wave.  After they and Yeyson had demonstrated a few times Yeyson sent me in.  My first attempt was pitiful, I got washed downstream before I could get anywhere near it.  My second attempt was marginally better, I got there and stuck around for about two second before I again got washed out.  After some coaching I gave it one more go, this time managing to get a good couple of seconds in until I got washed sideways and flipped.  I had a couple of crack at rolling but I was too buggered from paddling hard and could quite get round.  Luckily as soon as I capsized Yeyson was after me, and after three unsuccessful attempts to right my kayak he got to me and gave me a hand.

Erin thinks this is hilarious, thanks dear!  I’d like to point out that the trainees often succumbed to the same fate, getting flipped and washed off the wave, and they’ve been kayaking for months…  [E: But they are 12 years old Matt!]

Again we stopped at the little beach for Erin to practice her rolls.  After a slow start she got onto a roll, pardon the pun, and was soon unstoppable.

In the evening we traded some books and movies with Sally and Ricardo, helped them get through a bottle of Chilean Sauvignon Blanc, and then headed out with them for bite to eat, drinks, cake and ice cream.

Later in the evening Yeyson appeared at the hostel to check who was signed up for rafting trips the next day.  So we coughed up one of the beers owed while he showed me some of his exploits on Facebook (including an impressing jump off a fairly high cliff in a kayak).

Day 190 – Mud is cleansing for your skin

Erin got up early to do some research for our upcoming Japan visit.  When I got up about an hour later she was looking a little sheepish.  “Why is the computer saying this?”, I was asked. 

“Because you’ve pressed F7”, I replied.

“But I didn’t”,

“Here, let me look… why is everything sticky?”

Erin turned to the Belgian girl next to us, “Damn, I knew he’d work it out”, as they both grinned turning back to me, “I spilled a little bit of milk in the keyboard.”

Well that explained the new random configuration that the keyboard had adopted.  So aside from packing I spend the rest of the morning with a teardown guide pulling the computer to pieces and cleaning out the milk.  As you might have gathered from the fact that I was able to produce this blog post, the cleaning operation was successful in returning normal function, but the keys are still a little sticky!

On our final day in Colombia’s adventure capital we opted to go caving.  So late morning Erin and I plus new Irish friend Bernard headed out of town to Curuti to find the agency.  Despite me asking the bus driver whether he knew where the agency was and if he could drop us there we still did a loop of town before he noticed we were the last remaining passengers and had to drive us back there.  It didn’t really matter as we had our own private tour with Jimmy (who, how can I put this, allayed our fears about fitting through any tight gaps).

Clean, keen and ready to go.

The cave we opted to tackle is called Cueva Vaca (Cow Cave), those with an active imagination can probably work this out, but it is so named because some years back a cow fell into the mouth of the cave. On a three day excursion Jimmy and some of the other guides have discovered that the cave continues for at least 35km, they did not however encounter any other exits or an end to the main passage.

Our underground journey began with a climb down a short ladder and a squeeze through a sideways gap, then things got interesting straight away.  Next it was down onto hands and knees in water about thirty centimetres deep to get though a low passage.  The water wasn’t exactly warm, but now was not the time to dwell on that fact.  The next manoeuvre was what Jimmy described as the ‘limbo’, in chest deep water we had to get through a passage with about five centimetres of breathing space, nose to the ceiling.  As if to reassure us Jimmy explained that it could be worse, when the breathing space disappears it is necessary to pull yourself through eleven metres beneath the muddy water from air pocket to air pocket!

Emerging from the ‘limbo’.  You’ll have to excuse the photo quality from here on in, the fact that the camera even worked subject to such disgustingly muddy conditions is frankly a testament to Panasonics engineers!

Loving every minute!

The next part of the expedition was to climb a slippery mud slope in order to see the ‘Virgin’ a stalagmite that looked vaguely like the Virgin Mary.  The real reason for ascending this treacherous slope soon became apparent when it was revealed that the way down was on our behinds down a muddy chute, good fun!  I took a video, but alas all you can see is black and the occasional headlamp…

‘The Night Sky’, yet another effect that is difficult to capture on film (so to speak).

 
My shining star.

Another section involved crawling through a reasonably dry but very squeezy section for about 20 metres.  There was about 30cm of space, so in the end the best way to tackle this section was to roll rather than crawl!

The final trick was to get us to turn off our headtorches and walk in the pitch dark for about fifty metres, a surreal experience.  About a kilometre in at a small waterfall Jimmy announced we were turning around and we retraced our steps back out.

 
Emerging, somewhat filthier.

The other night’s creamy mushroom and caper pasta was such a hit that a repeat performance was demanded for lunch.  We then did a quick spin through San Gil’s shoe stores looking for some cruise-worthy footwear for Erin (but instead finding a Boston Terrier t-shirt for me) and then a brief photographic tour through San Gil’s pretty Parque Natural “El Gallineral”.

Now we’re on the night bus to Cartagena, it’s supposed to take 15 hours which would have us arriving around 10:30am tomorrow morning, but we’re already running late.  Anyway, goodnight!