Days 93 to 95: Cartagena, COL (cont'd)

Spanish commander Pedro de Heredia founded Cartagena on June 1, 1533. It was named after Cartagena, Spain where most of Heredia's sailors had come from. Cartagena was a major trading port, especially for precious metals. Gold and silver from the mines in the New Granada and Peru loaded in Cartagena on the galleons headed for Spain. It was also a slave port and together with Veracruz, (Mexico), were the only cities authorized to trade African slaves.

Cartagena is the most visited town in the country by tourists. The city has basically two main parts where tourists go: the walled colonial city ("ciudad amurallada"), which is beautiful and has many fancy restaurants, clubs and hotels; and a long strip of hotel towers and condos fronting onto the beach, known as Bocagrande.  We chose to stay in the Getsemani neighborhood, 5 minutes walking distance from the old city. It is where most of budget hostels are, and therefore the area is very popular with backpackers.

Getsemani itself is an interesting place. A little run down, it is quite touristic, but at the same time still inhabited by working class Colombians, so there is a genuine ''flavor'' to it. It also has a few good spots to go out at night, even though some streets a little seedy after dark.

Getsemani - Cool plaza where tourists and locals alike gather every evening to hang out. Great atmosphere.

Getsemani - Still inhabited by working class Colombians, this neighborhood has something genuine about it.

Getsemani - Main street

Our room in Hostel Familiar. Musty smelling and no windows... Not my favorite.

With all the electronics (notebooks, ipods, helmet communicators), we're always on the lookout for electric outlets. In this room, we only had one. Good thing we got a splitter in Mexico. It has been very useful so far.

The 3 days spent in Cartagena were lazy ones. I think the heat and the fatigue from the 36 hours of sailing on the Stahratte caught up to us. Time wise, it also the mid-point of the trip for me: we left Montreal exactly 3 months ago. It just felt right to take it easy for a few days, before continuing with the south american leg of this journey.

Day 93: 

We wandered around the old part of town in the morning, but it was very hot and we decided to return to our hotel for an early afternoon nap. Later, we hooked up for dinner with Josh, who drove into town on the previous day. It took him 3 days to ride from Bogota to Cartagena. He got into an accident on his way up, but fortunately got away with no injuries and  only minor damage to his BMW. Some moped ran into him as he was passing through a small town.

Day 94:

We spent most of the day walking along the beaches of the city. Since it was Sunday, it was very crowded. Unfortunately no pics from that day, as I was a little worried about getting my camera stolen, and left it in the hotel room. 

Day 95:

We finally got our insurance policies around lunch time, so we agreed to leave town towards Medellin the morning after. We spent the afternoon exploring more of the old city.

Main entrance to the fortified old city

Police parade. No idea what was the occasion.

Police in Colombia mostly moves around on motorcycles. They even have Suzuki DR 650's, just like ours.