In Cartagena

Yesterday afternoon we made it into Cartagena. It was about a four hour bus ride from Santa Marta to get here. I'd read that the buses down here can be absolutely frigid, and that turned out to be 100% correct. Even though it was near 90 outside, both Elliott and I were wearing long pants and a fleece, and were still cold.

It was worth it though, Cartagena is a really nice city. We got a hotel room right in the historical center of the city and have enjoyed it so far. This district was the original part of the city and is surrounded by a stone wall to help protect against bombardments. We've walked up and down it quite a bit and it's probably my favorite thing to do so far here.

The city is pretty fun for just walking around. The streets are narrow and the buildings sit high enough that you feel almost like you're walking down a tunnel. It's nice, but it makes it difficult to get your bearings. We've been lost more than our fair share of times.

Yesterday after we got in, we just wandered around a little. There really wasn't much to do, but we did see the entrance to a big fashion show going on at the convention center. Two girls outside even took our picture, though we're not really sure why. Probably thought it would be fun to have a picture of a couple of gringos.

Today we got up and wandered down to the Castillo de San Felipe, which overlooks the harbor area. It was a huge castle, and the biggest fortress the Spanish built in the Americas. We checked it out for a while and walked through the tunnel system in the castle walls. I was fine walking through, but it seemed like Elliott had to crouch for much of it.

After that, we headed back to the old city and rested up for a bit. I've been hit with some sort of fun intestinal bug, so it's been necessary to do that a few times a day. I seem to be better now though.

From there we grabbed lunch and did some souvenir shopping before checking out Cartagena's Museo del Oro. Every city in Colombia seems to have one, but Bogota's was by far the best. Even if we didn't get to see it all due to renovation.

When that was done, we walked along the wall again and checked out a Plaza called Plaza San Diego. Elliott wanted to visit the Sofitel hotel in the square, but I opted for a beer and a rest at an Argentine restaurant.

Tonight we'll be hitting a ceviche restaurant and enjoying our last night here. Tomorrow afternoon we head back to Bogota for my last night in Colombia. Elliott will spend the week here before returning on Friday. It's been a fun week, and I wish I could stay longer. Especially since both of us feel a little ostracized by our friends back home. That's okay by us, we've learned enough Spanish down here that we can be especially annoying to everyone when we get back.

I figure I'd attach a couple of pictures as well. The one above is sunrise at Tayrona National Park.

Sunset over the bay at Taganga

With our new Kiwi friends, Dan and Jodi at Tayrona National Park.