Cartagena x 2

The old area of Cartegena is surrounded by an old Spanish wall built to dissuade would-be pirates. The buildings in the city are beautiful. There is a real African feel to the city, and smells of coconuts and the Caribbean fill the air. And it is HOT.

Unfortunately the water is not great for swimming – it’s pretty dirty to look at so you wouldn’t want to stick your face in it.

And there are A LOT of tourists. Consequently things are expensive.

We walked around the city, taking photos, finding cheap snacks. It is a difficult city not to spend money in – even when we sat down on a bench in Plaza Bolivar we found ourselves buying coffees from a vendor, a Colombian football jersey, and almost a tour.

Grey and building

Nice architecture

Cathedral tower at night

We heard that the central market was crazy so we decided to pay it a visit. Our taxi driver warned against it – ‘muy peligroso, muymuymuypeligroso!’, but we didn’t listen! The market stretched over a large expanse, with the main produce area and then the more developed shopping areas and shops around it which is pretty typical of most markets in the world. This market was, however, slightly dirtier, grimier and more foreboding than any we had ever been to. Very fresh fish was being sold on the outskirts with the usual hustle and bustle, but it got a bit darker as you entered the interior labyrinth to find the meat section and the general food sections. As with the whole of the Caribbean the market had a much more African feel.  I still cannot forget seeing two live hens being dipped into boiling hot water head-first.

Cartagena Highlights:

• Our 10 dollar dinner menu, with bread, salad, fish/chicken and a drink. We ate at the same restaurant nearly every night;
• First meal in Cartagena was the best Cazuela ever! A fish soup with a lobster tail on top, for about 14 dollars! BOOM
• Runs on the Caribbean down to the ritzy real estate (think mini Surfers Paradise) of Bocagrande;
• Getting totally lost on the way home from one of our runs, turning it into an hour mission trying to figure out where our hotel was;
• 20 cent espressos from the street vendors;
• Street food:
• Papas con huevos – big balls of smashed potatos, stuffed with boiled egg, meat or chicken and deep fried in a light batter. YUM;
• Empanadas – similar to Argentinian, but the pastry is a little thicker and deep fried not baked;
• Banuelos – not sure exactly what these were made out of, but they are kinda deep fried, doughey, cheesey balls;
• Pan de Bono – baked dough stuffed with a sweet cheese

20 cent fresh juice

50 cents - mango with lime

Street food - something

• Free concerts in the square – we saw an awesome, free, Latin hip hop concert, a local African dance show and a beauty pageant in one of the main squares. The locals were going crazy for all of them, especially the beauty concert, where fans had pictures of their favourite girls and big letters spelling out their names!;
• Sunset drinks on the city walls, overlooking the Caribbean Sea and some very mediocre soccer games;

Sunset on the Spanish Wall

• “El Presidente” – the guy on the corner who offered us drugs every single day;
• Horse and carriages taking tourists around the city. This would have been a good way to see the city, but the horses were all so skinny, with their hips poking through their skin, that we decided it would be inhumane

Cuban cigar shop - pero illegal to bring through the USA