Red Hot Cartagena
Day 105
Cartagena is hot, damn hot. Truthfully the nights do have a beautifully cooling breeze off the caribbean. The thing is once the sunrises it takes about 2 hours for the heat and humidity to become oppressive. Waking up in the morning I couldn’t wait to get in the cold shower, then walk into the bedroom and stand in front of the standalone fan and under the ceiling fan. Ahhh coolness, I like to call it backpacker a/c. The same routine is repeated at night for a somewhat comfortable sleep.
Cartagena is one of those incredibly beautiful cities where the main attraction is simply being. Walking from shady square to shady square, taking a stroll atop the city walls then when the heat becomes to much hiding out in an air conditioned cafe with an ice coffee. This is pretty much what we did in Cartagena.
Our day started out entering the Plaza de Los Coches, a former slave-trading square. Today the slaves have been replaced with tourists and its filled with horse carriages for tours. Just off the square, we found a fabulous cafe where we had fresh fruit shakes and a spinach empanada-like pastry. The cafe was run by a very friendly older lady and the selection of fruit shakes had to be seen to be believed. The list was massive and the fruit so exotic some fruits don’t even have English translations. It was a perfect way to start the day. From breakfast we walked back through the plaza and under the Portal de Los Dulces. Sweet vendors line up their stalls selling all kinds of sweets, if you know Jordana then you will understand how tough it was for me to steer her clear. We continued walking a circle around the old city, following the city walls and tucking in and out of the narrow cobbled streets. The most impressive thing about the old city is the lack of ugly modern buildings. There are a few monstrosities built in the 70’s and 80’s, but not enough to kill the beautiful, romantic feel of the city.
Night is maybe the most beautiful and enjoyable time in Cartagena. A cool breeze clears out the humidity, the churches, walls and buildings are magnificently lit up. We found yet another chinese place for dinner. For us vegetarians we just couldn’t beat the tasty fried rice for $6. We easily split one order, actually it was a challenge to finish. After dinner we headed to a cuban salsa bar that set up a huge patio next to the walls of the city. To our left was a beautiful square with a large, brightly lit church standing tall behind. People danced non-stop to the salsa inside. Outside Jordana and I drank $1 Aguila beers and admired the night time atmosphere. Street performers would stop by with their hilarious antics. One guy in particular had a fantastic routine of following people while imitating their every move. Then he would throw down a real looking puppy dog. When people stepped on it he’d make a yellping noise. As we sat there listening to the blaring salsa, watching the street performers and admiring the lit up city, I turned to Jordana and said, “look around, this could be one of those tourism commercials where it just looks to good to be true. It all looks so perfect.” Cartagena often looked that way.
Tags: Cartagena, Colombia, Colonial, Salsa
Michael Coroneos
Mike… did you let her have some sweets you horrid man lol
The Salsa bar sounds great… did you shake your rump Jordsy LOL
Miss you fools – sad I missed the call last night!!!
You know me so well….of course she didnt have any! lol
We are calling tonight, Be there!