Colourful Cartagena
2 September 2005 (Friday) – Cartagena, Colombia
Argh, I swear I would not go to Calle de la Media Luna ever again! Thank goodness, I took Vidal’s advice and chose not to move to Getsemani. I was on the way to the laundry service to collect my clothes and a guy very nearly just reached for me to give me a kiss! Yucks!!!!! And then, on the way back, 2 other people on bicycles or sitting by the door, blew me kisses. Gross!!! What creeps…
I hurried back to the centre as soon as I could.
Valery and Masami had told me they did not like Cartagena because it was inauthentic. Hmmm… I really wonder what they mean by that? I mean, many cities with preserved architecture from the past tend to evolve into touristic cities because tourists do want to come and admire the preserved architecture. And sooner or later, the preserved buildings, especially those in strategic locations, would become hotels, touristy shops, bars and restaurants. This just happens.
True, Cartagena does have some hotels, touristy shops, bars and restaurants right in the centre. But not to like Cartagena, is not to like Cuzco, or Salzburg, or Lijiang, or Krakow, or Venice… Yes, those other cities are touristy but they are touristy for a reason. They have a certain magic in them. In fact, compared to SOME of these, Cartagena… being in Colombia… is truly NOT swarmed with tourists. Because of the iffy reputation of Colombia as a tourist destination, many ‘normal’ tourists choose not to go to Colombia. Only the determined tourists are here.
Everywhere I looked, I believed 95% or more are locals milling around, playing chess by the plaza, sitting in the local cafes, selling coffee, iced-lemonade, sweets, phone-calls along the streets, dancing in the bars at night, etc… It was in fact swarmed with locals doing local activities. Just a few streets from the main plazas were local stores selling local things. There, the streets were a lot busier and funkier.
The colonial houses are in various shades of colours, many with peeling paint so they exuded a really authentic colonial atmosphere. Some had wooden balconies, many overgrown with flowers and creeper plants. There are lovely plazas, churches, etc… Everywhere, it is just picturesque.
One could walk ON the walls and have a great view of the top of the buildings, the ocean and the modern high-rise buildings of Bocagrande in the distance. The view is fantastic. At one end of the walls, there is a series of dungeons called Las Bovedas that have now been converted to tourist shops. In the evening, there are even horse-carriages to bring tourists around to enjoy the magic of this place. Yes, Cartagena is a little touristy but gosh, still very lovely.
Tags: 06) Colombia Connection, Cartagena
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