Romancing The Stone
1 September 2005 (Thursday) – Santa Marta to Cartagena, Colombia
OKOK, I know… the movie with Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner was SO NOT filmed in Cartagena, Colombia… but gosh, I had really liked the movie, it was so fun and so funny… and in a way, it was BECAUSE of the movie, that I decided that one day, I MUST come to Cartagena. And here I was, on the way there.
Like I said, somehow I had attached a tinge of romantism to Cartagena. Even the name sounded lovely to me. That was why I was determined to come to Colombia. I also had a mental note that Cartagena is the diagonal opposite of Buenos Aires. So by reaching Cartagena, I had reached my mental half-way point of my journey.
The ‘stone’ in question here is, of course, the emerald, which Colombia is famous for. There were many jewellery stores around the centre that sold emeralds. There was even one store called ‘Romance In The Stone’. Clever.
No matter how much you have studied a map, you would still be awed by physically being present in a place. And especially a place such as Cartagena!
I took the local bus from the bus terminal and about 50 minutes later, the bus reached the beach and hugging the other side were the walls of the fort that once protected Cartagena. Wow, the sight of the thick walls practically dripping with history, knocked me over. I was stretching my neck all over to get a better view and gaping with my mouth opened. It was a long moment before I realised I had to get off… yeah, right about here… to try and find a hotel in the centre.
Well, as expected, the hotel here was not cheap. I checked into one which was relatively cheap for its location, but I decided to walk to Getsemani, the outer walled town, to see how I feel about that area and perhaps, I could find an even cheaper hotel there for tomorrow.
Getsemani was grungy, noisy and dirty. Frankly, my vibes did not ring well for this area. A man suddenly stopped in front of me and asked me in English, “Are you Japanese? Chinese?” Soon, we got chatting. He is Vidal, an English teacher. Upon his advice, he told me to stay in the centre which was much safer than Getsemani. OK then, I would. He also took me to a cheap laundry service to have my disgusting clothes washed (Good-bye to mule shit back in the days when I was in the Andes and recent sweat and mud from Tayrona!). Later, he was very kind and even took me for a short tour around the oldest part of the city centre, telling me some of the history.
Well, having to walk with someone, I could just glance at everything quickly but I think I would really enjoy walking through the streets here for the next 2 days or so by myself. There seemed to be some form of magic here in the centre.
That evening, I met up with Andrea, a young 18-year-old girl whom I had contacted from VirtualTourist website. We had dinner and she took me around to experience Cartagena at night. Gosh, the walls, some of the colonial buildings and theatres, and the plazas were lighted up, casting a very romantic atmosphere around this city. She told me she really loved walking around here at night, although her own friends seldom come here. They prefer to hang out at the upper-middle-class sections of modern Cartagena.
I guess, if you are born in a particular city, you tend to take certain things for granted. But I am glad she is different. She then issued me a warning… Never ever go to Calle de la Media Luna in Getsemani! It is very, very dangerous, she warned me. Whoops, I had already been there this afternoon and I had to go again tomorrow coz there was where my laundry was.
Tags: 06) Colombia Connection, Cartagena
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