Weekend in Paradise

I had wanted to visit Cartagena ever since watching the movie "Romancing the Stone"  Now, the movie scenes from Cartagena were actually filmed in Veracruz, Mexico but that did not stop my desire to visit.

I left Indianpolis on the morning of October 2, flying a Northwest DC-9 up to Detroit.    I arrived at gate 7 and my connection to Miami was next door.   What luck!   My next flight was a Northwest Airbus 319.  The flights were smooth and on time.  I arrived into Miami at around noon and headed over to the Avianca ticket counter.    At 2:10 pm, I was on on Avianca MD-80 bound for Cartagena!   The two hour flight was smooth and had a decent meal service.   I had my first Colombian beer, called Club Colombia but I was not a fan.

   Aguila beer is better.

When we arrived, I sailed through Customs and Immigration and was soon in a cab going to the city.   Things are not pricey down here for the most part and the taxis are no exception.   I went to the North Star Backpackers Hostel in Bocagrande to leave my bag and then hit the city.

I actually walked from Bocagrande to the Walled City area in order to see some of the area.   It was about a 15 minute walk but was brutal in the high humidity!   When I got to the Old City area, I explored all the narrow streets.    I had dinner at a small place near the Plaza de la Aduana.  It was a mango chicken with cocnut rice.  Yummy!   I washed it down with some Aguila beers.

   I ended up staying out there until about 1 am, walking on top of the wall that surrounds the Old City.   I also danced for an hour at a small club.   Not a pretty sight!   Let's just say I have two left feet.   Oh well, it's all fun anyways!

I walked back to my hostel, down these "scary" Cartagena streets.   Yeah right, I felt safer here that in the USA.    There is a massive Police presence in Cartagena.   I went to sleep right after I got back to the hostel.     The Hostel was real quiet, safe, and secure.   It could have been cleaner though.  I was in a room with a guy from Delft, whowas touring Colombia for about 3 weeks.

The next morning I went out to see the Castillo San Felipe.

  What a place!   It is so much fun exploring the tunnels that wind below the Castillo.   It reminded me of Tom Sawyer's Island at Disneyland.  There are some great views of the city from there also.  I spent the remainder of the day seeing more of Cartagena, specifically the Walled City area.

The next day, I flew to Bogota and since I had a long layover there, I went downtown and saw some of that city also.  At 10:50 that night, I flew an Avianca 757 to New York/JFK.    I arrived Sunday morning and then flew to Indianapolis.

I am ready to go back!  I have a ticket to go back to Cartagena already.    We hope to visit Cali one day also because we sponsor a little girl there, through World Vision.