Day 75 - Cartagena, Colombia (1 June 2012)

Day 75 – Cartagena, Colombia (1 June 2012)

We arrive in Cartagena about 8am, it was a reasonable overnight bus, no dramas but the seats were nowhere near as comfortable as the Peru buses.  We get out of the bus and it is very hot! During the bus ride we were actually cold because the bus drivers cranked up the air conditioning full blast, we had however been warned about the air conditioning on the bus so as mentioned in yesterdays blog, we were prepared.  We get a taxi into town and check into our hostel.  Since we arrived early we have to wait an hour and a half to get into our room, so we just muck around in the common area.  We then check into our room and have a shower as we are feeling gross after our 14 hour bus ride.  As we are showering the heavens open, it starts pouring down, also a thunder storm to go with it too.  Very tropical.  In fact the noise of one of the thunders was the loudest I have ever heard, it was pretty cool.  In saying this, I was hoping the rain would disappear soon so we could get out there and see the place! Well after my shower, the storm had disappeared and the sun was shining again, tropical locations ay, produces all kinds of weather but is mostly always warm.

We head out and the walk towards old town.  Well technically we are staying in old town in the district of Getsemani (outer walled town) but the main attraction of Cartagena is the inner walled town consisting of historical districts of El Centro and San Diego.  Almost every street is 16^th or 17^th century architecture.  These two districts are surrounded by Las Murallas, thick walls built to protect the area.  Construction began in the 16^th century after an attack, and the project took almost two centuries to complete due to repeated storm damage and pirate attacks.  We enter the old town through the main gateway called the Puerta del Reloj.  Above the main gate is the clock tower which was added in the 19^th century, this looks stunning and part of the package.  As we enter we walk into the Plaza de los Coches where there is a monument to Pedro de Heredia who was the founder of the city.  This plaza and the surrounding areas looks fantastic, so many historical buildings around the place, most of them have been preserved, or restored to their former glory.  We find a tourist information booth and we get a map showing us the favoured route through the inner walled old town, this route takes us to all the important buildings and plazas, and most probably shops so we can spend a dollar or two.  We stumble across the Museo Naval del Caribe (Navy museum) which I am quite keen to have a look at.  This museum traces the naval history of Cartagena and the Caribbean.  As Cartagena was the main port of the Spanish, it was considered a very important port and hence was under attack at regular intervals.  This was the instigator of the construction of the walls, castles and forts around the area.  Unfortunately the majority of the museum was in Spanish, but there were some English descriptions and the pictures and displays gave us the idea of what was going on.  After the museum we took a detour off the advised route and climbed the wall to get views of the city and the ocean.  The city looks spectacular, it is very modern and not what you would expect for a Colombian city, or even a South American city! It has that Surfers Paradise feel to it with the modern high rise buildings on the beach front.  As the afternoon rolls around we continue our trek around the area, passing significant buildings including churches, government buildings and museums, and also passing through plaza’s, shops and street vendors.  Overall what they have done with the place is magnificent, the restoration of buildings is still continuing but the buildings that have been restored look great.  We don’t finish the recommended route, it is quite a distance and the heat is taking its toll on us, we are not used to this – also the humidity is terrible! We head to the supermarket (spend a bit of time in here because of the great air conditioning), get some food for dinner and head back to the hostel to cook up a great feed.