Category: Cartegena

Enjoying Our Last Day in Cartagena

1/27/2019

We awaken and look outside our window to find a a vulture perched on the next building spreading it's wings. An ominous sign?

Luckily no, our day is fine other than my lack of voice due to a cold. William laughs and says maybe the day is perfect. We spend the day enjoying the beach, pool and watching life from the balcony. We all do some pre-packing as we have flights tomorrow, us at 9:30 am and Charlie and Elsie at 2:30 pm.

William makes up some of his Italian hamburgers for dinner and the four of us enjoy our last meal together for a while. After dinner we sit on the balcony again enjoying our surroundings and talking (or whispering in my case) - good friends.

0 Comments

Chillin' Out and a Sunset Cruise

1/26/2019

0 Comments

Saturday is a very relaxing day. Charlie and Elsie have 11 am massage appointments and come back so very, very relaxed. Charlie's curiosity gets to him and he and Elsie check out some of the condo's that are for sale. They're not going to buy, but it is fun to look. After their tour they decide that we are staying in one of the best condo's. In between these activities we spend time on the beach and at the pool. We also sit on the patio watching the birds, ultra-lights and kite surfers.

Toward evening we taxi into the port area for a sunset cruise aboard Bona Vida Catamaran. It's a new catamaran and very nice. Included in the 66,000 COP ($21) fee is one cocktail. As the boat pulls out of port Elsie finally gets her sangria while I have a glass of cava and they guys drink cervezas. We enjoy sailing around the tip of Cartagena and watching the sun go down. The staff serves up tasty appetizers as the captain heads back to port and the city lights up.

After we arrive back in port we are ready for dinner. We don't really know where we're going within the Walled City, which we enter near the Clock Tower. Eventually William engages with one of the guys displaying menus on the street. He leads us to a very local place where we all order typical fish dinners for the area. They are okay, but nothing like the delicious fish we made in our cooking class.

0 Comments

Cartagena in More Detail

1/25/2019

0 Comments

After dinner last night we sketched out a game plan for the day. We get started early and by 8:15 am we are in a taxi on our way to Castillo San Felipe. We are hoping to see most of the castle before the sun beats down too heavily. We walk up to the top and work our way down the castle, which was originally built in the mid-1500's and expanded or rebuilt through the 1700's. It's well preserved, having gained UNESCO world heritage status in the 1980's.

As we are walking out of the castle around 10:30 am we see the Hop-On Hop-Off bus approaching. We wave to the driver and take it to one of the entrances to the Walled City. Wandering the narrow streets we find an air-conditioned restaurant and coffee shop. Time for breakfast!

While we sip coffee we Google Map the locations of things we want to see, which includes Iglesias Santa Catarina de Alexandria, the gold museum and the Inglesia y Santuario San Pedro Claver. Off we go! In addition to our plan, in the square in front of San Pedro Claver we find a a number of small sculptures and several people in the square displaying interesting character.

We pay to go into the Museum of San Pedro Claver, otherwise we will not be able to get into the church until 5 pm when it opens in preparation for evening mass. We go through the museum cloisters and garden before entering the church. We learn that Pedro Claver was a Jesuit priest who devoted much of his life to evangelizing and improving conditions of the black slaves of the area. On the alter are the remains of the Saint who died in 1654. That's a little unique.

Along a side street of the church we find a series of small shops. William spots a cigar shop and Elsie finds a store selling chocolate covered coffee beans. Yeah! I am developing a cold and starting to lose my voice, so I sit in one of the comfortable chairs and watch them shop. Charlie joins me in also watching the people walking through the street.

0 Comments

Hop-On

1/24/2019

0 Comments

About 3 pm we taxi to the Walled City. Our plan is to take the Hop-On Hop-Off bus this afternoon for an overview and return tomorrow to spend time with what interests us.

We have the taxi drop us off at Stop #1, pay a deposit to a vendor, then stand waiting for the bus which should appear in 30 minutes. There is no shade and it's 85 F (30 C) with the sun beating down upon us. A street vendor selling bottled water points us toward a park two blocks away and points to the Hop-On Hop-Off timetable to show us it's Stop #4. We figure he must know something and start walking that way. However, we can't find the Hop-On Hop-Off stop. Charlie engages with a taxi driver, acting out that his feet are his taxi today and also that we have Hop-On Hop-Off tickets. The driver laughs and walks us to the stop. He smiles broadly when Charlie shakes his hand providing him with some peso's.

The bus soon arrives, thankfully with an awning over the top. We ride the 90 minute loop, seeing the clock tower, Castillo de San Felipe, the city walls, the Bochagrande beaches and the port amongst other sights. Some of the people we spot along the way are also great entertainment.

We spot a bar on the city walls which is close to Stop #4 and agree we'll go there after we get off the bus. It's a 15-20 minute walk in the Getsemani area, an up-and-coming neighbood. At the bar William uses the wi-fi to search for nearby restaurants. He finds an Italian Trattoria 15 minutes away. We arrive a little before sundown and are able to get a table with no problem. The food is great and by the time we leave there are about 20 people waiting for a table. The streets of the area are now full of people - the nightlife is starting!

0 Comments

Cooking Typical Cartagena Food

1/23/2019

0 Comments

We spend the first part of our day at the beach, pool and sitting on the balcony.  So relaxing!

At 2:30 pm we catch a taxi into the Walled City for a 3:30 pm cooking class.  Since we arrive a little early we wander around the streets and happen across a small grocery store.  Yeah, we find coffee filters! They also have a small bakery in the front so we have to try some of their pastries.

The cooking class is held at Origines restaurant.  We arrive 15 min early and are greeted by Ricardo.  We are joined by a woman from the Bronx and a married couple from Dublin, Ireland.  The wife is originally from Mexico and the husband is originally from Poland.  Interesting!

Ricardo provides aprons and hairnets then escorts us to the restaurant kitchen where we're greeted by Chef Cesar. We make a typical Cartagena meal consisting of juice, coconut rice, empanadas, arapas, pantacones, and a whole mojarra fish per person. Throughout the preparations we each participate in making every dish. This is different than other classes we've taken, where normally the class is divided up to make different parts of the meal and is a lot of fun. Ricardo speaks excellent English and he translates the chef's instructions for us.

Around 6 pm the best part of the class arrives: we sit down to eat. The meal is plated and served by Ricardo and Chef Cesar. There is way too much food for me finish so I prioritize the delicious fish and nibble through perhaps half of the rest. This is a fun experience and one we'll talk about with Charlie and Elsie for years to come.

0 Comments

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

1/22/2019

0 Comments

Here in Cartagena (Cartagena de Indias from colonial times) our neighborhood is the condo/hotel complex and the beach along with the other hotels and condos lining the shore. A short walk on the beach starts the day and then we meander into the buffet breakfast at the restaurant. Eggs, sausages, rice and beans, yogurt, breads, lots of fresh fruit and of course coffee and tea! We are stuffed and find the cost of $12 US quite reasonable. I am sure to many Columbians it is expensive.

A deficiency in our condo is that it has two coffee makers but neither have the required paper filters. There are also some other provisions we could not find at the mini-mart or ARA store, so we decide to take a mid-day jaunt into town to the Super Mercado, which turns out to be the equivalent size to an old IGA store in the US. It must be hysterical for the locals watching four gringos scattering about, pulling items from the shelves and bringing them back to the shopping cart, excited about their find. The good news is that it has a fresh meat department and also coffee filters. The bad news is that when we unpack back at the condo the coffee filters are missing. Seems that if the scanner did not come up with the price the clerk just put the item aside and didn't include it in the order. We caught her do this on one item, but missed others. Good thing William has packed his single-cup coffee maker, although it won't be very efficient with three coffee drinkers!

We spend the rest of the day taking a dip in the pool and watching the kite surfers as they skim across the water. After dinner at home we sit on our balcony talking and laughing into the evening.

0 Comments

Adios Costa Rica, Hola Cartagena

1/21/2019

0 Comments

Freddy arrives at 9:30 Sunday morning to drive us back to San Jose. Paul and Kara have a 2:30 pm flight, while James, William and I fly out early Monday morning. We say our good-byes to Paul and Kara at the airport then Freddy drops us at the Country Inn and Suites.

It has been a wonderful 10 days with the family and we have all enjoyed time and our experiences in Costa Rica. We miss everyone already!

William and I catch the 5:30 am shuttle to the airport on Monday. We are flying Avianca airlines for the first time. We have to connect through Bogeta to reach Cartagena and everything goes smoothly. The airline looks ok - which is good because we have two more flights (each with two legs) with them over the next two weeks.

In the Cartagena airport we meet up with our friends Charlie and Elsie, who have arrived about an hour before us. Elsie's smiling face is waiting after we claim our baggage and Charlie is finishing his coffee close by. With all the cautions about using official taxi's we fumble around a bit trying to understand the process. Eventually an unofficial taxi driver show us the machine to get the slip for the official taxi prices. He's disappointed that we won't ride with him, but we want an official taxi.

We have a short taxi ride to the condo we have rented for the next week, a 3 bedroom, 2 1/2 bath overlooking the beach. It's in a complex that includes a Sonesta Hotel, two pools, a restaurant, poolside bar and small mini-mart. It looks great! Next door is an ARA Market, a small grocery chain in Columbia.

It's been a couple of years since the four of us have been together in-person. Over dinner at the restaurant within the complex we begin to catch-up. Although we're excited to be here, it was an early morning for all of us and we are tired. We call it an early night.

0 Comments

Enjoying Our Last Day in Cartagena

Chillin' Out and a Sunset Cruise

Cartagena in More Detail

Hop-On

Cooking Typical Cartagena Food

A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

Adios Costa Rica, Hola Cartagena

Author

Archives

Categories