Cartagena de Indias, Colombia

We’ve come 1,517 nautical miles (so far!) and have arrived in the beautiful city of Cartagena, Colombia. Everything here is named after a saint. San Felipe Fort, Santa Catalina Cathedral, San Pedro, Santa Teresa and San Diego Squares, I won’t even get into the monasteries, cloisters and churches. Suffice it to say, if you live in Cartagena, you KNOW your saints!

Rather than book a tour through the cruise line, I decided to wing it. Just as we were getting off the ship I met two passengers from New Zealand who were doing the same thing. The three of us wound up hiring a taxi and driver who agreed to take us to San Felipe Fort – a truly amazing feat of 15th century engineering, the Old City, Gold Museum, Inquisition Palace, Clock Tower (the original entrance to Cartagena), Cathedral, etc. for $10. That’s right, $10 for all three of us – not $10 per person. Roberto Lopez Tos was the driver and his English was quite good. He is licensed by the Tourism Dept. and I really think we got our money’s worth. In fact, we were so pleased that we paid him a bit more than double what his rate was and he deserved every penny of it. He showed us around for about 3 ½ hours, walking with us and explaining everything. We weren’t part of one of the groups of 40+ people touring together with little stickers on their blouses identifying which tour bus they belonged to. It was just Roberto and my new Kiwi friends Pamela and Peter – a private tour. Although we had to pay admission to the fort ($8) and the inquisition museum ($6.50), I’d say we got the best bargain - similar tours booked through the cruise line ran between $39 and $64 per person! And I can add two new friends to my address book to boot!



It struck me yesterday when I was looking at souvenirs that there are some really strange ones out there. For example, yesterday I saw an Aruban flag with the Boston Red Sox logo across it. Huh? Today we saw a metro bus with the Yankees logo on it. Go figure. Anyway, I’m now on the prowl for weird souvenirs. Today’s unusual souvenir is this painting of a man selling souvenirs (sunglasses, t-shirts and hats). Now why anyone would want a souvenir picture of a man selling souvenirs is beyond me, but if you want one I can tell you where to get it in Cartagena.



Another frequently found tourist attraction is men dressing up like statues along the sidewalk. Fooled me at first. I think it would be a hard way to make a living.





Here’s Pamela by Botero’s Fat Woman. I did not need a picture of myself with a fat woman, instead I got one with a “guard” at the Fort. You may wonder what he played on his trumpet … well it wasn’t taps. His favorite tune seemed to be “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head”. Wonder if he’d play some Frank Sinatra if we stuck around longer?
I’ve only done 30 minutes in the gym, so have to go back, but you can add about three hours of walking to that, so I’m hopefully ahead of the game.

On to the Canal!!