Cartagena

Friday, January 15, 2016
Cartagena, Bolívar, Colombia
We've arrived to Cartagena from the Rosario Islands after staying 3 nights at La Coralina. The location of the islands is about an hour from the mainland which provided fantastic fresh fish, shrimp and lobster. We have a few complaints about La Coralina as a boutique hotel but perhaps it has more to do with our expectations for what we paid. We thought it strange there weren't any bugs in this tropical place 'til we saw staff going in our rooms with a can of Raid each night while we were at dinner. The loud thumping base music all night didn't lend well to a peaceful private island retreat either. We'll always be able to blame Tami for booking it.

Seeing lots of huge cargo ships and a bay full of fancy boats during our boat ride back to the mainland, we arrived at our hotel centrally located in the middle of the historic Spanish Colonial downtown . We arranged a 1/2 day tour with Elkin, a local we met in Santa Marta that has already provided immeasurable guidance. We spent most of our time in the old center of Cartagena, a cool, vibrant part of the city, lots of restaurants and great architecture with brightly painted buildings and flowering vines. There is an old wall built in the 1600s around this part which we walked and also took a tour of the old castle, the largest of the Americas. Outside of the walled part is a big city full of modern skyscrapers.

It is our last night in Colombia and we are sitting on the rooftop terrace of our hotel after eating dinner and drinking our last Colombian cerveza. Had a terrific sunset over the water. Overall Colombia has been a great host. We never felt any ill will or danger, even when we were walking home last night across town at 2 am from watching a Latin band play in Club Havana. Amazing how fast this trip went and dreading the cold we are about to fly back to. Thanks for following us along.

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