Cartagena, Colombia

Good morning my darling rays, I hope today is a lovely Saturday for you all. Let’s all drink a tall glass of water when we wake up, okay? Or, when you read this!

Now, let’s see where we left off. We took a DiDi which is like an Uber, but all ride share apps are “illegal” here so that’s something to note, to the airport on Saturday, the 5th. When we got there it was so confusing trying to find our gate! It was hidden, the sign for Domestic Flights. Guess we have to be locals to know where to go. Security was super lax, until Mer, myself, the person behind me, and one other all got our nail scissors confiscated. As Mer put it, there must have been an incident. They also took one of the needles from my sewing kit, but not all of them. Kind of odd. We couldn’t go to a lounge this time because it was only in the international flight terminal. The flight to Cartagena was interesting.

I type this now, as a living, breathing human, so as not to worry anyone, but the snack on the planes for LATAM airlines is Maní. Aka, peanuts! It was wild, but I came out on top! The couple next to me was nice though. They were travelling from Sevilla with their parents on holiday. We chatted about Spain and our trips to Colombia and music. They had some interesting recommendations. Hope they are doing well back in Spain!

While Bogotá had been lovely, 60s (18s) for the most part, we stepped off the plane in Cartagena and immediately felt the summer heat. Mid to high 90s (35s) with humidity. I am a sweaty girl these days, but the sun is so welcomed! I have missed her. Again, someone associated with the hostel was able to scoop us up from the airport and take us where we needed to go. An easy 15 minute drive down the coast.

Our hostel, Casa Zahri, is right down the road from the Convention Center. That day we simply unpacked, hung out at the pool a little, and then walked to dinner. We are staying in such a cute neighborhood, but I’m sure everywhere here is cute. I believe it is called Getsemaní. Hostels, clubs, bars, restaurants, restaurant hotels, galleries, art, you name it. When we passed by places in the afternoon, it was quiet. Oh yeah, we did take a stroll around the neighborhood to familiarize ourselves and to get some lunch when we first arrived. It had seemed quiet, for being such a touristy beach town. While walking to dinner though, the same streets came alive!

Dinner was eh, but that’s okay. We live and we learn. Mer liked hers, mine was just a tad boring. That aside we had a wonderful night. We walked back to the Plaza de la Trinidad to the heart of the action. On the way there we passed a small tunnel of art that I was not allowed to photograph. The next day ALL the art was gone. I bet there had been 500 pieces on display. We stopped and watched some group do flips and synchronize dance. We realized the night was not nearly over and sat at a pizza place on the edge and people watched. Boy did we have a show. More dancing and flipping, belly dancing, marching band-ing, pop cover singing, on the spot rapping, etc. You know the vibes! We had so much fun drinking club colombia’s and observing, but eventually we walked back and called it a night.

Surprisingly, we slept in and got up around 9:30! In our first hostel the room was on a busy street, but this one was tucked away in the back of the place so it was much quieter and darker. This hostel had free breakfast for everyone by the pool, and again it was yummy. Flavorful eggs. I don’t know what they are up to here but they work wonders on their eggs. Thank gosh I’m currently in an eggs phase. Plus, all the places keep providing new and fresh juices which are fun to try, even if I never know what fruits are being used. That’s my own fault though for not asking. I digress.

We had no plans but at 11:30 the front desk said we could leave at noon and take a boat to Vista Mare for the day. It is some beach club/resort right off the coast of the main city. Quaint, honestly. We got our own cabana with lounge chairs and a small beach. Not our own beach, just our own cabana. Everyone had ample space and was super nice. We got a free welcome drink. Everywhere we go we seem to get one of those. This one was “Sublime!” but actually though, it had some mystery ingredient we couldn’t place, but we loved.

Mer and I spent the entire day reading. She finished her book and I have about 10 chapters left. The sun got me at the end, just barely. Due to the setting sun, the left side of the cabana left a line on my leg uncovered. The burn was nothing bad, just a light dusting of pink. It’s super difficult to put sunscreen on here because we are so greasy from sweat it just comes right off. New phenomenon for me. We got back to the hostel by bargaining a lower price with the taxi driver. Looking back it must’ve been for a couple bucks, but it felt like an accomplishment.

Back at the hostel we chatted by the pool with some travelers, friends from Uni in Edinburgh? Now I don’t remember. They are traveling for different lengths of time before starting their first jobs post graduation. Made me nostalgic. Then we showered (I KNEW I should’ve shoved my second towel in my bag) and headed back out into our neighborhood for dinner. We found a place with live music and a fun atmosphere. As the night continued the gastropub became packed with people. The food was average, but it was a pub. We learned 2 things, Chicharrones and Micheladas are different in Colombia. A Michelada is just 2 shots of lome juice and a salted rim that you fill with your beer of choice. Chicharrones are more of pork belly and pork fat/cubes rather than the crunchy ones we have. But we also saw it as strips, not cubes, later.

We shazamed so many songs, which has become something we do automatically when we hear an enticing beat. When we returned to the hostel after dinner, we made a couple more friends, from DC and NYC, and are going to go out and dance with them tomorrow. Their names are Surya, Logan, Jackson, and Alisa. Fun group.

— I went to bed after writing all that, but the time here has not ended. Please continue reading for part two of Cartagena. —

Not even a week has gone by and I feel like it’s been a month. Our last day in Cartagena has begun, which is sad. However, it’s so mfn hot out I am excited to get back to some cooler weather. Writing this now, knowing that doesn’t happen for a week, is so funny. Poor little naive Madeline. I even wrote “I don’t know if this is true, but I am telling myself it is.” Mer said yesterday that every day she’s here she likes the city more and more. How cute is that?!

I have to agree this city has such a unique vibe and culture. Right now we are at our new hostel awaiting Katelyn’s arrival in about an hour. Let’s hear it for the trio being reunited!

Walking five minutes from our old hostel to this new one yesterday was horrible! Five minutes felt like five years. Someone even asked me if we’d been caught in the rain (you know who you are) when they saw all the sweat. Prior and post walk we had a lovely day.

We went to Blue Apple Beach, another hotel/resort. I added a bed to our reservation and when we arrived they said we were VIPs and had a bed for us right by the pool. Funny but also convenient. We sat by the pool most of the day and read. I finished my book and started the next one in the series. We swam some and hit the ocean for a bit too. This boat ride to and from was about 30 minutes instead of 10, like the day before. The lunch I had there was delicious! I forgot to get a picture of it. I know I know, won’t hapen again. Pulled pork sandwich, massive thing, and CRISPY potatoes with a green sauce. Scrumptious.

We left the island, Isla de Tierra Bomba, but had to turn around (we were one minute away) because we forgot a woman and her dog. She was cracking us up. Had to forcefully change seats with someone because her spot was too bumpy for her little dog. Funny scene. When we got to our new hostel later, after the aforementioned five minute walk, we put our AC on 16 degrees celsius and hit the showers. We rested up and changed our AC to around 24 degrees before heading out to get a drink. On the way to the walled city we stopped for an Arepa. We were recommended Alquímico, which had excellent cocktails. I loved mine. It was called the Inquisición and it had infusión de jengibre, sal picante de ajíes de la finca, y zumo de limón. This is a four story bar, and we walkede in only to be seated on the first floor. When we met up with our hostel buddies again, we walked back to Getsemaní and had a drink on a street one block away from our new hostel. Very cute street. Our waiter told us a place to dance on a Monday. We arrived and it was closed. Classic. We went to a bar/club next to our old hostel and it was packed. We danced and shazamed the night away.

Today, we woke up around 10:00 to no AC and no lights, but I only knew because Mer told me. I had been sound asleep. We left in the hopes that it would be on when we returned and we were correct. We also learned that 16 was absurdly cold to put our AC on the other day, but we were that hot.

We walked around the walled city this morning. We saw what I believe to be the Catedral de Santa Catalina de Alejandria, but a service was starting so we scurried off. We got some food at Espiritu Santo and it was great! Told the fam the beef reminded me of a #17 from Rosas. The meal was called Bandeja Paisa, another Colombian classic that Natty and Steph had mentioned. Oh yeah, on the way home from Blue Apple we dropped an employee off at a neighborhood called Caño Del Oro that I want to lookup. But yeah, we then walked to the Teatro Adolfo Mejia o Heredia. It was closed, even though it said it was open. Next door was the University de Cartagena Claustro de la Merced. This place was super calming and had a tiny room dedicated to Gabriel Garcia Márquez. The AC was pumping in there, so we took that as a good sign to make our way back to the hostel.

Along the way we found the Gold Museum and it was so cute. Lots of cool history about the land, the animals, the music and customs, and culture of Colombia/Cartagena. They had great tour guides posted around to give insight. A nice, sweaty walk back and a good little rinse off just now was well received. And now, Kate has arrived!

We walked around the hood and she seemed to think it was super cute as well. Yay! We ended up at this little American food truck place right by the port so it overlooked the water. They had lots of hanging lights as well. We lost power again before our walk and again at the food trucks, but it came back on when we got home. We each got Club Colombia’s and shared a cheese and tomato and basil pizza, which now I realize is just a Margarita pizza in disguise, and it was only two usd each.

We changed clothes, and then headed to the walled city again to take Kate to Alquímico. Afterwards, we had planned to meet up with our DC friends again, but they were too tired. We went to another bar next door called Monkey Bar, which ended up being a hookah bar. Randomly, the person next to us at the bar was the old mens bball coach at St. Bonaventure, and is now the Associate head coach for mens bball at Fordham University. What are the odds, am I right my NE readers? We then skedaddled away before they could follow us. They had a security guard that apparently came with their airbnb, which seemed far fetched, but who are we to assume. His shirt said “security” and he sat there silently observing the entire time.

You are probably wondering where we went? The answer is Cafe Havana. The most wild thing is we had checked find my friends a few days before and guess who appeared in the same country as us? Halle!! And guess who met us at Cafe Havana?? Halle!! And her cousins! We had such a fun time. It was so good to see her and catch up, it’s been since April that we’d seen each other. The Cafe was also amazing. While we were there we saw the changing of the guard, aka we got to enjoy two different bands. Both were phenomenal. The setup is a central bar in a U shape, barstools around it, and path about 5 feet (1.5 meters) wide, then tables along the edge. On one side of the I was a state. We were situated right to the left of the stage. In the aisle was a sea of dancing bodies. I’m not entirely sure what dance was being danced, but it was great! They had a couple hired plants within that were pros and would dance with random people to keep the energy alive! They were amazing!! Eventually we left and got some late night arepas courtesy of Jady, her older cousin. So kind.

When we got back to our hostel, Kate was out the minute her head hit the pillow and Mer wasn’t far behind. Personally, I was only up a few minutes longer. We had a long and wonderful day.

There was a convention starting the day we left, and there was also a taxi driver strike that day. The metro drivers in Spain striked while I was there and I suppose my presence must inspire unity or something of the sort. Power to the people!

Our time in Cartagena was, though sweaty!!, such a blast. I enjoyed every minute.