The alarm went off early on Monday morning and we were up and off the boat within half an hour, excited for the next part of our journey of discovery! Together with our trusted friends and companions, Mike and Nicki, we hailed a taxi to take us to the main bus terminal which is on the outskirts of town. We were heading to Cartagena, an old city about 400 miles west of Santa Marta which is steeped in history.
The bus was very comfortable and the roads leading out of Santa Marta were fast and smooth as we slowly left the city behind and started seeing more rural scenes as we sped through the countryside. We passed an estuary with a large flock of pale pink flamingos that all took flight as we approached, flying beside us, much to my delight, their long necks outstretched as they beat their large wings.
A short while later we passed a shanty village built on stilts over the Magdalena River estuary. The river close to the houses was a rubbish tip and we watched someone throw a plastic bottle off their deck to join the rest of the rubbish collecting close to the houses. Further downstream a group of men waded knee deep with a fishing nets in hand and I wondered whether they would catch more rubbish than fish……
We saw large flocks of Egrets and Turkey Vultures along the beach as we followed the coast on our journey west, passing through small towns where horse and carts were used to transport crops and goods. Large Haciendas, marked with imposing gates and the occasional horseback riders gave the impression we were on the set of a movie as we continued our journey through the roads lined with trees ladened with ripening avocados with fallen fruit left to rot around the trunk. It was an enjoyable five hour bus trip giving us a moving window into life in Colombia.
Cartagena was an import port for the export of gold and silver and for importing slaves from Africa. As it is in a key location, close to Central America as well as the Caribbean, and shipping precious cargo, the city was a target for pirates and privateers (pirates that were thieving under the name of royalty, like Sir Francis Drake), so the city was heavily fortified. As well as having a rich maritime history, the city has beautiful historic buildings which have colourful and interesting stories to tell.
Like in Santa Marta, the bus station in Cartagena is on the outskirts of town so we negotiated a low price for a taxi into the old city so we could get our bearings before finding our accommodation. Cartagena has two distinct areas – the old and the new city, and we wanted to focus on the old part. We approached the walled city, walking through Centenario Park where marmoset monkeys climbed in the branches and sloths, introduced to the park a few years ago, lazily sleep in the upper branches of trees.
We had arrived on Cartegena independence Day, a national holiday which is celebrated with a large festival in the city, the culmination being the crowning of Miss Colombia! With the festivities finished, it was now time to focus on Christmas and large decorations were being installed in the main square in front of the gate through the city walls. As we approached the stone arched gateway we started to get a taste of what to expect in the city as men with hats stacked on their heads and arms full of sunglasses approached us trying to sell us their wares. Once inside the walls we were taken aback by the amount of hustling and continuous requests to have us part with our money! However this did not detract from the beauty of the buildings and sense of history in the lovely old city. We were excited to get to know Cartagena over the next few days, but first we took a US$3 taxi ride to our accommodation, on the northern beaches of the city and settled into our modern apartment, wasting no time getting familiar with the washing machine, good showers and swimming pool!
Over the next few days we wandered the city streets, met up with friends for lunch, went on another excellent guided walking tour and enjoyed numerous eating and drinking establishments! The city is vibrant and colourful with lots of beautiful buildings, lovely plazas and some spectacular murals on buildings in the Getsemani district. Some of the old buildings had door knockers which gave an indication of the profession of the people that once lived there – a sea merchant would have a knocker of an anchor, fish or anything to do with the sea; royalty or those from high society would have an iguana; clergy would have a hand and a lion represented members of the army or protectors of the city. The big wooden doors that these knockers decorated often opened into a large lobby that led into a beautiful, enclosed courtyard.
While on the walking tour, we were in the Plaza de la Aduana when our guide abruptly broke off from his speech and stopped a man in the street, introducing him to us as the Mayor of Cartagena. He was very affable and spoke excellent English (we later learned he had lived in the USA for many years) and was very impressed we were from NZ. His security team quickly surrounded him and hustled him away – we learned he is not a very popular Mayor! A little while later we were led to an area where our guide announced he was going to introduce us to his future wife….. he then showed us a pavement dedicated to all the past winners of Miss Colombia, just as the stunning, newly crowned Miss Colombia made an appearance, flashed us a beautiful smile and entered the building. Our guide was speechless as we joked with him that his future wife had just passed him by!
The city had many fine statues and monuments but were outnumbered by the huge array of cafes and bars offering excellent coffee and appetising food! One of our favourites was Abaco Libros y Café which was a small coffee house inside an old bookshop. The walls were lined with thousands of books and gliding ladders gave access to those on the top shelves.
After a few days exploring the city we made our way to the airport for the next leg of our adventure. While we were sad to be leaving Cartagena we were also excited for what lay ahead as we were all about to experience something none of us imagined we would have had the opportunity to do.
Once again a fabulous travelogue….oh to escape these grey skies….