Last day in Cartagena

Cartagena No 3

We have now been able to explore the old city of Cartagena by foot and admire the architecture of the buildings. Coral blocks, rocks and limestone (I am innocently thinking that these may have been quarried in the hills or have simply been washed up on the beach, rather than the destruction of reefs!!) dominate the construction materials of these old (and new) buildings , statues and walls. As a result, when you walk into the interior of the buildings they are cool and refreshing in contrast to the hot sticky heat outside. The front doors of all these buildings simply open straight onto the narrow cobbled streets – many of the entrances being beautiful huge doors of 4 or 5 metres with smaller narrow openings of 2m within the large door. Glimpses behind the doors as they are opened reveal beautiful cool leafy interior courtyards (lots of mature bangalo palms) and open to the air .And the colours of the plastered exterior walls are so intense – beautiful terracotas, yellows, reds, even purple and blues. The cathedrals, towers and the entire walls are in natural ‘coral’ tones.

One big difference with our wanderings today was the crowds of visitors to the city. A cruise ship must have arrived and there were thousands of people being herded around in groups with guides holding up little flags. Large pale bodies sweating in the heat –and yesterday was hot! It was good not to part of it – enough to simply witness!

Now some have asked about the food. So far our choices have been very international. It has been hard to actually think that there has been anything traditional that we could say was definitely Panamanian or Columbian. The cassava and other carbohydrates(rice, lentils, beans,) have been very bland. Today I had some mashed sweet potato with lentils with the ‘stir fry’ and it was so sweet! The desserts that we have sampled are also VERY sweet – bordering on sickly. In general, we think everything needs o be spiced up. It will be interesting to stay with the Columbian family and see what is served.

Last night we met an Argentinian lady (heaps of Argentinians here in Cartagena) who has invited us to stay in Cordoba, Argentinia with her in July!!! Not exactly the route we had planned but not far off the track so we may do just that – too good to refuse. She has recently retired from teaching English so conversation was very easy. Have another couple outside of Buenos Aires to visit too.

We visited a few museums within the old city today and learnt a bit more of Cartagena’s colourful history. This was basically the center of the trade of slaves from Africa during the 17th Century .One local hero was the main instigator for rights and freedom for the black African slaves worldwide. Earlier than that the Spanish Inquisition were here when witchcraft was blamed for many of the problems of the times. The houses of torture for suspected witches are a gruesome glimpse of the cruelty that occurred to hundreds of innocent victims.

We do need to read the book – Love in the Time of Cholera, which was set in Cartagena.

And, ‘yes’ we have seen the Royal Wedding on CNN T.V here at the hotel..

Next blog will probably be from Bogota – met another VERY friendly person who spent an hour with us telling where to go and what to see when in Bogota. And we have a hotel booked in advanced which is what we have decided is a better option than just arriving and then trying to find one. The good old Lonely Planet is our bible!

P.S. Hope this isn’t tooo much detail in these blogs. Many many of you would LOVE Cartagena!! I know you are awaiting more photos and they coming. We pay separately for W-ifi at this hotel and it is quite pricey. We go to an internet café for cheaper access and we cannot use ‘our’ computer, so we are a little stuck until we get to Bogota where maybe the hotel has Wi-fi for free. The photos take quite a long time to upload!

Cartagena No 2

Cartagena Part 2. Now this is in fact ‘Cartaheyna’ as the Columbian’s pronounce it. Cartagena is on the Caribbean Coast, an old port location for the Spanish for exporting (after plundering it) gold to Europe.(Columbia is the only S. American country with a Pacific and Caribben Coastline).  It was a strategic location fought over by both the Spanish and the English (Francis Drake, who arrived with 186 galleons to conquer the city – unsuccessfully!)) along with others. There is a high hill which houses an old monastery (with an amazing almost 360 degree view), a VERY impressive fortress and a completely walled old city – the latter two build by the Spanish to provide security for the stores of gold waiting to be transported to Europe. Columbia is also rich with Emeralds. (Not a lot of gold was left after the Spanish). Cartagena has a distinct Caribbean and West Indian influence and the music we heard last night was dominated by the bongo drumming. The old walled city is still to be explored extensively by foot for us but the’ cobbled alleys, enormous balconies shrouded in bougainvillea and massive churches casting their shadows across leafy plazas’ (quote from Lonely Planet but soooo appropriate!) are a picture paradise. It’s just so hot to wander too far for too long! We are going to try late this afternoon. Right now tropical rain is falling so it should cool things down a bit.

The Time Share we are staying in is dominated by South American tourists and any English speakers usually originate from North America. I heard some English being spoken for the first time in 48 hours today. Our Spanish is very basic but we can make ourselves understood and people are very helpful if they speak any English they will help out. New Zealand is not automatically recognised as a country. We link the position to Australia and then basically ‘are’ part of Australia. They seem to know about Kangaroos (not the lesser known kiwi bird!) We are on level 9 of a 25 story tower fronting the Caribbean Sea. The whole area is very pretty.

I feel like I have completely recovered from the boat trip and can now look back on the positive points of the trip – mainly that I survived!  You cannot travel from Panama to Columbia (they were once ‘one’ country) by road as one simply doesn’t exist. The land in between is the Darian Gap and pretty dangerous to travel into. The choices were flying (and at the time that seemed too unexciting) or by boat (a challenge not to be missed, so I thought!!).

We have until Sunday here, then fly to Bogota (capital of Columbia) for a few days before heading across to the coffee highlands to the west where we are staying with a Columbian family (contact through an old flatmate of mine that now lives in Canada). Really looking forward to that experience.

Cartagena, Columbia

Now in Cartagena, Columbia. Our voyage via yacht from Panama was something we were really looking forward to. And now, i am so pleased to have it behind us. We choose a cat that would be a more stable on the open sea, but our choice put us on a 14 year old cat (more like 20) that was a bit tired and we had 14others on board with us (all of whom were really nice people) but it made it a bit crowded and once we hit the open sea we had to close all hatches to the bedrooms and the deisel and fresh paint smell prevented most of us using the bedrooms so we were all crowded up into the saloon or back deck area (for those of us who needed the fresh air too). The open sea crossing was 40 hours so I slept (on and off) for those hours in a very small space in a corner of the back deck. On top of that we prepared ourselves for the travel diarroheoa situation (i know that is not spelt correctly) but not the opposite, so the small confined space of the bathrooms became places of 'ordeal'. A lack of fibre and the effects of dehydration on the boat being the causes - I suspect.

We were the only travellers beyond 40 and most were in their 20's (far more tolerance of the lack of luxuries), but everyone was friendly and understanding. Amazingly, 8 out of the other 12 passengers (+2 crew) are heading for N.Z. in the coming months. I am sure we will host four of the Irish travellers later this year at home.

The Islands of the San Blas were truely picturesque - just what you would think a deserted island should look like (there were a few islands that were overcrowded and others completely uninhabited). Snorkelling was pretty good - for fish life but the coral was bleached as it is in so many places of the world now.

We haven't seen much of Cartagena 'yet'. This is our week of luxury in a time share hotel where all food and drink is included!!! Just what my body needs for a few days. Cartagena is a beautiful city with an entire area surrounded by walls - the old city. We have had a brief look last night and know that will be the focus of our explorations in the coming days.

Last day in Panama

This will be the final blog for Panama City as we leave tomorrow morning at 5 a.m. to head to the yacht that will transport us to Cartagena, Columbia via the San Blas Islands. We have spent the last couple of days ….walking (yes, that’s a daily occurrence).Yesterday we moved to the Old City and a ‘basic’ hostel so we will be closer for the 5 a.m. departure.  This really does remind me of backpacking through Asia 30 years ago but the people are really friendly and there is a ‘slightly eccentric’ older solo lady staying here – 74 years old and wishes to keep travelling for another 10 years!!!

We visited a contemporary art gallery yesterday and climbed a local hill to see the view. Today (after a lazy start) we have walked through several kms of a National Park – mainly seeing the local flora – some beautiful specimens.

Our mastery of Spanish is minimal but improving. We can get ourselves into taxis and to correct destinations. Buy ‘most’ things. If anyone can speak English they are very helpful but it is not common among the locals. A.J. has definitely advanced beyond ordering  2 beers!!!!

Well, this may well be the last communication before reaching Columbia – unless the facilities on this yacht are way more than we are expecting!!!!

Talk again after 25^th April. There should be some more photos coming. I have got them to the computer but it all takes a while to transfer them to the blog. And wifi connections are not available everywhere in the hostel – I have to go the reception area.

Viv and A.J.

Panama No. 2.

We have been in Panama for 5 days now - and will be here for another 2 awaiting our boat (15m Cat, named Fritz the Cat) that will take us to Columbia, via the San Blas Islands.

In the meantime we have been seeing a little more of Panama. Yesterday we went for a trip on Lake Gatun, which is the lake in central Panama that was enlarged by flooding the river valley during the construction of the canal. We were dwarfed by the huge container ships that cruised through the lake nearby. We saw the dredging ships dredging the depths and pumping the gravel kms to create new beaches elsewhere. We also sited monkeys, Iguanas, Tucans, beautiful lush jungle, many flowering trees. Today we have been out to the outer island of Taboga in the Pacific , swimming and relaxing and saw all the ships (and one cruise liner) waiting to enter the canal.

And we have covered a few more kilometres of Panama's streets.Some of the features of these walks:

1. Lighting is very poor.

2.At the same time there are many obstacles - man holes uncovered that you could lose yourself into - easily. Cut off galvernised pipes or hooks conveniently sized that your foot fits into nicely as you walk by. Lethal!!! A.J has stopped wearing jandals out at night for one particular reason.

3. 'Few' street names so when you cant find your way, so you have no idea where you are on the map.

4. The traffic is horrendous and noisy but there appear to be few accidents. The buses in particular are amazing - so decorated and colourful with two big exhaust pipes up the back of the bus (I'll take a photo Steve) and a blasting horn!

We've met some interesting travellers each day. Today some S. African's who work in the Cayman Islands and know my cousins son who also works there!!

Petrol is very cheap here - less than $1 a litre, so taxi rides are also very cheap. And of course there are LOTS of taxis. A meal for two can be anything from $10 to $40 depending where you go. Accommodation between $22 and $50 for a double (basic) room.  The U.S. dollar is the currency. We brought U.S. money with us so haven't yet visited a bank (and there are over 100 different banks represented in Panama) or an A.T.M. machine.

Missing Vogel's bread tho!!!!And we have a long way to go before getting  anything like it,  most likely.