Unfortunately the rain didn't stop after it began earlier in the afternoon, so a taxi was not to be found. Jesi's mom was gracious enough to drive us through the terrible traffic to the airport. This was a huge favor - I don't know how we would have made our flight without her driving us.
Side note, in an effort to ease traffic and help the environment, there is regulation on driving in Bogota during the day: each day only half of cars are allowed to drive. This can be compared to the tax in London, where cars must pay a certain amount to enter and drive in the city each day.
We arrived at the airport with plenty of time, but the line was suuuuper long. (Again I thought we were too late.) Ale used her native Spanish to ask an employee if those who weren't checking bags needed to stay in line. Answer: no. Whew. We got our ticket, went through security, and realized our flight was delayed. Notice a trend?
We got to Cartagena around ten, went to our hotel, dropped bags and left in search of food and a drink. While we didn't find food to suit our needs, we did find tropical drinks and a salsa joint with live music - a place you could imagine finding in Dirty Dancing or perhaps Cuba - the Sofitel Hotel Santa Clara. Imagine a huge building with orange/coral stucco. You enter the front door, pass through a foyer and walk into a luscious courtyard with trees and flowers. Along the inside border, a number of areas are set up: couches, sets of tables for restaurants. We hear music, but cannot find the source. Ale asks a server, who leads us to a huge wooden door in the far corner of the courtyard. He opens the door and voila: a beautiful dimly-lit room with tall white stuccoed walls and a huge dark-stained wood bookcase. A live salsa band playing under red lights, and couples dancing here and there. A vision of Caribbean heaven.
inside the Santa Clara salsa room.
We sat at the bar and enjoyed a piña-lime colada - a combination that should be more common in the US. By the time we finished our drinks, the kitchens were closed. Oh, the sacrifices one must make while traveling. :-)
We stayed in the Hotel Cochera de Hobo (on the street Calle Cochera de Hobo). While fairly inexpensive, I think we expected more than what we found, but all in all it was okay. In preparing for the trip, Ale and I searched for quite a while to find a hotel within the walled city - more on the walls later. This is a more difficult task than it should be: locations were not always correct on Google maps, especially in this small city with winding streets whose names change each block. While reviews ere available and the description listed location as 'within the walls', we were too scared to book without being sure. After determining if a hotel was in the walls, it was a balance of online photos and price. The photos of the hotel looked great: small pool, balconies, rooftop deck. The real place: awesome location, clean, great service... unfinished deck (construction workers were putting on stucco today), dirty pool (from the stucco?)... great coffee, hot breakfast. They made arepas con juevos for us, they booked our day trips, searched for us when we were late, and compensated for the lack of amenities. Overall, we got our money's worth but will most likely recommend another spot for friends traveling in the future.
Cochero de Hobo - white stucco with blue.
inside the courtyard of the hotel.
Saturday morning began bright and early. Okay, so not too early, but it definitely was bright. Each morning we would wake up to the sound of food vendors walking the street and shouting their offerings to the world: "yucca", "aaaahaa", etc., but I was able to quickly fall back asleep after they wandered down the street.
As soon as we opened the curtain, heat surrounded us. Yay! We spent our first day wandering the streets of the Old Town - that within the walls. Founded in 1533, Cartagena was one of the first colonial towns. The town became the primary Spanish port on the Caribbean coast and was continually sieged by pirates. In response, a series of forts and a wall around the city were built. Today the heart of the city is in the old town, including the inner and outer - this is where Alejandra and I spent our time. The inner part of Cartagena can be best compared to Venice: a series of small, winding streets that house a number of plazas and churches, surrounded by a definitive barrier (water in Venice, a wall in Cartagena).
in the plaza of the iglesia de san pedro claver.
the iglesia de san pedro claver.
hotel charleston santa teresa.
inside the cathedral de cartagena.
We began by walking ON the wall; while quite high in parts, the majority of the wall can act as a sidewalk, similar to a board walk. It was really pretty: on one side you can enjoy the sea and the sights from the old city on the other.
a view of the new city from the old city wall.
from Cafe del Mar. you can see how this was a fort.
looks like they were setting up fro a wedding.
Our shopping continued: Ale wanted a mochila and I a big floppy hat. [Mochilas are woven bags that can come in a variety of colors and styles.] Throughout Cartagena, similar to other touristy cities worldwide, vendors sit on sidewalks or walk around selling various crafts and trinkets. The kinds most prevalent in Carta are vendors selling jewelry, hats, mochilas and other gifts. Needless to say, we met many vendors and costed out many, many hats and mochilas.
After walking around the old town for awhile, we decided to search for gelato - an Italian speciality - in "exotic Colombian flavors" per our travel book. Ale had zapote and arquipe (sweet cream, like dulce de leche); I had coconut and another tropical flavor - yum!
We meandered around a bit longer until getting lunch at Mulata, a restaurant with great daily specials frequented by the locals. Ale and I ordered the same: fish with a seafood sauce, coconut rice, fried plantains, a small salad and seafood soup. Absolutely delicious, but I could have taken a nap afterward!
After lunch we wandered to a small tourist market place, where we finally found a mochila that can function as a perfect yoga bag! The cross-body strap ties on a ring, allowing the bag to change lengths; I plan to use it for yoga and maybe grocery shopping. Perfect! Since we were in the shopping mode, we went to Mercedes Salazar's jewelry store. Ale first learned about this brand through a family friend - the friend had on a simple woven bracelet with a gold heart engraved with a special proverb or saying. Next Ale saw it in Georgetown, but at a high cost. Muy caro.. As she planned the trip to Colombia, finding this jewelry store was at the top of her list! She found a beautiful purple bracelet, and I bought a simple gold necklace.
inside a beautiful hotel.
yes, we used their internet and swung on their swing.
That evening, we split a pizza for dinner and enjoyed tinto de verano - a chilled red sangria, went to Santa Clara to enjoy live salsa, then over to Cafe de Mar. Cafe de Mar sits on a corner of the walls and overlooks the Caribbean. It was beautiful.
at dinner.
dinner entertainment.
another drink at the santa clara.
Sunday morning we rose early to take a day trip to Isla del Sol, one of 27 islands that make up the Islas de Rosario. A taxi picked us up and drove us to the dock. There are many islands and many boats, so we chose to follow our hotels recommendation: we went on a small boat (approx 26 people) that offered a package including fruit, lunch, and coffee. The small boats can be sketchy at times, but we had no problem: the staff was very professional and got us to the island quicker than possible with the large boats and safely. The beach was VERY small, but there were bathrooms and drinks available.
view from the beach.
cabana house.
If a friend goes in the future, I may recommend they spend a night on the island at Playa Blanca. While it wasn't something we planned for, one can rent a cabana and enjoy a beautiful beach that we only heard about. The sun was nice and hot. Since there were so few people - only those on our boats and the islanders - we were able to nap in the sun, especially after our huge lunch of freshly fried fish, rice, plantains and yuccas. After the entire island napped, we awoke to wonderful Colombian coffee and then took the boat back in. Typically I am exhausted after a beach day; not with those naps and coffee!
We took our time walking back to the hotel, showered up, grabbed dinner, and met the ride for our next adventure at our hotel. In an effort to do/eat as many local things as possible, we went on a chiva ride. A chiva is an open bus - you may have seen these before in movies or paintings. They are typically bright colored, full of merry people sharing a bottle of rum, with fruit or other produce on top of the bus. The touristy version of this includes a ride around the city with multiple strangers, lots of bottles of alcohol and a Ballenato band! (Ballenato bands consist of a drum, accordion, and maracas or a washboard type instrument.)
as the chiva was loading.
We had a great time and made friends with some Uruguayan women and an older Chilean couple! We saw many of the sites and some beautiful residential areas.
site-seeing.
We also stopped at Las Bóvedas - a market place in what was once a jail - for a Ballenato jam dance party.
jam session in the market area.
view of the chiva and a random vendor.
At the end of the ride, the chiva brought us to a discotheque - a bar with music for dancing. We had a great time. The perfect last night for our short weekend trip to Cartagena.
Monday morning our kind hotel staff made us arepas con juevos - arepas with egg inside, very typical for this part of the country. Then we caught a taxi to go to the Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas. Dating back to the 1650s, this is the strongest fortress ever built by the Spaniards in any of their colonies . The castillo offers magnificent views of the city (both new and old) as well as the lagoons and Caribbean sea.
from the base.
near the top.
possibly the largest flag i have ever seen. check out the city in the back.
and, almost more importantly, it is here that Ale finally bought a hat! :-)
On the way back to the city, the taxi dropped us in Getsemani - an area that can be compared to the transitioning U Street. It was a very cool area, but everyone could tell we were tourists, so we didn't hang around too long. While we were there, we walked by many interesting shops and restaurants, as well as a long street with graffiti across the walls.
sweet graffiti in getsemani.
on the walk back into the city.
one of the main plazas.
From Getsemani we walked back into the old city and happened upon a dramatic troupe performing to bring awareness to domestic violence.
As we were watching and taking photos, a guy across the plaza begins waving - Anwar, a friend of Alejandra! The three of us caught up (yes, I've met him in DC with Ale, too!) and grabbed beers/coffee in the Plaza de Santo Domingo. This plaza is widely known as it contains a famous Botero statue of a woman laying down. Before parting we introduced Anwar to our favorite restaurant Mulata, and the three of us enjoyed another daily special. Delicioso.
enjoying a delicious desert.
saying goodbye to the cochera.
We only had a few hours left in the city, and we decided to finish it off in a chic coffee shop with amazing desserts. We shared a brownie and ice cream. I cannot articulate how great it was. The time to say goodbye to Julio and the rest of the Cochera de Hobo staff came, and we hopped in a cab and rushed to the airport only to learn our flight was canceled. Par for the course. Instead of flying out at 7:00, we made ourselves at home in the airport and took a few hours to read. We finally made it back to Botoga around 12:00 - straight to bed!
After our long night, we slept late, and sweet Jesi made us arepas and fresh juice. We jumped in the car and headed north to Zipaquirá, home of a beautiful salt cathedral built in the underground salt mines. The idea for an underground cathedral began when the original miners would build altars in the mines. The original cathedral was opened in 1954 but was closed in 1992 for safety reasons. The new cathedral features a walk through the stations of the cross and ends at the beautiful main cathedral and a smaller chapel. A total of 250,000 tons of salt were removed in the construction of this. [Local salt mines still contribute to 40% of Colombia's salt resources.]
on our way to the mine entrance.
third station of the cross. (i think.)
fifth station (?) see the air canal to the right.
up to 5,000 people can tour the mine at once with natural air flow.
end of the stations. balcony overlooking the cathedral.
nativity scene.
salt 'waterfall'. they released water slowly, causing it to look like a frozen waterfall.
at the base of the altar.
up close. :-)
After the one mile trek to the cathedral and back, Jesi drove us to Andres Carne de Res for lunch. Andres was recommended as a "must see" by every Latin American who knew I was traveling to Bogota. Unfortunately we were not in the city to enjoy dinner at Andres, so lunch had to suffice. When we arrived, we learned that only the 'Express' was open. The Express is a bit more informal than the full restaurant, but I think the food was exactly the same. Jesi ordered a combination of plates for the three of us to share: arepa de chóclo con queso (an arepa stuffed with cheese and served with a sweet sour cream), morcilla (similar to sausage, stuffed with rice, beans, peas, and meat), papa criolla (mini potatoes), patacón con hogoa (fried plantain with salsa), and beef and chicken. It was all delicious. Served with a fresh mandarin juice for me, lemonade for Ale, and Coke for Jesi. Since the main restaurant was closed, we walked around the outside and peeked in a few of the windows. The restaurant is like a compound: it is huge!
restaurant entrance.
we snuck inside to grab a photo.
There is an area for children to play or paint, an outside area if inside is too loud for dining, then of course the main restaurant with a large bar and dance floor. It is decorated with many trinkets - similar to The Shed in Ocean Springs. Too bad we weren't able to enjoy the full experience... next time.
We drove back into the city to continue our shopping excursion, visiting many Colombian stores. We stumbled across Crepes & Waffles (okay, we planned it) and enjoyed an early evening dessert and coffee. All of this eating, shopping and walking has taken its toll. We are heading home for a relaxing evening in preparation for birthday celebrations and my final day in Colombia tomorrow!!
