3rd August 2015 – Cartagena;
Colombia
We quietly entered port without a breath of
wind after a very windy night and knew it was going to be a hot day.
Cartagena pronounced Carta-hay-na by the
locals sits on the northern coast of Colombia that shares its borders with
Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru and Panama.
Colombia has a population of 952,024 (2010)
Spanish is the local language
Currency is Colombian Peso but US dollars
are readily accepted and it would appear preferred.
Situated near the equator it doesn’t have
seasons and maintains an average temperature of 28°C but very humid.
This coastal region was discovered in 1501
by Rodrigo de Bastidas while mapping South America for the Spanish but it
wasn’t until 1533 that a permanent settlement was established by Don Pedro de
Heredia. He named it Cartagena de Indias
(Carta-hay-na).
The town grew rapidly as a shipping centre
for gold silver and slaves between the Americas and Spain and because of the
rich cargos soon became a favourite target of French and English pirates.
One of the most notorious to enter
Cartagena’s Bay was Sir Francis Drake who attacked the city in 1586. Story has
it that he put a shot into the cathedral wall and told the city inhabitants he
would flatten the place unless they paid a ransom of 107,000 Spanish Eight
Reales US$200 mill in todays value
apparently they paid.
Tired of continual raids Spain decided to
spend a large fortune fortifying the city and built a massive fortified wall
around it, in places this wall is 5 metres thick.
Today it is called the old city and is a
UNESCO World Heritage Site.
As we were only in port a few hours we
decided not to do one of the organised ships tours, our intention was to grab a
cab and go straight to the old city. As we walked through the very attractive
terminal grounds towards the cab area we could hear a commotion up ahead and
soon discovered there was almost a battle royal going on with local tour guides
all competing for customers. How they work is to sign you up for a tour with
all sorts of promises and when they think they have all that’s interested they
count the numbers and organise a suitable sized vehicle amongst the taxi
company that have parked outside with every vehicle from minis to large buses.
This is all done with a lot of yelling and a certain amount of what appeared to
be aggression.
A lady offered us three and a half hours of
guided tour that took in all the places we wanted to see for $20 each and
already had a couple of clients so I paid and we ended up with a party of eight
plus her and a very nice old driver.
Best $20 bucks we’ve spent in a long time. Being
early we copped peak hour traffic and they are maniacs, a lot of motor-bikes
that weave in and out of narrow gaps between buses, trucks and cars, traffic
seemed to operate first in best dressed when coming to intersections or
blending traffic, complete bedlam.
We spent a lot of time in the old city
walking around with the guide where she described the significance of the old
buildings from an early era and every corner you turned hawkers would
materialise out of nowhere trying to flog hats, rattles or tissey trinkets.
While in the old city we browsed through an
interesting market area and got hassled by traders but they weren’t over the
top and if you insisted ‘NO’ they left you alone. A lady in traditional
clothing and carrying a massive bowl of fruit on her head wanted me to take her
photo, but as soon as I raised the camera she said $1.00. I wonder how she knew
I was a tourist?
We also drove through the crazy traffic to
the new city section of high-rise buildings sitting on a peninsula with
attractive looking beaches on one side and the harbour bay on the other, in
this area you have all of your normal department stores and a lot of high rise
attractive looking apartments. Plenty of construction going on with a lot of
cranes on buildings.
Once again this is a place where you would
like to spend more time exploring.
Returning to the ship and passing through
the terminal location, you pass through a small rain forest area and bird
sanctuary where in one location several pink flamingos were parading.
In the shade of leafy trees I joined the
multitude and partook in a couple of cold stubbies of local beer, I had to have
two as I didn’t taste the first one but I think they squirted out of my pores
as fast as I drank them.
They hadn’t done their homework and
established it was an Aussie ship – They ran out of cold beer.
Back on board and underway 1300 next
destination Panama Canal.
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