The Vibe of Cartagena

Our hostel in Cartagena was located in the Getsemani district of the city, a modest area of town in the outer wall of Old Town.  At the local restaurants you can order ‘comida corriente’, which is the set menu for either lunch or dinner.  This always consists of rice, plantains, small salad, soup, juice and either fish meat or chicken…all of this sets you back about $2.50.  There were also number snack vendors and cute little café’s with more international food choices.  I fell in love with the bakery and man right next to our hostel, he lured us in with the delicious smells wafting every morning, guava pastry baked fresh was the best! There were also a number of refreshing beverages I fell in love with in this city – Limonatas (Crème de Coconut & Lime, Rum is optional); Agua Panella (sugar cane water, tastes like a slushy sweet ice tea); and of course all of the slushy fruit juices ranging from mango to passion fruit and star fruit. 

Exploring the Old Town’s sheer beauty was simply impressive.  Immaculately preserved within 13km of centuries old colonial stonewall (las murallas) are cobblestone alleys with enormous balconies towering above.  There are cascading flowers everywhere, churches, plazas, and open air cafes.  It has a vibrant Latin feel, the plazas filled with street vendors, dancing, and artists.  I loved all of the large doors with ornate knockers.

In the evenings we felt very safe to walk about our neighborhood, one night we had dinner with our sailing crew and then went out drinking and dancing with Shinji.  Nelson one of the fabulously friendly Colombians we have met so far blended up Limonatas and gave us a taste testing lesson on Colombian Rum.  The band got underway and before we knew it we were all salsa dancing with the locals and learning some new moves from Nelson.

With the streets and alleys extremely narrow, no traffic direction, and scooters zipping everywhere, it is a certainty that the following situation happens daily.  Our taxi was pulled within 5 inches of the curb when Heidi went to get out, and wham the door opened on a motor trying to zip through this sliver of space.  The driver and bike went sprawling and I watched the man on the back simply step off, seeing it coming.  Well, this whole skirmish turned into quite the situation; not because of the cap driver or the motor driver as you may guess.  They were both totally chill, saying it happens and please not to worry everything was fine…the craziness came from this ridiculous passenger on the moto.  He started exclaiming that if it weren’t for his incredible reflexes he would have been dead in the street, going on and on about the stress that this had caused on his system.  All the while he was ranting, his tan linen pants were hanging perfectly and his tan linen open shirt (with tan mesh underneath) did not contain a single wrinkle.  He fanned himself with his hat; fingers clad with jade rings, demanding compensation for his suffering.  Heidi gave the actual moto owner some money in case there was any damage to his bike and as a good will gesture…the other man continued to demand where is my payment?  The other Colombian onlookers involved kind of rolled their eyes every time he started up, we took this as a sign they understood we were terribly sorry and happy to compensate the rightful victim…and got out of there quick.  Quite the fiasco!

Another very memorable experience was our trip to Mercado Bazurto, the central market in Cartagena.  It was equally both dirty and fascinating!  We were the only gringos in sight and it was a great glimpse into the everyday life of real Cartagenos.  Walking through the labyrinth of stalls, vendors were assaulting us from all angles with whistles,“Hola Momma, Para Orden” and just downright sleazy eyes.  It was a huge place, at least 30x30 blocks long and wide.  

 There were stalls with intestines, pig heads, and many other meats and skins piled high and hanging over lines.  There was fish being de-headed, live chickens lined up for killing, fruits and vegetables, spices, grains, condiments in bulk jars, clothes, trinkets, fabric, shoes…basically anything you can imagine being marketable you could find here!