Cartagena - Take Your Clothes Off Hot!!
Trip Start
Nov 24, 2007
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32
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Trip End
May 15, 2008
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Cartagena,
Colombia
Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Different than the majority of Colombia, what sets the coast apart from the rest is the hot temperature and afro-latin fusion in music, culture and all around life. Cartagena, like no other city we have been to so far, is definitely alive and beating! Music can be heard at all times in the background everywhere you go, a mixture of vellenato, cumbia, guitar riffs, maracas and lively drums mixing into one. The unique flavor even carries on well into Sunday nights when most other places would be dead. At 10pm people are still in the streets, music can still be heard, and the culture of Cartagena carries on. Even the birds along the coast fly to a different beat.
Aside from two, maybe three cold rinses a day to battle the at times suffocating heat, the Caribbean coast seem like the good life, even the bums seem better off here than in Bogota....well at least they must be warmer...
Cartagena de Indias, founded in 1533, is legendary both for its rich history and unrivaled colonial beauty. Proudly called the "Heroic City" by its residents, it was a highly prosperous port city in its day and because so, it was plundered by pirates seeking gold and riches numerous times until the people finally responded to the continual plunderings and built up their defenses enough to resist even the boldest attacks, that being one by 186 ships and
more than 22,000 men against its 6 vessels and less than 4,000 soldiers.
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Inside the walled old city marked by an enormous clock tower, I stand in awe. Colorful mansions with overhanging balconies line each and every street, grand palaces and old churches looking seemingly the exact same now as they had done centuries earlier overshadow peaceful stone plazas that ring with chatter from the midday vendors. As relentless as the bright orange sun, the wind of the Caribbean blows fiercely, bringing with it years and years of unbelievable history. Although high prices and the constant nagging street vendors offering you everything from ice cream and beer to emeralds and cocaine (special prices of course) can quickly transport you back to the true 21st century reality, walking the old streets and getting caught up in Cartagena´s timelessness and historical splendor is far and away the easiest, cheapest and most enjoyable way pass to your time here.Beings that we happened to be there during Semana Santa (Holy Week preceding Easter) and everybody who is anybody (basically entire Colombia) heads for the Caribbean coast during this time, it wouldn`t be truthful to say that we enjoyed it all to ourselves. That was far from the case. On the bright side however, we weren`t the only ones getting bothered by the aggressive street vendors and for the most part, even as foreigners, we became lost in the crowd and easily found ourselves acting as if we'd been transported back a few centuries in time.
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We're staying in the cheap Getsemani barrio outside the old city walls. It is a pleasant atmosphere....a little unruly at times and we're definitely on the cautious side of things but it offers a glimpse into the day to day life of Cartagena's people, apart from its glamor and riches. It is definitely dirty, stinky and rundown but after all, we seem to like it that way.
I got my hair cut yesterday, this time by a older man in his 50's with slicked back hair, a glowing bald spot on top and a hitler-like mustcache and an equally disturbing soul patch to go along with. He was a true expert with the single blade though, can't doubt that.
There is a bright yellow Cathedral down the street and at night people sit in out front, eat vendor food and watch their kids run around the plaza. Two young girls, chase their dog, Limon (Lemon) on roller blades, coming up to Maya enchanted by her looks. Life is so welcoming here. Even without the splendor, it is inherently good and people don't seem to be the least bit judgemental. What goes, goes...
