"¡Bienvenidos! Welcome to the great city of Cartagena de Indias," shouts the bellowing trumpet player dressed in colonial spanish attire atop San Felipe Castle, the largest castle/fortress in the Americas (built in17th century). "We`ve finally made it" I look over at Maya sweating profusely and battleing the merciless heat "we`re aguably in the most famous city of South America`s northern states." I am definitely in my element.
Different than the majority of Colombia, what sets the coast apart from
the rest is the hot temperature year around the 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 are 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, Cartagena was a
highly prosperous port city in its day and because so, it was plundered
by pirates seeking gold and riches numerous time until the city finally
responded to the continual plunderings and built up its 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. 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 and as relentless as the bright orange sun, the wind of the Caribbean blows fiercly, bringing with it years and years of unbelievable history. Although high prices and the constant nagging street vendors offering you everything from icecream and beer to emeralds and cocaine (special prices of course) can quickly transport you back to reality walking the old streets and getting caught up in Cartagena´s timelessness and historical splendor is far and away the easiest, cheapeast and most enjoyable way pass to your time.
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 wern`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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