Cartagena
Trip Start
Oct 06, 2006
1
69
76
Trip End
Sep 14, 2008
Cartagena,
Colombia
Monday, March 10, 2008
Colombians
From the time I got into Colombia I made contact and eventually friends with many Colombians, especially Couchsurfing Colombians. Remember www.couchsurfing.com? In general Colombians are super friendly people, very open, happy, interested and hospitable. They treat foreigners well in my experience. Ready to chat with you in the street, over a coffee or in the park, or on the bus, Colombians are not as shaded by tourism as many other countries and most likely you will be chatting with someone right away or pay exactly the same for goods or services as a local would which you might not be able to expect in other countries. While Cartagena is certainly the most touristy spot I have seen in Colombia, the number of foreigners is still low. During my time in Cartagena I met once again some great people from Colombia and from other parts of the world. Although I got robbed at knifepoint on my last night together with my Swiss friend Kersten, this has not changed my view that Cartagena counts as one of the most beautiful Latino cities.
Having had a great and intensive month on the coast I decided it was time to move inland. Before doing so I took the opportunity to sell my kites because locals were interested and especially impressed by the performance and quality of my Naish gear, especially the new 2008 Cult I brought down here. This was a welcome opportunity because I would now travel much lighter the rest of my time in Colombia, for sure a luxury that I didn't have the whole time during this entire trip. I still carried my board in my kitebag but at least it was much lighter.
