Cartagena
Trip Start
Oct 10, 2006
1
46
110
Trip End
Ongoing
Cartagena **,
Colombia
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Cartagena is a city on the Caribbean coast whose old quarter is surrounded by large, thick walls and ring of outer forts. Built by the Spanish in 1533, the purpose of this construction was to give the city additional protection against the continuous pirate attacks.
Cartagena is said to be legendary for both its beauty and history. But legends have a way of changing over time and fact is often difficult to distinguish from fiction. Therefore, it follows that a supposed living legend such as Cartagena is equally subject to change. These changes are far more dramatic, however, because living legends run the risk of losing their legendary status. For me, that is what happened to Cartagena.
Cartagena is undoubtedly a beautiful city with an interesting history and I know that I would have loved it a few years ago but it is now partially, if not practically, destroyed by tourists. I know it sounds funny to say that some Colombian city is full of tourists but it is true. Cartagena is fast becoming a massive package holiday destination and there are many hotels in the resort area of the city called Bocagrandes, including one of the Hilton hotels. There were even some Americans there on Spring break including two from Texas!
This increase of tourism has not been kind to the city. Many of its citizens are quite poor and they have focused their efforts on the tourist..quite literally. Everywhere you go, you get hassled by jinoteros, wanting you to buy whatever they have onhand. I used to meet the same men and women every day and still they pestered me. You find this all over Latin America but apart from Cuba and Cusco in Peru, I have never met such persistent vendors.
On a normal day, it`s likely that this would not bother me but the whole reason that Collins and I came to Cartagena was to relax after Ciudad Perdida. My tolerance levels were at an all time low.
I made an attempt to escape the city one day when I took a boat out to the archipelago of islands called Islas Rosarios. It involved 8hours on a boat and only one hour and a half on the beach which included a lunch. I must have been mad but such was the extent of my frustration with the city. Collins proved correct in his decision to relax at the hostel all day instead, which, funny enough, did not cost the same arm and big, fat leg that my excursion did.
Upon finishing up with our lunch, I was approached by five black men all selling their bits and bobs. I politely said "no thank you" ("No gracias" is possibly the line I use the most in Latin America) but when they still persisted after my third polite "No thank you", I got rude and basically told them where to go.
They continued to stand beside me while I laid out my towel and sorted out my bag to make sure it was safe. If I had listened to them, I would have bought a hat for my non-existent brother, a gold ring for my non-existent boyfriend and a pair of illuminous pink earrings for Wonder Mum..they even attempted to get me to buy a lighter for a man from Boston who I had met on the boat!
Stop the lights, I felt like boxing them one so instead I lay down and pretended to sleep. Inevitably, I fell asleep and when I awoke, it was time to go to the boat so I didn`t even get to go for a swim. Was not a happy camper!
Now saying all this bout Cartagena and its surrounding areas, I would still recommend it as a destination for people. It features as one of the top highlights of South America in all of the guide books, I think it was just my particular mood at the time.
Many people I spoke to about Cartagena either really liked it or hated it. More often or not, it depended where you stayed. Collins and I stayed in Getsemani which is the area of budget accomodation. It was very poor and is considered quite dangerous at night so that might have had something to do with why I wasn`t the biggest fan of Cartagena.
But Collins really liked it so maybe it was just me. But the boat ride to the Islas Rosarios was defo not just me so that is highly unrecommendable if you go with Fiesta tours!
I also managed to delete every single photo I have taken in Colombia...depression city. Ciudad Perdida was the first time I thought I had taken good photos and I even got a compliment from Collins bout them which is v. rare..So sorry if Photos aren`t great for this. Gonna try and collect a few from the gang who went.
Apart from everything else, there was a bomb in the shopping centre while we were there but the explosives team detonated it! Apparently it was the smallest type of bomb you can find. I couldn`t find out who was thought to be responsible for it but there was no serious damage done anyway. I saw men going into the centre with stretchers but at the same time, the firemen were posing for photos like they had all the time in the world so I don`t think anyone was hurt.
Headed to Medellin on the Thursday just in time for the weekend.
