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Saturday, January 9, 2010
The Walled City of Cartagena
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Cartagena's Old Town is a very interesting & beautiful walled city, and along with the nearby massive fortress is a UN Heritage site. The more we're here, the more we like it. We like the price of a beer, about 2,000 pesos or $1.00, the price of a meal for under $10.00, cab rides for $2.50. We love the people who openly display friendship, passions and affections, are very family oriented, love their music & love to dance. In fact music (often too loud)& dancing is everywhere you turn. There's a lot of wealth along with the impoverished, but it is hard to imagine Cartagena strictly as a 3rd world city. Cartegena is safe, easily as safe as any other large city. Rumor has it that the cartels come to Cartagena with their families for vacations and there's an unwritten rule that no harm comes here. That & the fact that there seems to be 4 police/soldiers/security guards on every corner with helicopters and stealth looking patrol boats in the air and water gives you a great feeling of security.
Ahhh... the women - we have never seen so many well endowed and beautiful women... and so proud. Rumor has it that upon graduation, (15 yrs. old) the standard practice is to become enhanced...artificially. Oh how proud madre & padre are now! Oh, and did we mention their music? A typical evening starts off at 11:00 with the music peaking around 2 a.m. and carrying on until 5 in the morning. They do like to party! If you can't beat 'em, join 'em; our best is 2 a.m. One more thing - at the private marina we are currently at, the guard who stops to chat is holding an AK 47! Yes, we feel safe, just need to stay on the right side.
In our books though, if Cartegena has a negative, it is the dirt, in the water and the air. Our boat is filthy, it is time to move on.
Cartagena's Old Town is a very interesting & beautiful walled city, and along with the nearby massive fortress is a UN Heritage site. The more we're here, the more we like it. We like the price of a beer, about 2,000 pesos or $1.00, the price of a meal for under $10.00, cab rides for $2.50. We love the people who openly display friendship, passions and affections, are very family oriented, love their music & love to dance. In fact music (often too loud)& dancing is everywhere you turn. There's a lot of wealth along with the impoverished, but it is hard to imagine Cartagena strictly as a 3rd world city. Cartegena is safe, easily as safe as any other large city. Rumor has it that the cartels come to Cartagena with their families for vacations and there's an unwritten rule that no harm comes here. That & the fact that there seems to be 4 police/soldiers/security guards on every corner with helicopters and stealth looking patrol boats in the air and water gives you a great feeling of security.
Ahhh... the women - we have never seen so many well endowed and beautiful women... and so proud. Rumor has it that upon graduation, (15 yrs. old) the standard practice is to become enhanced...artificially. Oh how proud madre & padre are now! Oh, and did we mention their music? A typical evening starts off at 11:00 with the music peaking around 2 a.m. and carrying on until 5 in the morning. They do like to party! If you can't beat 'em, join 'em; our best is 2 a.m. One more thing - at the private marina we are currently at, the guard who stops to chat is holding an AK 47! Yes, we feel safe, just need to stay on the right side.
In our books though, if Cartegena has a negative, it is the dirt, in the water and the air. Our boat is filthy, it is time to move on.
Thursday, January 7, 2010
El Totumo - Volcano Mud Bath & Nearby Fishing Village, Columbia
I like to try things I've never done before & no, I've never gone to a volcanic mud bath before. Honestly, the things I do when Peter's not around to make sure I'm behaving myself!! (He's gone back to Vancouver for a week). This was quite the experience. The bus came by at 9:am & the dozen or so cruisers pile in. We were being escorted by Alex & our first stop was a local fishing hole beside the river. It was very basic with the women over to one side doing the laundry on the rocks & the men out in the dug out canoes throwing their nets out & catching some small local fish in the muddy waters of the the river. Onto the volcano after that. Of course, I had visions of a big, desolate, mountainous volcano - this was a hill made of mud. On top of that, there were 12 cruise ship buses in a 10x12 ft parking lot. Not exactly what I had in mind when I signed up for this. However....the mud was not what I was expecting either - it was way better. I mean mud is mud, but not this stuff - it was bouyant for one thing & if you got turned a certain way, there was no getting upright & of course, the more you laughed, the harder it was to upright yourself. Anyway, it s the thickest, ooziest, sulpheric smelling muck I have ever been in. I loved it! At first I was a little hesitant about putting my head in, but I figured, what the heck, I'm here, go for it. I ducked under & instantly regretted it when I couldn't hear a thing for all the mud in my ears. Not to mention of course, the eyes, nose & mouth. You try to rid yourself of some of this stuff, but it only makes it worse. My eyes are loaded with mud, I've got mud in my mouth, & I can't hear for all the mud & yet, I'm still thinking this is fun - the more I laugh, the more grit I get in my mouth! I'm in for a little longer than I want, I mean, I'm ready to get out, but the lady in front of me is rather a large woman & she has no upper body strength to pull herself up the ladder. She is panicking & all I'm thinking, is this lady going to fall back down on me crushing me to the bottom of this mud pit where I'll die & nobody will ever be able to find me ever again. I back off to give her some space & see that she is just shaking like a leaf - she is so scared. Well, so am I - I don't want to be down here forever. Anyway, she backed off from the ladder - I still don't know if she ever got out - (I'm thinking crane). One slight problem as I'm attempting my exit. The mud is so thick & so heavy, it starts presenting a problem with by bathing suit. In my wisdom, I had decided to wear my absolutely oldest bathing suit with NO elasticity whatsoever in it & you guessed it - it's down to my knees!!! I'm trying pull it up as fast as it falls down - I get a few chuckles from the people waiting in line & thank god I don't understand the language because I don't think I would've liked what they were saying!! We stopped for lunch at a little roadside spot & I pointed to the first thing I saw being some sort of meat. A person behind me said, "oh my, aren't you brave." Hmmmm & then I see what he's talking about. In the back of the restaurant (?) are a bunch of carcass skins of something or other & I point at them & then at my plate & the ladies serving up my meal nod their heads yes. Okaaaaay, that's what I'm eating. My aren't I brave. I look around & not a single other person is having this - not even the guide. Well, believe it or not, it was good & I made somebody else try it because if I was going down, I was taking somebody down with me. Anyway, that was 5 hours ago & I'm still alive. All in all, a very eventful day!
Vicente Fernandez Concert, Jan. 2, 2010
Ah Vicente - you handsome devil! Everybody loves Vicente. He is truly an icon here & this concert was not to be missed. The audience was made up of 3 generations - all singing, all dancing, all going crazy together. I sat beside a couple of twenty somethings with their girlfriends & their parents & their grandparents - everybody knew ever word to every one of his songs. He's got to be around 70 & he didn't start playing until 11:30 pm. We left at 2:00 & he was still going strong.
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