We have officially been traveling long enough that I am way more comfortable with last minute plans than I ever thought I would be. At the beginning of our trip John and I agreed that we would plan at least a week out because anything less felt stressful. But at this point, it’s felt better to plan as we go to give us more flexibility, sometimes not even sure where we’re sleeping that night!
Our trip to Cartagena was one of these last minute plans – we woke up planning to bus somewhere else in Colombia, but then checked the weather and decided it wasn’t the best plan. We last minute booked flights for the next day to Cartagena, which was shockingly cheap ($0 to be exact, thanks credit card points). And luckily we hadn’t booked bus tickets or accommodation yet, so very easy to switch plans. I never thought I’d be comfortable with that, but I get it now!
The City
Cartagena is an old colonial town on the Caribbean coast of Colombia. It was built as a walled city with a fortress to protect from intruders and the old town and wall are still intact.
The city has expanded since then, and for most of our stay we stayed about a 15 minute drive from the walled old town in a more residential area. No matter what part of the city you’re in though, one of the defining features is the music playing late into the night and people out and about partying. Many parties seem to be held on the street outside convenient stores or in backyards – it’s a town that loves a good time!
That good time even carried over to some street artists selling rhymes for dimes (blame John for that sentence). Walking through town we were followed several times by people rapping about us in hopes of earning some money. Most notable lines were them comparing John to Justin Bieber and our friend Daniel to Jackie Chan (questionable but entertaining). They followed us at least 9 blocks – they earned some money from us for their effort!
We visited the Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas, the old fortress that protected the city. It has a bunch of tunnels that looked to house rows of prisoner cells that did not look very inviting.
We also visited the Centenario park in the middle of old town, and to our surprise it is home to both monkeys and sloths. We found both and they were very cute!
The Weather
Extreme feels like an apt word to describe the weather in Cartagena while we were there. It was incredibly hot and humid, which isn’t unexpected for a Caribbean city. But on our first full day we got caught in a torrential downpour that lasted for hours. We were out walking in the old town when the rain started, and we stopped under an awning in hopes of waiting out the hardest part. Little did we know we were going to stand there over an hour! The streets around us started to flood, and it was pretty clear it was not going to clear up anytime soon. At a lighter point in the rain we made a break for it in attempt to find some lunch, but the further we walked into town the more flooded the streets were! After a walk through streets flooded with water above our knees, we finally found a place high and dry enough to eat at. We were soaked at this point and actually a little chilly – not a temperature we thought we would feel while we were there!
The Food
The highlight of our food journey was definitely the cazuela de mariscos we had at a restaurant called Vive. It is essentially a seafood chowder, and was so delicious we went back two days in a row.
On our last day in Cartagena we met up with a friend we had met in Peru and ended up having 3 dinners because so many things looked good. Our dinner food tour consisted of cazuela de mariscos, arepas, ice cream, and tacos (in that order). The taco place we found had delicious tacos, something we have really been missing since Mexico!
Overall Cartagena is a beautiful city, full of color and a good time!
Christine