Thursday
30
SEP 2004
Today our plans allowed us to sleep in a bit, usually we are up at the crack of dawn, especially with the parrots right below our window. They start screaming at each other at about 5 or 6 in the morning. It really sounds as though someone is screaming bloody murder, or one of them is being raped! It took a few days to get used to, but apparently we are used to it now as we did manage to sleep until 8:30.
After breakfast we headed out to some of the little tourist shops on the next block. Maria needed a pair of more comfortable sandals, her feet could hardly be seen beneath the sea of
band aids. Next time she is bringing liquid
band aid, we tried to find it in Olímpica but they just looked at us like we were crazy. I bought a shirt en
estilo Hindu, I probably won't wear it, but the sales girl managed to sway me with her cleavage, she must have shown me 25 shirts before I chose one, I have no idea what the other shirts looked like.
After working up an appetite by fending off street vendors we headed to visit our friend from Medellin for a few
empanadas, chorizos y buñuelos. Then back to the hotel to freshen up quickly before the chiva arrived. The chiva stopped right out the front door a beeped its horn, but who pays attention to car horns in Cartagena. It is the local custom to give a few short beeps as a vehicle approaches an intersection whether to warn other vehicles or the pedestrians I am not sure. One thing for certain though, the drivers in Cartagena are quite respectful of the pedestrian, for example after one of the frequent downpours has left the streets partially flooded, the drivers will go out of their way to avoid splashing people on the sidewalks.
Once aboard the chiva we are introduced to our driver, as well as our tour guide who also doubles as salesman for the photos and videos they produce of the trip. After wending our way through the tourist area of Bocagrande picking up more passengers we head past the old city towards our first destination,
La Popa.
The climb up Cerro de La Popa is a steep, winding drive through some poor neighbourhood and then through lush growth and eventually to the summit, which is crowned with a
monastery. Of course before we can clamber
out of the chiva we are met with vendors selling
souvenirs, offering to take photos with a burro, and the odd beggar thrown into the mix for good measure. We opted to stick silly hats on our heads and stand behind the figures of a woman on a horse and a pirate, I was the pirate! La Popa
which was built early in the XVII
century is very nice with lots of interesting artifacts to see, as well as old books and a display of money from around the world, one
interesting banknote was made from plastic and the background upon which it was printed is transparent.
There is a gold laden chapel dedicated to the Virgin of Mullein, patron saint of Cartagenan people.
There is a gold crown on her head that
was presented by the Pope when he
visited Colombia.
Unfortunately because it is a tour you are herded from one room to another so fast you cannot enjoy it, it is
hard enough even pausing for a photograph. There are signs at the entrance to La Popa warning against giving any money to the boys who beg for money as they only spend it on drugs. These beggars are quite creative, they stand on the hillside below, perhaps 20 or 30 feet down, they have these plastic cups which they attach to the top of a long piece of bamboo which they wiggle in front of tourists trying to get a view of Cartagena from the
ramparts of La Popa, far down below you here the boy's cries for a little money. The tour guides also warn against going too close to the railing to look down to see the boys as they often try and grab a camera or a bag from some unwary tourist.
Next stop Castillo de San
Felipe de Barajas, a huge Spanish fort, perhaps the largest in the world, certainly it dwarfs
Castillo de San Marcos in
St.
Augustine, Florida. It is considered
the greatest fort ever constructed by
the Spanish. It was begun in 1536 and
completed 121 years later, being
constructed by African slaves. It is quite a hike up the ramp into the fort itself, of course you are met with street vendors, but I am quite used to them now. They are just trying to earn a living, however it hurts the tourist industry I believe which in turn
cuts down on the number of service related jobs which in turn increases the number of street vendors. Cartagena is perhaps the safest city in Colombia yet the town is still affected by the violence hundreds of miles away. Cruise ships that call into Cartagena don't advertise the fact that Cartagena is in Colombia for this reason. Their brochures will proudly state they are calling into Cozumel, Mexico or to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil but they simply say Cartagena. This despite the fact that Rio is far more dangerous, such is the bad reputation of Colombia in the eyes of the world media.
Then we head to the old part of the city, well actually we drive past it, we do actually stop at a
tourist trap to enable us to buy a few overpriced tourist items, however the stop is so short, literally 5 minutes that you cannot possibly find anything.
Headed back to the hotel we stop once more at an
emerald shop, the tour takes us through an area where the raw stones are graded and cut then graded again, then we enter a room where the stones are set into gold pieces and finally a showroom where we can buy jewelry at "discounted prices", although compared to
Bogotá they are not a bargain. Everybody piled back into the chiva to head to their respective hotels, except us, we decided to walk.
Once back at the hotel we showered and changed into our nice clothes for a visit to Crepes & Waffles. We sat outside and could watch the people walking by which is a favourite pastime. Once again I was not impressed, and once again Maria was. Next time I will order what she has.
We walked down to Mimo's for a paleta to cleanse our
pallet, we were the best dressed people there!
All content copyright © 2004 Jim Thompson
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