Friday, September 18

We woke late and had a wonderful breakfast at the hostel. Food seems to be the one thing that we have usually gotten right. The owner of Divanga makes good coffee, which is not the norm in Colombia. Apparently, most the high quality beans go to the US , much as we found in Honduras where the prime fruits are packaged and sent to US and UK. I don’t think I could develop a taste for tinto, the black coffee, heavily sugared, served in small plastic cups.

We poked around town for a while and ended up at the bus stop with just enough time to get some empanadas to go before our bus left. Our bus was a fifteen seat van and we left Taganga at close to 11:45, however, when we got to Santa Marta, the driver had to run all over town picking up other passengers and it was close to 1pm before we got on the road. Traffic was heavy and there was a lot of construction which put us at the drop of point for the Volcan at almost 3:30pm. We figured there was no way we get up there (1km walk) take a mud bath, rinse off and get back to the bus stop to be sure of catching the 5pm bus. Also, our driver was very rude and was unwilling to give us any information about when the last bus would be through. So another one of those plans not to be.

We arrived in Cartagena at 6:15pm and were glad that we had not stayed later to do the Volcan since most of the hostels were full and we had to search for lodging. We ended up at a wonderful small hotel, “Casa Villa Colonial” in Getsemani within the walled city but outside the old town (three blocks away). We settled in and decided to go for a walk through the old town and find dinner.

Cartagena is not a city that is easy to describe, it is incredibly beautiful and has a mix of the beautiful old colonial buildings and houses and a sprinkling of the Cariibe culture with outdoor booths selling handicrafts, clothing , food etc. Almost all of the houses have balconies which hold cascading bougainvillea plants. It is grand, majestic and romantic and once you are away from the street performances of salsa dancing and the many booths lining some of the plazas, it is a very tranquil place. There are 2000 policia de turista patrolling the streets so there is a great sense of security.

We ended up at El Bistro for dinner. We3 had a seafood soup in coconut milk with a hint of curry and Mediterranean rice with seafood. It was wonderful. We finally made it back to the hotel around 10pm.