Exploring a new continent

Travel time: March - June 2010  |  by Dominik Weber

23 March Cartagena: 27-28 March Cartagena

Since I haven't seen much of Cartagena yet, I decided to stick with Julia, Sivlia and Fabien and to explore Cartagena a little bit more. We took the 6.30am boat back to Cartagena - sounds early but this wasn't a problem at all! We even were sitting, waiting for the boat and eating a papaya. A neighbor stopped by and had breakfast with us. They are all getting up very early on this island.
Once back in Cartagena, we went throught the mercato the biggest market in Cartagena. The girls were a little bit scarded by the market, but since the bus was on the other side anyway, we had to cross the market. I felt more than ever. On this market, you can buy everything: mostly fish and fruit, but also cloths, drinks, meet - simply everything. It is loud, sometimes it stinks and for people who love markets, like me, it is a great place.
Since it seems to be the easiest if we all stay in the same hotel, I joined the two girls to their hotel (Hotel Marlin). It is also in Getsemani, they are offering regular rooms, but also some dorms with a bath room in each room. Lucky me, I got a bed in a dorm next to the girls, but I was sorry with my room mates. Since I arrived around 9, they were still in their beds and they had the one existing key inside. Sorry for waking them up...
We walked through the city, but after lunch, it simply got too hot and since we planed to go out that (Saturday) night, we all thought a siesta might be the right thing to do. We had good and cheap dinner at St. Antonius, an Italian restaurant run by an Italien guy, near the plaza del Trinidad, and had a lot of fun at the bar just next to the famous Donde Fidel bar at the Plaza de los Coches. The advantage of our bar was, that there are hardly any tourists - which is always a good sign. And I learned that South American have a different gene in comparison to the European that enables them to move their body to the rythm of every kind of music...
I decided to stay in Cartagena because on that Sunday, all museum are for free. At least we thought, but it turned out that only the public museums (not the privates ones) doing that every last Sunday in the month. We saw the palacio de la inquisition with its museum about this dark part of history of the catholic church and some churches. My tourist guide was writing about Cartagena that it is a very beautiful city, but the museums are not really worth seeing it. One more time, the guide was right. We enjoyed more the atmosphere in this beautiful city, had a coctail on the wall (the wall is open to the public and you can simply walk on it day and night) while seeing the sunset. A nice last evening in Cartagena.

A lot of limes for a lot of Caipirinha.

A lot of limes for a lot of Caipirinha.

Dancing in the evening.

Dancing in the evening.

In the Museo de la inquisition.

In the Museo de la inquisition.

Maracuja juice!

Maracuja juice!

Coctails in the evening on the city wall.

Coctails in the evening on the city wall.

© Dominik Weber, 2010
You are here : Overview The Americas Colombia 27-28 March Cartagena
The trip
 
Description:
After working for too long without a real break, I decided to go on a long planned backpack trip. After changing the departure date and the destination several times, I decided to go to South America. Starting in Colombia, then Peru and finishing in Bolivia. At least, this was the plan but once on tour, you never know what to expect. This report is for all people asking how I am doing, but also for those who are thinking about doing something similar. I hope I can inspire them.
Details:
Start of journey: Mar 19, 2010
Duration: 13 weeks
End of journey: Jun 15, 2010
Travelled countries: Colombia
Peru
Bolivia
The Author
 
Dominik Weber is an active author on break-fresh-ground. since 14 years.
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