Days 256 to 265 – Friday 2nd to Sunday 11nd June 2006

Where the blog left off, I had just arrived in Cartagena. I arrived on the Thursday evening and I had a flight to Panama booked for the following Sunday. For whatever reason I decided to hang around the city for the weekend, and then I kind of got stuck, and didn’t move anywhere until I took the flight to Panama, 10 days later!

I stayed in the Getsemaní district just outside the old city, in a hotel that for about £2 a night was clean and had a ceiling fan. The downside was the partitioning walls were plyboard! That and the area was a haven for druggies, prostitutes and the destitute.

No matter, it was cheap! I spent the week wandering around the city, visiting the various museums etc,. Cartagena de Indias, founded in 1533 by a Spanish commander, Pedro de Heredia, sits on the mouth of Cartagena Bay.

Originally founded as a port where Europeans landed with their merchandise, and in reverse gold and silver were transported back to Spain, the city grew rapidly during the 1500’s. Cartagena is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, due to the walled city and its contents, and the huge fort that sits overlooking the bay.

As I mentioned before I stayed in Getsemaní, about 3 minutes walk to the old walled city and its colonial architecture. The old city is very reminiscent of Oaxaca, and in particular Guanajuato in Mexico, with its narrow streets and colonial style buildings.

The entrance to the city is via the Clock Gate, or Puerta Del Reloj, which then leads out onto the La Plaza de los Coches, which at night fills up with people drinking café or the local brew - Cerveza Aguilla, and watching the world go by. Inevitably there is a festival or music playing somewhere, usually some kind of live steel drum band. Mingled with the music is the clip-clop sound of horses hooves on the paved roads. The horse-drawn carts pass, one after another throughout the evening, trying to attract tourists to take a trip around the city.

I spent most days/evenings either wandering, or sitting in one of the plazas drinking café (or Cerveza Aguilla!). There are a lot of plazas! A lot of the buildings are painted and it seems in whichever colour is on special in the hardware store at the time. This makes Cartagena a very bright place and gives it a lot of its charm. Some of the streets are continuously busy, and others are all but deserted.

As in Taganga, the variety of fruits on offer is superb, and on virtually every corner there is a stall selling some variety of tropical produce, such as papaya, mango, melon and huge avocado pears. There is also a great range of fresh juices on offer in the various ‘loncherias’.

One of the main attractions in Cartagena is El Castillo de San Felipe (The Castle of Saint Filipe). This is a Spanish fort that stands guard over both the city and harbour. This is one of the strongest fortresses ever built by the Spanish in the Americas. Built to guard Cartagena and the Spanish gold from English pirates and war ships, it took over 150 years to complete. It is laden with tunnels leading to and from various places within the walls.

As testament to its strength, in 1741, Cartagena managed to repel an attack by the English Commander, Edward Vernon, who together with 25,000 men and 186 ships, laid the city to siege for three months. His ships cannons were unable to reach the Castillo, which sat high out of range. However the cannons of the Castillo were a little more powerful, and bombarded the English ships whenever they entered the harbour. By the time he gave up the attempted invasion, Vernon had lost over 70 ships and 10,000 men.

Built to protect the city from pirates in times of war, now in peace time some buildings and open spaces have been adapted to suit the modern consumer climate, and modern modes of transport. Incorporated into the city walls, Las Bóvedas are dungeons initially built for military purposes and now house boutiques and tourist shops.

It seems the residents of Cartagena are proud of their flag, as it hangs from a multitude of buildings, from the fort, to the theatre to what seem like private residences.

I took a boat trip out of the city, passing by some of the smaller forts in the mouth of the harbour, and some more modern naval craft. This trip visited a nearby beach, Playa Blanca, which is where the two Dutch guys I had met in Pasto had spent some time the week before I arrived in the city. During their time on the beach, one of them had done some snorkelling and had acquired a very nasty eye infection. A parasite of some kind had managed to bury itself into his cornea and was slowly eating through it. Apparently it was incurable and he was in serious danger losing his sight. He eventually had to return to Holland for a cornea transplant. I never saw him again so I don’t know how everything turned out, but I wish him the best. Also while I was in Cartagena, the football world cup kicked off. I saw England play their first two group games, but I can’t remember who against or what were the scores.

Below are some photos of me in the Castillo de San Felipe. It was a hot day!