Here's the trip, in picture form.
Friday, March 25, 2011
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Troubadors
These guys perform 3 songs for 20,000 COP (my mental math says $10)... Here's one and a half of those songs, including REM's losing my religion!
The return to the states.
I had quite a few pesos left before we left, so during my last hour of the city, i did end up handing out quite a bit of money to beggars on the streets. I mean, they’re pointing to their change cups asking for a few coins, and I know that even a few coins won’t really buy you anything, so rather just giving than the 100 or 500 pesos they were asking for, I ended up giving them 10,000 or so, just whatever ended up in my hand. I mean, it’s $5.00 to me, but it’s several days of sustinance to them. I guess it’s my way of showing them some American good will
Back at the hotel, besides the guys and girls that worked the front desk, there were 3 members of the staff who did everything. I mean, the same guy that carries your bags up the stairs, also cleans your room, cleans the floor of the hotel every day with a toothbrush, goes out on the street to buy fresh fruit for breakfast, makes your breakfast, serves it and everything else that makes your stay enjoyable. So i ended up finding out how much the ride to the airport would be, and dividing the remainder of my funds among those 3. I found the minimum wage in Colombia, and assuming that’s what they make, each got bonus of 2 weeks salary from me. Again, they made the visit that much better and again, it’s not THAT much to me, but to see their smiles like “oh my god, i hit the jackpot” was completely worth it.
We got to the airport and got in line. Spirit prepays your exit tax for you of $75.00, so they give you a coupon to present. Every bag that leaves gets either hand inspected or x-rayed. And there’s dogs sniffing everything. Ours were x-rayed. No worries, I don’t theink the authorities are too worried about the counterfeit poloshirt i bought, nor the faux rolex i stuffed into my carry on.
But you’re searched MANY times on the way out. First through the metal detector. Then a patdown that basically inspects every seam of your clothing. The a bag check. I had to turn on my laptop for them to verify it works and isn’t just a container to smuggle drugs out. And then, once you’re through all that, you still get a thorough pat down once more before you board the plane. I figure the number of times you do it and the number of different people who do is Colombia’s attempt to make sure no one subverts their security. And i’d wager that for all the drugs that leave colombia to the states, practically none of them travel through the airports.
And i’d say the US pretty much thinks they do a good job. Once we got to baggage claim, yes, there were dogs running around smelling everything, but i didn’t note anyone having their stuff gone through. It’s just like “well, colombia already did their thing, so we can’t be more thorough than they already were”.
So.
That’s that. I’ll post a few more pictures in a bit. But this concludes the most of the events of the trip. Again, fascinating experience. Would love to go back, and probably will. But I feel like my next extended outting will have to be somewhere else. Somewhere more exciting.
One thing I’m taking away from this is how valuable it is to know the local language. So just as soon as i figure out where my next destination will be, I’m going to commit myself to learning at least a little bit of the language there. At this point, I’m assuming it’ll be Arabic, as the middle east is a venue that’ll be sure to provide some excitement even a year from now…
Closing thoughts.
This trip has been amazing. Short, but well worth it.And i suppose the advantage of the shortness of it is that I’m left wanting more. The only problem is that everyone I met here said equally great things about Bogota and Medellin, so I really wouldn’t be able to justify to myself coming back here again without seeing what else colombia has to offer.
All the warnings I got, either the ones i found for myself online, or the ones relayed to me, where completely overstated. Cartagena, at least, is quite the safe place. I did keep my valuables in buttoned up pockets, perhaps justified, and i did make it a point to try to walk like i had a purpose and knew where I was going. And generally, just tried to stay aware of my surroundings. But that’d be the case wherever you go, New York or Boston even.
But even though i thoroughly enjoyed myself, I’d still say the place is not exactly family friendly. Between pushy sales people that turn into beggars when you continue to say no (“come on, just give me a dollar then!”), rampant drug dealing throughout the Old City at night (the same guy who’s standing on the street trying to steer you into a restaurant will likely try to sell you cocaine if you say you’re not interested in eating), a smattering of prostitutes, and just the scenes of abject poverty you’ll encounter, it might just be too much for a kid to process. And really, i haven’t seen any visitors with kids, so i’m not alone there.
But after discounting all of that… You should definetly go if you’ve got an inkling you might enjoy yourself. Between the food, the sights and sounds of the city, the sheer history of it, the beautiful scenery, and the laid back carribean feel to everything, it’s a great time.
Just make sure you know some spanish or are coming with someone who does.
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Isla De Sol
(NOTE: I’m trying windows live writer, so it may or may not work as well as the regular log update)
Today, we arranged with the hotel to have us taken on a snorkeling expedition to one of the outlying islands. Which they did. At 8:30, a woman showed at the hotel, walked us to another hotel down the street where she retrived an old swiss couple (the husband was a retired watch maker), and then hailed us a cab to the docks. Once we got there, we had to wait for the rest of the passengers to arrive – 25 in total, plus crew.
The “new” cartagena, seen from the harbor
Forgot the name, but there’s a statue to the
patron saint of Cartagena out in the middle of the harbor
One of the many coral reefs that people have turned into homes
The island we ended up at, 18km from the coast, seen from the beach
Once we got to the island, after an hour long cruise out into the sea, they let us stretch out and have a few drinks. Then we were presented with choices – snorkleing, hanging by the pool, hanging by the beach, or going to the aquarium. Surprisingly, it was only the minority of us that chose snorkeling. And those other people missed out.
It’s just amazing, blue sands, coral reefs, tropical fish of every color as far as you can see. My only issue was that i got winded… I attribute that to the cigarettes and have now resolved to try to quit upon my return due to a newfound liking of snorkeling, and the money saved could easily help finance annual expedititions such as this one.
Food was served. A simple meal centered around fish, as is usual when you’re by the water I guess. Nothing to complain about!
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