We have been getting to know the quirkier side of Colombia this week. The contractor for our boat work needed us to go with him to pick out some materials and he was very enlightening on the daily ins and outs of Cartagena. Bill asked him why most of the passengers on the motorcycle taxis are not given helmets. Answer: during Covid, it was thought that Covid would spread if the helmets were used between passengers. Therefore, helmets for passengers were forbidden during that time and many motorcycle taxis have not reinstated the use of passenger helmets. That sounds safe. Obviously, a massive head trauma would be far more survivable than Covid for the majority of people. Next quirk: due to traffic issues in Cartagena (we have not really seen any more traffic here than in other cities of the world we have visited), cars are forbidden from driving on certain days based on their license plate number. For example, tag A cannot drive on Mondays or Thursdays, tag B cannot drive on Tuesdays and Fridays. I asked how people were expected to get to work. Answer: they have to find another way to get there. Third quirk: in Manga (the area where our marina is located), only one male can ride a motorcycle at a time. A male and a female can ride together but not two males. Why? Answer: two males could be trying to steal things in the area. So, logic from that statement indicates males never commit crime without an accomplice, females will never be the accomplice and once you cross the Manga city limits line, crime must be rampant! Just over the line, there were at least 20 motorcycle taxis waiting to pick up the poor guys who had to walk a mile to cross the line. I could see the thievery in their eyes!
As we ran our errands in Cartagena this week, we discovered the mall (which was air conditioned so I’ll be going there A LOT!), the equivalent of Home Depot and the Castillo de Amor and the Motel Indiana. The Motel Indiana had a huge sphinx head for an entrance as well as a pyramid so we had to research it online. With suite names such as the Ramses and Cleopatra, how could you go wrong? Well, the rates are quoted in two-hour increments and range from $8.00 to $38.00 depending on the “luxury” you want. Room amenities included stripper pole, jacuzzi and “erotic furniture”. If you don’t believe me, take a look! (www.motelindiana.com) We could not find a website for the Castle of Love but we are guessing it is a high class joint as well. My son (in Las Vegas) was recently telling me about a company in Vegas called the Mile High Club which involved renting a private jet for 45 minutes for $1000.00. America vs Colombia….the only difference is geography and price! The day our contractor took us out to look at the flooring for our galley, we found ourselves in a dicey bit of town. As Bill put it, “The place that everyone knows is there but nobody wants to look at; The place you go to in order to get stuff done when you can’t get it done anywhere else.” Our contractor, once again….better than any tour guide…proceeded to tell us the name of the barrio was Heineken and “it used to be bad. Like dumping dead bodies bad.” When he saw my face, he quickly added, “Used to be! Used to be! Now it’s okay!” After leaving Heineken without crossing any dead bodies, we made our way through the next barrio which was named July 20th for no reason that anyone seemed to know (I researched and it was their independence from Spain date) and another barrio named November 11 (which was named after Cartegena’s independence from Spain date). If you want to read more about Colombia’s independence, be sure to check out the Flower Vase Incident which is quite humorous: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colombian_Declaration_of_Independence So, it has been quite the educational week here in Colombia! Hopefully, this week will be filled with completing the galley floor repair, completing the deck repairs and waiting for our new stovetop to arrive. Until next week, save your pennies for your stay at the Castillo de Amor!
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We have begun to set up our routine in Cartagena and learn some valuable survival lessons. The first lesson is water, shade, food….in that order. It is HOT here. Temperature wise and humidity wise it is like Georgia but for some reason, I am struggling! Survival lesson two has been that I can go approximately 1.5 to 2 hours in the heat before I have a total meltdown so we are adjusting our touring schedules accordingly. The first few days in Cartagena, we explored the surrounding area to find the restaurants, grocery stores, pharmacy and other necessities. We also found some very reliable workers who have already begun several of Galt’s much needed projects. They have replaced the starboard side soft spot on the deck and will complete the port side this coming week. Considering it took us three times as long to complete the soft spot we did on our own when we were in Florida, we voted this money was well spent! Other projects in the works are galvanizing the anchor chain, replacing the remaining salon windows, tearing out the galley floor to repair those soft spots and sprucing up the galley. Galt is a hive of activity!
We have also been busy having some fun! We found two couples we had met in Grenada that just happen to be in Cartagena this week so we met them for dinner one night and had a lot of fun catching up on everyone’s adventures. We also tried several of the restaurants around the marina and we have not had a bad meal yet. On Wednesday, we hopped on a bus to make the 5 hour trip to Santa Marta for a few days. The bus was basically a shuttle type vehicle that had 16 seats. While we were quite snug, the cost of the trip was only $3.00 each so a little discomfort was not too bad. We arrived in Santa Marta and found our hotel in the center of town. We were within walking distance of the marina, the boardwalk and tons of restaurants. The first evening, we met a woman that Bill had been in contact with for a few weeks on Facebook. She was going to volunteer as crew when we moved the boat from Aruba to Cartagena but the timing did not work for her. We wanted to meet her and make an in person friend so we had a wonderful dinner together and she gave us some helpful information about the area. Overnight, we determined that our hotel was the party palace of the city as the hotel and adjacent bar did not quiet down until around 3am. Luckily, we had earplugs so we managed to get some sleep. We arose early the next morning to catch the bus to Tayrona National Park. The bus was supposed to be only a 45 minute ride to the main entrance but we ended up with a 1.5 hour ride to the far entrance of the park. The buses run like the other islands where they stop randomly to pick up and drop off people. The ‘hawker’ that stands in the doorway yells out the bus’s destination and tries to get as many fares packed in as possible. By the time we reached the park, we were glad to be off the bus. In the park, we hiked a short way to the beach but the waters were so rough that all we had were red flag warnings. We found one beach that had two red flags and one yellow flag which meant we could dip in the yellow flag area to cool off. The water was very rough so we just got wet and hiked our way back to the bus stop. We saw some cool ants and a spider on the hike but that was all the excitement for the day. We voted Tayrona did not have much to offer people like us but if you are a hiker and a camper, you might enjoy the jungle. After another slow bus ride, we made it back to the hotel. We decided to walk along the promenade area and try some street food for dinner. Colombians are known for their love of hotdogs and we found an amazing hotdog stand with tons of toppings to choose. We split a hotdog so we would not fill up and then moved onto the arepa lady. The arepa lady was grilling arepas on the street, filling them with chicken and then loading them with cheese. It was amazing! Next stop was the chicken skewer and corn on the cob man. Also amazing but we voted the arepa lady the winner of the evening! The next morning we explored Santa Marta a few more hours, almost had heatstroke again then hopped in a taxi to go to the town of Minca. Minca was a quirky little town that catered to what I call the “granola crunchers” and every menu in town had vegan and vegetarian options which is always a giveaway for who their visitors are. We checked into our hotel and headed to dinner at The Lazy Cat which was the most popular restaurant in town. Bill ordered ceviche for $7.00 (he is going to turn into ceviche!) and out came the biggest bowl of ceviche we have ever seen. He declared it the best ceviche he has eaten and he even turned up the bowl at the end to be sure he did not miss one bit. We finished off our day with some excellent gelato…probably the best we have had since leaving Italy last year. On Saturday, we hired a driver to take us to the La Victoria Coffee Plantation. The plantation was about 3 miles away up a very curvy and steep road. We passed several people walking and we were very glad we had splurged for the taxi. Once we hit the dirt road going into the plantation, we were glad our car had four wheel drive because otherwise, it would have been impossible. Several couples had ridden motorcycles to the plantation but they would come to regret that choice by the end of the tour. The tour was given by the owner of the plantation who was an older woman of Colombian and German descent. She explained the struggles she had finding people who were willing to do the back breaking labor of picking coffee beans as well as the struggles to supply enough beans for the large conglomerations. Her plantation basically made its’ money from tourism and by selling their small crop to other distributors each year. It was an interesting tour and we always enjoy seeing cool machinery. The entire mill was run by waterpower and when we arrived, there was a small river that ran through the property. Halfway through the tour, it began to rain. And rain and rain. The small river became a torrent and flooded over the entry drive penning anyone without a four wheel drive in place. The road that had been a bumpy adventure on the way in was now a slippery, muddy uphill adventure on the way out and we, again, blessed our driver and four wheel drive vehicle. On Sunday, we took a taxi back to Santa Marta and dropped at the main bus terminal. We decided to pay a bit more in order to get an express bus with roomier seats ($16.00 each). We were met at the taxi stand by a worker who showed us a large bus that was express to Cartagena. We had to get more cash out of the ATM since they did not take credit cards. When we returned, we were put on a smaller bus (one step up from the one we had taken to Santa Marta) and were told it was “express”. As we headed out of the parking lot, the hawker began his chant out the bus door and we quickly began to suspect that we had been bamboozled. Our “express” bus proceeded to stop every few minutes for new passengers that were brought to the bus by outside hawkers. Vendors selling food and drinks also came on the bus at some stops. We noticed that for each passenger or vendor that got on the bus, money changed hands between the hawker, driver and vendors. One external hawker who brought a passenger to board was not happy with the payment offered to him by the driver so they argued very loudly for a few minutes and then the poor lady passenger was forced to get off the bus due to the payment not being what was acceptable for the hawker. After watching the money exchanges during the ride, we decided they all probably ended up with the same money each night that they started with that morning. After a tight, hot and long ride, we arrived back in Cartagena and decided we were done with buses for a bit. This week will be busy with more boat projects and planning our first South America getaway in August. More details to come! ***More pics on Pictures Tab After suffering through the tie up at the Aruba customs and immigration office again, we finally began the passage to Colombia. As you will recall, we tried to hire Captain Crazy to take the boat because we just did not want to be that crazy but alas, here we are. Heading to Colombia on one of the most notorious passages in the world. The passage is known for high winds that run in crazy directions due to the mountains on the coast of Colombia, waves in excess of 20 feet at times and of course, the Magdalena River crossing. With no other favorable options, we decided we would just take Galt ourselves. We watched weather all week and decided Friday through Tuesday would be our best weather window for the trip. We left Aruba around 5pm on Friday. The first night was uneventful as was the next day. The weather was as predicted so we chugged along with the only major aggravation being the wind direction. The wind was directly on our tail end which makes setting up the sails properly a bit challenging. Plus, once Bill would get the sails set, the wind would shift slightly. Very aggravating! My aggravation was the following seas. Those who wish “Fair winds and following seas” have never been on Galt in following seas. The waves pick up the back end of the boat and Galt slides far to the right and then shifts back left before settling in for the next wave. It drives my vestibular system insane! In order to distract me, nature sent the most amazing pod of dolphins. We think it must have been the nursery pod because the dolphins were all about 2 to 3 feet long and had sweet pink bellies with spots on their backs. They would start behind Galt and catch a wave whisking by us and then launch themselves into the air doing flips and twists. It was amazing!
Even with the persnickety winds and the sliding ass end of Galt, we arrived around lunchtime on Sunday in Santa Marta, Colombia. More than halfway to our destination! Prior to arrival, we were introduced to the Colombian coast guard via their VHF call outs starting at 5am. They were trying to contact a boat and repeated the call every 5 minutes for at least 2 hours, “Motor vessel, Katarina. This is the Colombian coast guard. You can copy?” It got to the point that we were going to answer the hail just to make them stop. Our fun started once we pulled into Santa Marta and contacted the port authority for permission to sleep overnight and move on rather than check into customs in Santa Marta. Between their English, our Spanish and our 40 year old VHF radio crackles, we did not do well communicating. We finally contacted the local marina and they contacted the port authority for us. It turned out that all the hullabaloo was because we were anchored in an area they did not like. So, after relocating 200 yards away and dropping anchor, all was good! Even the all night party on the Santa Marta beach could not keep us awake because we were both so exhausted. At 2:30am, we arose and headed out to tackle the day of the infamous Rio Magdalena. The river is infamous because it flows from the mountains into the ocean and it carries massive amounts of debris including reports of entire trees, dead cows and even cars. The previous morning, the flapper valve on our exhaust system failed. After a little research, Bill determined the valve’s main job was to keep animals and foreign objects out of the exhaust line so we knew it could be repaired once we reached Cartagena. One by-product of the missing flapper that we had not considered was the weight of the water that would sit at the end of the exhaust pipe. As we chugged along toward the river on Monday morning, I noticed the bilge pump was coming on more than usual. Bill went down to check on the situation and immediately turned off Larry the Lehman engine. Never a good sign! He quickly explained (quickly because other wise I freak out!) that the elbow came loose from the exhaust line which meant that sea water from the engine cooling system was flooding into the bilge. Like Superman, he grabbed his socket wrenches and spare hose clamps and jumped into the engine room while I held open the hatch door so it would not slam on his head. Without the engine, the boat tossed and turned relentlessly but somehow, Bill got the new clamps onto the exhaust line. The only injury occurred when I tried to get the wrench set for him and fell across the floor onto my knees. I’m going to have a bruise to show for it. Thus…the reason my only job is to hold the hatch door! After far too much excitement at 3:00am, we cranked Larry and headed on our way with no further leaking issues. We had carefully planned to arrive at the Magdalena around 10am in the morning which was reportedly the best time to pass. We knew if we stuck close to the shoreline we would not encounter any large waves or winds. As we approached the river, we heard a hail on the VHF from the port authority. The port authority told us that we had to head out 3 miles from the coastline to cross the river. Are you kidding me? Three miles in Galt time is around a 40 minute trek. Given no other option, Bill turned Galt and headed out to sea. The waves were no longer following. The waves were directly on the side of the boat. The waves were no longer 3 to 6 feet. The waves were 10 to 12 feet. The wind was howling. Needless to say, I had a bit of a meltdown but Bill was once again my Superman and muscled Galt through it all. At three miles out, he turned Galt back to the following seas and I was never so happy to have following seas! In my life, I have had many “that is the darnedest thing!” moments. I once stood five feet from a flow of lava that melted everything in its’ path….that is the darnedest thing! I once had a kid I worked with for seven years who left therapy at 4pm on a Tuesday able to communicate only in single words. When he walked in for therapy on Wednesday at 3:30pm, he was talking in complete paragraphs….that is the darnedest thing! In regards to the Magdalena River…..THAT IS THE DARNEDEST THING! As we approached, both Bill and I fell silent. Staring. Trying to figure out what we were seeing. At first, we both thought we were staring at an odd strip of land that just happened to protrude 3 miles out into the ocean. Then, we thought perhaps it was a huge mass of sargassum. Then, we both realized, it was the RIVER! Three miles out into the ocean, this river spewed and roiled brown water that was at least 5 miles wide. The ocean went from its’ beautiful blue to coffee colored water in an instant. As we approached the demarcation line, nerves were on high alert. About that time, one of our plastic water bottles escaped and rolled onto the deck. Bill said, “Grab the water bottle before it flies off” to which I responded, “They are talking about dead cows and cars floating by me and they want me to be concerned about a water bottle? I think not!” (I actually added a little colorful language related to plastic and kissing a part of my anatomy but I won’t go into it!) As we crossed into the brown water deluge, Galt began to fly! We were averaging 9 knots and even hit 10 knots a few times! We scanned the water for dangerous refuse but none arrived. Perhaps the river knew we had reached our darnedest thing limit for one day. After a night of sleep in a very windy bay, we continued our final day into Cartagena. The waters were flat and the winds calm so it was an easy last leg. The beautiful, white skyline of Cartagena rose out of the sea to greet us under a threatening sky that thankfully did not welcome us with rain. We had a bit of a challenge getting Galt into the tight slip at the marina with dock staff that only spoke Spanish and not one of them in charge. Luckily, a couple of cruisers came over to assist and on the fourth try, Bill slid Galt into place. We then ran for a hot shower, a delicious dinner (sorry, I forgot pics!) and some very cold and well-earned beers. We look forward to exploring Cartagena this week and I promise to take food pictures for my foodies! This blog was written on Wednesday morning after we arrived on Tuesday. I will not be updating this blog for our end of week activities but I will include them next week. We need some rest! We finished out our time in Aruba with a little more site seeing, a few boat adjustments and a lot of pool time. On Monday, we decided to go snorkeling and evidently every tourist on the island decided Monday was a good day to snorkel as well. Despite the crowds, we had a nice snorkel with a visit from a young turtle and a few schools of fish. We also discovered the island’s pet cemetery. Hundreds of pet graves sat along side the ocean with homemade markers of all kinds. I have yet to see a human cemetery on the island but the dogs and cats are set! Another odd discovery was the cruise ship, Free Winds. Since we arrived in Aruba, the ship has been tied up in the harbor. Curiosity finally got me and I googled it to see what story it had to tell. The answer turned out to be very interesting! Free Winds is a cruise ship that is currently owned by the Church of Scientology. They market it as a fundraising venue but for any of you who have watched Leah Rimini’s expose’ on Scientology, you will recognize it as one of the recuperation ships. Basically (according to Leah and others), people who are wanting to leave the Church are taken out on ships for months at a time for “reprogramming” and are only taken back to land once they agree to stay in the Church. Whether that is true or not, I found it fascinating that the Church actually does have such a ship available! I think the most ironic part of the story is that the ship was put on lock down a few years ago for a measles outbreak onboard the ship. Hmmmm, perhaps a vaccination would help!
We came across another oddity in Aruba this week. The island has many roundabouts. I am usually a fan of roundabouts on islands because they generally work well to keep traffic moving. Leave it up to Aruba to find a way to screw up the actual purpose of a roundabout. If you have not encountered a roundabout in your lifetime, roundabouts are designed so that a car entering the roundabout yields until the area is clear and then proceeds about the circle until it is ready to exit the circle and continue on its’ way. Cars move from the outer lanes to the inner lanes and back again based on the design of the roundabout and which exit they need. Not in Aruba. Aruba has put up dividers between the lanes in the roundabout. So, if you enter the roundabout in the incorrect lane, you have no choice except to exit from that lane, drive down the street, make a U turn and then enter the circle and try again. The dividers defeat the entire purpose of a roundabout! Our last day in Aruba, we went to visit the resort’s private island. I am pretty sure the resort got a steal on their island because it sat just at the end of the runway at the airport. Aside from the roar of planes, the island had a beautiful beach (adults only side so that was a plus) with crystal clear water for swimming. Our overpriced drinks were covered by Bill’s successful blackjack adventures the night before so we figured the drinks were “free”. We have enjoyed our time on Aruba but it is time to move on to our next port of call….Cartagena, Colombia. Neither of us are looking forward to the trip as it will involve several days of limited sleep again but once we arrive, we will be calling Cartagena home for quite a while. Fingers crossed that all goes smoothly and that the next blog will be from South America! |
AuthorSally Miller Archives
May 2024
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