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
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorSally Miller Archives
May 2024
|