Cartagena Welcomes You! And they have things to sell you...

January 8, 2023 - Somewhere in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Colombia.

Yesterday was a lazy day, with a late breakfast, line dancing, choir practice, and trivia. It was a rough day on the Caribbean sea. I thought Princess had added a wave pool.

 Line dancing was a true challenge for my two left feet with all the shifting gravity, so I sat down in the afternoon and read a book. Anyone out and about looked like they had made liberal use of the drinks package. I didn’t get seasick (knock wood), so I was able to just relax and enjoy an afternoon tea.

In the evening, the singles and solos group met at the bar as usual and we grabbed dinner at the buffet and caught the early show for the comedian since we had an early morning the next day. The comedian was from Brooklyn, and so did some New York-ish stuff, most of which was funny but rehashing of old stereotypes and jokes I’d heard before. It was a decent way to pass an hour. Caught a great picture of the moon from my balcony to end the night.

The next morning, I was up WAY earlier than I would have liked. I was having a lovely dream, in which there was this really annoying beeping noise, and I searched for the source but couldn’t find it. I got so annoyed in my dream that I woke up, only to realize that it was my alarm IRL. I watched us pull into port. I signed up for a general orientation tour through the cruise ship as I was a bit nervous going out on my own given the town’s reputation.

We started our adventure with a visit to the cultural center, where we saw demonstrations of the types of dances from the region. The energy and talent of the young dancers were so awesome to see. They made me want to get up and join them, but I spared everyone that horror show. 

Across the street was the old fort, where we stopped for a quick picture break. I asked the woman on the right to pose for a picture with me and gave her $5 (I forgot all my singles on the boat), and she gestured for the woman on the left to join in. The going rate for these pictures is $2 max, and the second lady tried to get more from me. I said, no, $5 for both, you work it out. They didn’t say anything else. I felt so successful with my bargaining skills.

We walked the streets of Old Town Cartagena, stepping over steep curbs and over cobblestone streets. Winding through the narrow streets, flowers cascading from window boxes, voices overlap into a symphony of sound: One dollar one-dollar-hello lady-real Colombian leather-maracas-coffee coffee. The exotic birds join in with their squeaks and squawks, and the street performers provide the base line with their drumbeat. Every so often a scooter beeps a friendly warning as they navigate through the traffic.

We slowly walked the gauntlet of street vendors hawking their wares, shrewdly judging how much they can take you for. But a small shake of the head and a “No Thank You” will send them on to the next mark. Since mass was going on, we only peeked into the Cathedral of Saint Catalina de Alejandria, then onto the church where Jesuit saint San Pedro Claver lived and died.

Boosted by my earlier success, I had some fun haggling for an emerald (which Colombia is known for), and wrapped the afternoon by wandering through the Port Zoo. Very impressive collection of native birds - peacocks, parrots, flamingos and tucans. Anyone who knows me know that I talk to animals whenever I see them, and if I had any self-awareness I would be embarrassed. So I see these three guys sitting together and I said, “hellloooooo.” And the guy on the right talked back to me! I was so excited I started calling him a pretty bird, and hello, then realized that he couldn’t understand me because he was speaking Spanish. It was a pretty song he was singing though.

I also got some selfies with this dude.

It’s 90 degrees and probably 90% humidity here in Cartagena. Going between sweltering heat and cold air conditioning makes me sleepy. Or it could just be the motion of the bus. I often fall asleep riding busses. It was a running joke on my first Ireland trip that the last one off the bus would wake me on the way by. I think it goes back to my childhood, where my dad and mom loved to load us kids up into the Chevy Nomad station wagon with the plastic patterned seats and “go for a ride.” Windows down, radio softly playing, gentle murmurs of conversation from the front seat, watching the scenery fly by.

We had an excruciatingly long dinner at the main dining room (still understaffed), but the company was good so the time passed well. I met two people who are on the tour I planned for Thailand, so that was a nice coincidence, and our singles and solos group keeps growing so there were some new faces this evening.

Tomorrow we are going through the Panama Canal. I think we are going through the old locks, so it should be a fascinating day.