We arrived in Cartagena mercifully early in the morning, which was made even better by the fact that we expected to get in closer to 4pm. In retrospect, spending most of my birthday on open water, after living in that tiny space for five days, would have royally sucked. So I was a happy camper. After dropping off our stuff and taking the best shower of our lives (I´m not even exaggerating) Soph and I set out to explore the beautiful city of Cartagena. Man, its freaking hot here! Definitely a true Caribbean city. And just as in other places on the Caribbean, the heat and sweat are all part of the vibrant culture. The historic center of Cartagena, which is pretty much the only part of the city anyone visits, is gorgeous. And when I say anyone, I don´t mean just tourists - all of the tiny, windy streets are packed to the gills with locals and visitors alike. Its impossible to get anywhere quickly, and if I were a car I would never attempt going down these streets. There is so much foot traffic, everyone just walks where they please, and the honking of car horns seems to be the beat the whole city follows. The streets are lined with pretty buildings, all of which have wooden balconies overgrown with bougainvillea, a vine that has pink, orange, purple, and white flowers. Some balconies were so laden with greenery that it arches over to the opposide balcony, making a green canopy to walk under. Everyone is shopping, strolling, browsing, chatting, bartering. Soph and I, of course, focused on getting as much street food as possible. (We´ve since realized that that is our primary objective wherever we are. We both firmly believe that food, specifically street food, is the best way to experience a new place. Oh, and its yummy.) So we got juices with exotic fruits like lulo and coruba, sweets made of coconut and milk and caramel, a yuca cake that tastes like bread pudding but better, and cheesy bread. This last item seems to be the specialty around here. Its called ¨pan de bono¨ or ¨pan de queso¨and its delicious. There is a whole street dedicated to this one type of pastry, and its just row of bakeries all selling the same thing. We quickly found a favorite, however, and stuck to it. Hard.
I should mention that before going on this gastronomic expedition, we met a wondeful girl named Emma who was also staying at our hostal. She joined us for this birthday breakfast feast, and then we saw her again later, when we all met back at the hostal to take a nap. The heat here really gets to ya!
In the evening, after I spend a bunch of time and money calling my family and my sweetheart, Soph and I met up with Linda and Eline (who were conveniently staying across the street) and we all went out to dinner. The two of them had gotten me an awesome birthday present - a bottle of aguardiente, which is the national alcohol of Colombia. It tastes like licorice. I got to know aguardiente much better during Carnaval... but my birthday was a great introduction! We had a wonderful time sitting at a table on a beautiful plaza, eating good cheap food, chatting, and reliving our crazy sailing experience. It was so wonderful to have them there with us. Afterwards we got dessert, which consisted of more sweet, sticky coconut, this time with sugar cane and peanuts. Incredible. We strolled some more, considered getting a beer, but as Linda said, Monday is international ¨nobody does anything day¨, so we soon parted ways and went back to our hostals. Soph and I chilled, sipped on aguardiente, made friends with a Chilean guy named Javier, and hung out some more with Emma. She mentioned that she really wanted to go to Carnaval, but was deterred by not having anywhere to stay (finding a place to sleep in Barranquilla during Carnaval is harder than finding a mouse in a dog - hey Ari!). So we told her we would help out... and thats just a little foreshadowing for you, I wont reveal any more about Carnaval. You will just have to wait until that post! We ended the night with some reading, and a wonderful conversation about life, travels, our fabulous friends back home, and each other. And as for that last topic - in truth, my best birthday present was the wonderful Sophie herself. From hanging purple streamers she brought from home all over the sailboat, to writing me a tear-jerking card, to being the best friend, travel buddy, sister, shoulder, ear, companion, and life-mate anyone could ask for, she was really the one who made me feel so loved and special. And she does that every day! It really takes the edge off of getting old. 24. Yikes!
The next day we walked around some more, but because of the heat (and because there isn´t much do to here but walk around, which gets old after a little while) we found ourselves looking for something to do indoors, for once. Forunately, the International Film Festival of Cartagena was taking place, and we went to check it out and see just how expensive it would be. Well, would you believe it, it was free! There was a documentary being shown about a guerilla seige of the Palace of Justice in Bogota in 1985 (in Spanish with English subtitles). It was pretty intense, but incredibly interesting and informative. Characteristically, the whole event was a big mess, because the military for involved and stormed the Palace, killing a lot of guerilla fighters but also many supreme court justices, cafeteria workers, and other building staff that the guerillas had taken hostage. Worst of all, although they were able to rescue some people, these people never turned up again. As it turns out, they were all victims of forced disappearance, and we all know what that means. The families of these people are demanding justice to this day. We enjoyed this film so much, we decided to stick around for the next one. In an even more unbelievable stroke of luck, the next film turned out to be about music on the Caribbean Coast of Colombia, the evolution of its different sounds and rhythms, and its role in Barranquilla´s Carnaval (which is where we were headed for the weekend). It was fabulous. We even took notes! We learned so much that day. It was a wonderfully edcuational experience, and it couldn´t have been more relevant to where we were or what we were doing. We were both so grateful to have stumbled on it, although we suspected that such things are never really accidents...
The next day we joined Linda and Eline in their shuttle to Tagnaga, a cute little beach town further east on the Colombian coast. We quickly found the cheapest, simplest hostal there was, and got a couple of hammocks to sleep in outside, under the thatched roof of a hut. Sleeping outside is incredible. Its been so hot in all the places weve been to, that once the night arrives and brings with it a life-giving breeze, going inside is just out of the question. Sleeping in a swaying hammock, with the wind rustling the leaves, is my idea of heaven. Our hostal turned out to be quite wonderful, mostly because of the great lady who ran the place. Although she was only 25 (with an adorable 5 year old daughter!) she had the spirit of an old woman. She was energetic, warm, soulful, and took great care of us. Yet another example of how its the people, not the places, that create the experience. We spent the next day on the beach, snorkeling and chilling with the Dutch girls. And the following morning, we were off to Carnaval...
Clearly, we are still here to tell the tale. Full details of the revelery are soon to come...
Missing you all!
Sophisticated Koala
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