Cartagena: Gorgeous City but it's a furnace!

Arriving in Cartagena was a blessing but we had the arduous chore of finding a hostel or hotel in a fiery hot city.
The temperature hit 35 C by 9am and it was bloody humid as well. Two hotels were full and I decided to splurge on a hotel with pool because we needed it. Unfortunately I said yes to a nice little place in Getsami, called Casa Relax and recommended by Lonely Planet, because it was owned by a french gentlemen. When I returned with all our luggage she upped the price saying the kids counted as extra!! When I spoke to the owner later in the day he would not budge, and was typically rude in the french snobbish way. One night only and it was the most expensive hotel we stayed at during the whole trip and not the nicest. Luckily we tripped upon a locally owned hotel down the street called Casa Villa Colonial, owned and operated by a wonderful, helpful local family. Thank god the locals in Central and South America are so awesome because the damn foreigners that own and operated some of the tourist business that we have frequented have been real jerks. I am embarrassed as a foreigner. This does not apply to hostel owners who are always a breed apart. We have a fantastic time at this hotel and this includes a night of entertainment as a band played Colombeano folk music one night in the lobby. This turned into a party as their local folk music is lively, hand clapping, boisterous, and fun.

Incidently I forgot to mention a very interesting gentleman we met in Puerto Lindo, Panama while awaiting our boat.
His name is Mike Lewis from Seattle Washington and he is motorcycling up and down each continent whilst promoting his NGO http://www.writearoundtheworld.org/index.html
His organization is simple and he's not trying to save the world. Just provide some school supplies to underprivileged kids in order to enhance their first school experience. There is a little more to it than that so check it out.
This organization may be of interest to my many teacher and librarian friends such as Beth M, Joanne F, Kenny, Kate D, Rhonda and Jenn,Maria, Kathy, Donna, Tim Y, Christalene, Alline and Jake, Ingrid, Bridgitte L, Claudine L.We hope to see Mike again while in Colombia which often happens on the backpack trail. I also think that his travel blog will be of interest to my motorcycling friends as well.

Back to Cartagena. It's spectacular with a fortress wall enveloping most of the city. The old Spanish architecture is beautifully restored and maintained. Modern additions marry old structures tastefully. The streets are vibrant with thumping contemporary Latin music blasting from home speakers set on neighborhood doorsteps. It makes you want to dance anywhere!

Our time here will be short so museum, art galleries, and historic sights are targeted early before the furnace fires up.
Our most unusual tourist stop is the mud volcano, a 50 foot natural mound with a small crater of liquid mud which you can bath in and we did. It was amazing, you can't sink even though the hole reaches the ground and air bubbles rise to the surface to cause this weird tub of mud to burp. We sat, shoulder to shoulder, with many others and had a fun time rubbing mud across our bodies. The locals massage you, then clean you up in the lake. Unfortunately my profile and size pictures of the volcano seem to have disappeared and if they reappear I will upload them further into the blog or you can google this strange mass. We were a diverse group of travelers on this tour which made it all the more interesting including a french speaking Mexican lady, two older Taiwanese ladies, and a young Australian- I love conversations with diverse groups. It made me think of good times at Kathy O's.

While in Cartagena we meet up with our boat crew for a wonderful steak dinner in an open air restaurant atop the fortress wall. No wheelchair access is required here as the original ramparts are everywhere. The steak is cooked perfectly and after 3 months without a proper cut of meat, it is truly succulent.

Every night the kids and I frequent Trinidad Plaza, a gathering place for locals and food carts. It's a great place to people watch and we order exotic juices each night from our juice lady. Colombia is a breath of fresh air because there is so much beautiful produce available everywhere especially on the street. Each night we try something new and I hope we meet another lady just like her when we arrive in Medellin.

I love Cartagena, I recommend it but it is nothing short of a oven. Time to head out on a night bus to Medellin. As we board our carriage we smile, realizing this is the nicest bus we have been on to date with full reclining seat.