Cartagena, Columbia. Let’s get the obvious out of the way first.
Drugs. Yes you will be offered them. Should you take them? Personally I don’t and you have to be careful if you was gonna in this part of the world. Police randomly search people and tourist/gringos are obviously targeted by people selling. Don’t be surprised if police and sellers are in on it together either.
Prostitutes. Probably get offered this as well. Got offered several times. Quite often by a woman looking at you and making a kissing noise. Again I think you’d be silly to accept.
Ripped off by taxis? They will try. When you come out of Cartagena airport there is a taxi booth where you tell you your destination and they give you a receipt with price which give to the driver, but this doesn’t mean the driver will stick to the price. If this happens, when you get to where you need to be just pay what is on the receipt and get out the cab. Not a lot they can do once you are out the cab with your stuff.
So what is it about Cartagena that makes it attractive to tourists/backpackers? It isn’t the traffic, constant beeping and shouting.
But it definitely has a tourist trade, otherwise there wouldn’t be as many panhandlers as there is.
You can tell it’s on the Caribbean coast. It’s hot and humid for a start, you know a place is hot and humid when the money in your pocket gets soggy. Then there are palm trees, monkeys and iguanas in the park.
Central to the city is the old town, with its walls, fortifications and old cannons adding to the feel of the place. You can easily walk around the old town getting lost, but not so lost that you can’t find your way back out. Can go into the museums located within old town, but don’t unless you have really good Spanish. I realised that mistake as soon as I decided to go into the naval museum. And be firm with the street vendors, trying to flog hats/sunglasses/water even if you have these things already. A simple “no quiero, nada” usually does the trick. If it doesn’t just repeat yourself and shake your head.
If you do wanna buy stuff from the street then street food is worth a shout. In the morning vendors sell coffee. Then in the afternoon they give way to the fruit men. Fresh fruit juice is the way to go. All over town, even away from the old town and bell tower street vendors selling all sorts of fruit and fresh fruit juices. Works a treat in Cartagena’s heat. Then at night can buy a mystery meat stick with a potato at either end (I’m assuming the meat was beef).
Apart from visiting old town you can visit
I don’t recommend going on the middle of the day because it is silly hot. But is worth going, and get an audio guide. Gives you good views of the city, and get an understanding into the history of the place. Also if you’re feeling adventurous, take a headlight/torch and get lost in the tunnels under the fort, with the rik of ending up in sea water or bumping into a ‘bat cloud’. I was going to, but with no lights in some of the tunnels and my head torch back in the hostel it wasn’t worth it.
Other people I spoke to recommend the Mud Volcano. Although I didn’t get round to doing this personally.
Also had a minor but important role in some Colombian school/college project video. When was relaxing in local park got asked by two locals girls to help them out with a video they were making. Through their broken English and my broken Spanish ended up getting an idea of what they needed me to do and that i wasn’t being set up. So ended up being part of a brief conversation in the park and although my lines were basic, I performed them well. The initial shock that was on the girls faces when I said I was English had gone. Somewhere in Colombia I’m famous…… What’s next? EastEnders? The national theatre? Hollywood? Nah. Panama.
Joe From Bow
Joe From Bow 