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| Marelvy holding the Cartagena poster created by her husband |
For the port stop of Cartagena, we arranged a private tour
with Marelvy Peña-Hall and her
daughter, Sheila. Sheila led us from the
dock to a comfortable van that would carry us, Mary & Charlie, and another
family from the ship on our city tour.
Marelvy got the tour off to a great start by presenting each family with
a beautiful poster, created by her husband, which commemorated Cartagena’s
Bicentennial of Independence in 2011.
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| View of Cartagena from La Popa |
Our first stop on a tour was La Popa, the highest point in
Cartagena where we had a fabulous view of the city below. We were surprised by the number of
skyscrapers in the modern city. Marelvy
explained that the government is currently offering new hotels a special incentive
to come here: 30 years tax-free!
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| La Virgen de la Candelaria |
We walked inside the convent of “Nuestra Senora de la
Candelaria” entering a lovely flower-filled cloister. Inside the chapel was the figurine of “La Virgen de la Candelaria”, the patroness
of the city. La Virgen is much revered
-- she is carried thru the streets of Cartagena during religious celebrations,
and the winding road up Mt. Popa to the convent includes Stations of the Cross
for the faithful, who hike up on certain holidays.
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| The "taxi motorcycles" of Cartagena |
As we drove into
the Old City, we got to see a bit of local life in Cartagena – lots of colorful
buildings and loads of motorcycles. Motorcycles operate as 1-person taxis cruising
through the city looking for customers; the driver carries an extra helmet
while cruising thru the city (helmets are required for motorcyclists by law). When a fare is encountered, pay is exchanged
just like a taxi for hire, and the cycle takes his passenger to the required
destination.
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| Fortress of San Felipe |
We did some
shopping in a charming arcade that was once an army barracks. Then we took a look at the fortress of San Felipe,
one of the military wonders of the world.
During the Spanish occupation, Cartagena served as the warehouse of the
empire storing all the Spanish “acquisitions” (such as gold) before it was shipped
back to Spain, so the city needed to be well-protected. The city also suffered thru 200 years of the
Spanish Inquisition when people were tortured and killed for minor offenses like reading banned books or for crimes they were accused of but never
committed.
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| Flower-filled street in the Old City of Cartagena |
The highlight of
the day was wandering the streets of the Old City. What a beautiful place with colorful plazas
every few blocks and buildings adorned with wooden balconies holding cascading
flowers. Many of the lovely old
buildings are former convents, restored and converted to hotels.
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| Elegant church in Cartegena's Old City |
Columbia is a
fascinating country, the 4th largest in South America, boasting
ports on both the Caribbean Sea and the Pacific Ocean. Their main products are organic beef, cacao,
emeralds, coffee, and sugarcane. Many
of you may equate Cartagena with bad boy Pablo Escabar, the ruthless cocaine
drug lord who had a home in the area; happily, he was killed off in 1993 and
the drug trade has all but gone away.
Columbia has become quiet since then, and Cartagena has earned the title
of UNESCO World Heritage Site, and a worthy city for tourism.
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| Fisherman "statue" in the Old City of Cartagena |
According to
Marelvy and Sheila, drug traders are still around, but now they keep a low
profile, and the former crime and violence associated with the drug world no longer
exists. After all the damage caused by
the drug traffickers, the government launched major anti-drug campaigns, and
apparently they worked because Sheila said domestic drug use is very low.
The Old City of
Cartagena bursts with color from the ever-present flowers and the brightly
dressed vendors. Lots of character too
with mimes perfectly disguised as statues of fishermen and lots of unusual
sculptures. Rather than attempting to
describe it, here are some faces of Cartagena:
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| Lovely cloister in the convent of Nuestra Senora de la Candelaria |
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| Graceful cathedral in the Old City |
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| Colorful local homes in a typical Cartagena neighborhood |
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| Real life in Cartagena |
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| Marelvy and Mary walking thru the Old City |
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| Vendors taking a break in the Old City |
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| This vendor is as colorful as the fruit she has to sell |
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| Brilliant colors dominate the local garb |
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| Friendly shopkeeper |
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| Creative vendor selling homemade horns |
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| Atmospheric street in the Old City |
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| Strolling thru the Old City |
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Charlie with one of the metal sculptures
on a plaza in Cartagena |
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| Mary and Anne with another metal sculpture |
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| Selling fresh fruit in the Old City |
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| Old City vendor |
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| Shopping in Cartagena |
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| Colorful merchandise for sale in Cartagena |
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| Artwork captures the colors of Cartagena |
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| With Mary & Charlie beside the Coral Princess |
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