Cartagena- Even Better than “Romancing the Stone”We found it, the most exotic old city of our voyage thus far. Cartagena, Columbia is just fantastic to visit and practically perfect by boat. The anchorage and two marinas are in Manga, a residential island with homes that date to the late 19th century, with new, smaller high rise apartment buildings scattered here and there, so many of the services we need, great supermarkets, laundry, banks, restaurants, etc., are literally just steps away. And all of this is just minutes from El Centro, the old walled city within the city. Our marina, the Club de Pesce is actually in the Fuerte de San Sebastian del Pastelillo, an old fort and has what is reputed to be one of Cartagena’s best and most scenic restaurants with classical guitar music most nights. We lucked out and were side by side with Voyager, med-moored, stern-to the quay on the dock looking out over Cartagena, and so our continuous view was the same as the restaurants - and we were in the perfect cycle of the moon to have her brightly shining down on us every night.
From the moment we were secured at the club, people were there greeting us, making introductions to everyone we might need during our stay. We met Lee, “Mr. Emerald”, whose wife Pachi, is really the hostess to all visiting yachts (I don’t actually know her official title, but she is little dynamo of a lady), and Carlos the manager, who “gave” us Hernan who immediately set to washing Wandering Star and became our daily helper with the upkeep of WS. David “Does It All” became our agent and was invaluable in securing everything from customs and immigration paperwork (you must use an agent here) to the parts and services we needed. They all knew everybody which leads me to believe that this is really a small town indeed. We had a rather serious alternator issue, as Ade’s log reported, and this team of people could truly make anything happen. They helped with finding parts or mechanics, having them rebuilt when not available, and insuring that we were able to get a quick delivery from Seattle via FedEx. We even found a computer expert who fixed our Nobeltec issues, as well as our laptops and printer.
We connected with Susan and “T” on Phantom and she graciously took us out to see the sights that first night. We wandered all over “El Centro” and were soon as lost as we’ve ever been in Venice. The cobblestone streets are maze like and consist of long blocks angled this way and that. We’d swear we had our bearings as we set out to find a church, museum or store, and yet at the end of the passage we’d find that we’d curved around a good 90-degrees and were nowhere near our intended destination.
There is a wonderful Fernando Botero sculpture of a rather large reclining naked lady in the Plaza de Santo Domingo and she became our compass. Somehow we’d walk two blocks in one direction, and a block in another, then turn around see her again…how can that be? Thankfully it’s a lively square and there are great little restaurants and shops and artisans centered here, so no matter how lost we were, we could find something to do and see. I call her a compass because David on “MV Jenny” when asked the whereabouts of a certain restaurant said “go the fat lady in the square, follow the direction of her feet and look butt side and you’ll see it!” So I guess the compass rose would show Head/Butt/Feet/Boobs - yep those are the four directions. Why do I think the Tourist Office won’t include those clear instructions in the new map of the city?
We six hired a van and guide for a tour of the city (and several stops at alternator shops-which were in the real working part of town) and somehow managed to see the high points of Cartagena. Frankly, there isn’t much to see on a tour as you can walk to almost everything of any historical significant as most of it is in El Centro. The exception is the Convento de la Popa, which sits atop a 150-meter hill, the highest spot in town. This convent was founded by the Augustine fathers in the early 16th century and offers a stunning view of the city, so it’s worth the visit. You could walk it, but the road does wind its way through less than safe looking neighborhoods. Overall, Cartagena feels safe, especially in Manga and El Centro, but locals are careful to point out which streets and neighborhoods to give a wide berth to. There is a lot of poverty and many desperate kids left over from years of drug wars, and as one exchange student we met told us, there are two Cartagena’s, the one we were enjoying and the other “no regard for human life one” from which the hard working Columbians try to safeguard their families. Everyone we came in contact with was delightful, eager for us to love their city as they do and to be of help.
I got up a few mornings extra early and headed over to El Centro to try to capture the beauty of the colorful old buildings with balconies full of cascading flowers down to the street before they were filled with people, carts and cars. It’s fun watching a city wake up. There is a university in the heart of this old town and students were rushing off for early classes, mass was being held in a few of the churches, vendors were setting up their carts and women were sweeping the streets in front of their homes and businesses. Ade has posted a few of my favorite shots.
There is only one thing more beautiful that the light reflecting off the colorful buildings and that is the Columbian women. They are just gorgeous. Miss Columbia was at the club one day on a PR event and she was tall (6′) with most of it legs and caramel colored perfect skin and sun kissed hair and she was stunning…but I must have seen 30 or more other young ladies that were equally as beautiful. And the older women are just as fabulous looking and they dress for attention, but aren’t “skanky” at all…just flat out sexy. No matter what I put on, it felt like a muumuu in their presence.
The Columbians of Cartagena are either of Native Indian, Colonial Spanish, or escaped African slave descent, and although I do not know the current percentage, it appears many are a beautiful blend of all. They speak Spanish and it is different from Mexican Spanish which seems to be more Spanglish, as it is so intertwined with our North American cultures. They love to play with the language, like “you teach me the word in English and I will teach it to you in Spanish” and we often found ourselves carefully repeating a word over and over until we got it…for a little while anyway…my brain is Teflon and the words just slide away to some unknown place never to be found again.
The people have a zest for life that is a big part of the charm of this city. They sure like to have fun. I’d like to say we were out dancing at the clubs that abound here, but we just couldn’t stay up late enough to make it happen. The clubs open at 10PM, sort of get going at 11PM, and finally wind down about 3 or 4 AM. With cruiser midnight somewhere between 8-9PM, we’d have a better shot at getting up early and joining them at the end of their night. Ah, but we girls, knowing that we wanted to see some of the action convinced the boys to take a Chiva Tour that Rose uncovered. It’s one of those unforgivably touristy things that we savvy travelers like to turn up our nose at…until we do them. It’s inexpensive, includes all the cheap rum and coke you can safely drink and circles thru the various neighborhoods, including El Centro. We had a blast, found ourselves atop an old fortress with musicians, dancers, craft sellers and lots of other tourists. They were playing large exotic looking drums and Rose inquired about the price and found that they were a bargain…so we both bought one, despite dire threats from our husbands - and they delivered them to the last “club” we stopped at and the bartender kept a watchful eye on them as we danced. The next morning Ade rolls over and says to me, “you know you bought a big ass drum last night don’t you?” Of course I did! For the record, Dottie and Ken already have a cool drum that I coveted, which they bought in Mexico last year, but theirs is more sensible that the 36″ by 18″ diameter one I bought- so practical on a 43′ boat.
Land travelers have a nice selection of hotels. There are resort hotels on Boca Grande and in El Centro. For a unique experience, I’d suggest El Centro as the other properties are just the usual holiday style hotels. There are many great restaurants in El Centro, but in Manga, it’s the Club de Pesce or LaOliva and for a casual meal, the cruisers hangout, Club Nautico or one of the Pizza places. For our anniversary we went to El Centro and to the Convento de Santa Clara, now a 5-star Sofitel property and enjoyed a wonderful dinner at the French Restaurant that is across the bird filled atrium from the lobby. A wonderfully romantic way to end our stay in this “Romancing the Stone” city, and thankfully we already have the yacht so we didn’t have to wrestle an alligator for an emerald.
