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Each journey begins with a single step... Two kiwis escaping from the island to explore strange new worlds and boldly go where thousands have gone before... . .

Cartagena, Colombia

COLOMBIA | Thursday, 7 May 2009 | Views [994] | Comments [1]

We flew from Panama to Cartagena with no problems, no extra fees except we had to pay US$10 each entry to Colombia, must be a new thing. The flight was short but even so we got fed a lovely meal on the way which was excellent. At the Cartagena airport we hooked up with two other travellers, Lisa from England and Nana from Denmark, and caught a taxi to the old part of the city. The first hostel we tried was fully booked, but the lady there phoned around and found a hotel just down the road for us for 32000 pesos for a room.

This part of Cartagena was settled by the spanish over 400 years ago, and was raided so often by pirates that a wall was built around the city. The wall still stands, the dungeons have been converted into shops. There are very narrow streets and lots of balconies hanging out over with colourful vines climbing over them. It is a pretty part of the city, nicer than anything we have seen so far but still (Carol says) not as nice as the villages in Europe and England.

We went to see the Museo Del Oro on our second day, it was filled with the filagre gold ornaments made in the past by the Zenu people who are indigenous here. They were very intricate and delicate. Outside in the square there were local dancers and music going on. The music is very much based on the drum beat and that and the dancing is very reminiscent of the islands but the dancing is a bit more frenetic.

Yesterday on Carol's birthday, along with the two girls, we went by bus to see a mud volcano. Unfortunately we started a little late in the day and got there in time to leave again. It took ages to get out there in three buses and we also had to walk for an hour in the hot sun. We didn't bother to get in the mud in the end, we can do that any time in Rotorua, Carol went in the lake to cool down even tho the water was more warm like a bath. We managed to hitch back so no walking back to the busstop thank goodness.

We have now changed hotels and are in Hostel Yemmi, a double room with bathroom and cable tv for 30000. Today we are being lazy and doing the internet thing and tomorrow we go to see the local fort. We are still deciding where to head next...

 

Comments

1

Hi, my name is Ben Terwilliger, I've been traveling around Central America for the last couple months, from Southern Mexico, to Guatemala, to Belize, to El Salvador, to Costa Rica, and now Panama. But I took a 10 hour bus ride from Costa Rica to Panama, and I met a girl on the bus named Nanna, or Hanna (can't rememeber) she's from Denmark, she's now 24 years old and currently studying Political Science in Puntarenas, Costa Rica. Anyway, on the bus our assigned seating was nowhere near each other but we talked and got food together every time the bus stopped and we really hit it off. But I fell asleep on the bus and when she got off the bus the bus driver was rushing her off and we didn't get a chance to exchange contact information like we had planned on. She had mentioned she went to Cartegena, Columbia and recommended it to me, and I've been searching online for her contact info and saw this post on google that you met up with a girl named Hanna from Denmark in Cartegena. If this sounds like the same girl, short blonde curly hair, average height, blue eyes, etc, and you have any contact into, email, facebook, phone number or anything, I would really appreciate if you would send it to me so her and I can stay in contact. my email is brterwilliger@yahoo.com and you can reach me there anytime, since I'm traveling I don't have a phone. Thank you and safe travels!!

Ben

  Ben Terwilliger Oct 16, 2010 2:43 PM

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