On Friday, we headed towards Cartagena, taking the road going through Barranquilla. Shakira fans who don’t know where she’s from, Barranquilla is the singer’s hometown and there is a statue of her there. The traffic in the city was chaotic and getting out of there was an absolute nightmare so no selfies of us with the statue, unfortunately.
We made it to Cartagena in the afternoon and upon entering the city, we were bombarded with people trying to lure us into apartment rentals and to sell us thingamebobs we don’t need. We had officially arrived in Colombia’s most touristy city.
On the following day, we went to explore the acclaimed old city of Cartagena. Founded in 1533, the streets are paved with cobblestones and lined with colorful colonial buildings. Scorching temperatures greeted us each day we were there. Great for beach lovers, literal hell for people like me who prefer to not be the day’s barbecued lunch.
Due to my failed attempts at striking a deal with the Grim Reaper to get me out of the heat, we stayed indoors (in air-conditioning) during the day on Sunday and went out to explore the city in the evening. We stopped at Cafe de la Trinidad for dinner and had a pizza with the most unusual toppings we have ever had (strawberries, raisins, pineapples, and ham among others) and it turned out to be surprisingly delicious.
The area where the restaurant was located was quite lively at night and full of people and music. There was even some dancing in the main plaza that we didn’t capture because we were preoccupied with enjoying our pizza and mint lemonades 🙂
On our last day in Cartagena, we met up with our friends Jyl and Chris (the Harley riders we met in Panama City) to visit the Castillo de San Felipe. The castle was built on the Hill of San Lázaro by the Spanish between 1536 and 1767 and was used for military purposes. There’s a labyrinth of tunnels inside the castle that visitors can walk through and from the top of the structure, you get a nice view of the city.
That’s it for Cartagena… did I mention that it was hot as hell? Onward to Medellin!
