 |
| Typical street scene in Cartagena, Colombia |
 |
| Plaza San Domingo |
 |
| Overhanging balconies are filled with flowers |
 |
| Plaza Santo Domingo |
 |
| The balconies are almost touching across the narrow street |
 |
| Pleasant open spaces in historic Cartagena |
 |
| School bus driving through a gate in the thick old city walls |
 |
| Lizzard door knob |
 |
| Monk Pedro Claver with one of his charges, a slave |
 |
| Public art depicting a street vendor |
 |
| Oneof the church towers in Cartagena |
 |
| Cathedral Cupola |
 |
| Street vendor |
 |
| Oh my, we must have been inspired aboard ship.... |
Too short a layover in one of my favourite cities of South America: Cartagena. It is an eclectic mix between colonial and modern, just like Panama City. However, Cartagena has managed not to let the old part of the city fall into ruins, instead it is the most attractive, vibrant, and pleasantly agreeable part of it. Colonial architecture prevails, and flower bedecked balconies form a shady canopy over quaint narrow streets. Simon Bolivar's statue presides over the central square. Thick walls enclose the old settlement. Capital city of Colombian emeralds, the finest emeralds in the world.
We were late arriving, as the ship developed 'technical difficulties' overnight and had to slow cruising speed. Turns out, one of the ship shafts was overheating, and had to be 'fixed' before we could resume full speed ahead. It was anyway a 'fun filled' twenty four hours for the ship, and I am not talking about the 'fun filled entertainment' in the show room either.
We had anchored off San Blas Islands on the way to Cartagena. Tigre Island, a small island in the San Blas Archipelago, consisting of about 365 islands. The Cuna tribe still lives here, and many islands are covered beach to beach with rickety thatched huts tightly surrounded by dugout canoes equipped with either bed sheet sails or small outboard motors. Locals, especially the women, often still wear traditional beaded garb and maintain their old customs and crafts.
I had visited San Blas some years earlier and photographed (dollar a photo) native children with parrots perched on their heads, little children reluctantly sitting in water filled tin tubs for the duration of a tourist visit, colourfully attired local women trading in molas, native applique work, so I stayed aboard.
This time I watched the violent bouncing of tenders loading passengers wishing to visit ashore - and aboard seeking shade, tropical heat is a killer here. Anyway, tendering to shore appeared to be a very slow process with 'delays' due to wind and waves, however, it turned out that one tender ran aground entering the rock strewn little bay of Tigre Island (?), and another developed a small fire in the engine room - drop in oil pressure and overheating. The fire was put out almost instantly, but the tender was hors de combat, and a 'rescue at sea' had to be performed, getting the stranded passengers from one life boat onto another mobile tender whilst being tossed around by some rather lively waves.According to ship board rumors, the 'rescue' illustrated quite clearly that in times of panic live boat procedures tend to fall apart.
Anyway, the reduction in 'public transport' slowed the whole tendering process between ship and island down to airport security check speed.
But, back to Cartagena de Indias, where we are safely docked now, was founded in 1533. It was famous for being a centre of the Spanish Inquisition, as well as being a major slave market. The Convent of Pedro Claver tells the story of the Spanish monk, who ministered and cared for slaves when no one else would even think of it. He was instrumental in ending slave trade in 1853, and was canonized later for his life work.
Anyone who has read Marquez 'Love in the Time of Cholera' can imagine what life was like a couple of hundred years ago in this still beautiful city.
In 1811 the colony declared independence from Spain, but it took a lot of fighting until 1821 before Colombian patriots prevailed. After 1917 oil was discovered in Colombia's hinterland. Coffee and emeralds are a major export. There are no official statistics about the influence of narcotics on the local economy. The city now boasts 850,000 inhabitants, many of them living in 'New Miami', a densely built up area on a peninsular adjoining the old city. Glass condo buildings form an impressive skyline separating the Bahia de Cartagena from the Caribbean Sea. The rich and infamous cavort on the sandy beaches or take out their luxury floating gin palaces.
Apart from being accosted by hundreds of street vendors to buy anything from real fake emeralds to t-shirts, a walk around town and along the 50 foot thick walls (used historically as store rooms and later as prisons) is a pleasant and rewarding experience. Taxi drivers appear to have toned down their barrage of sightseeing offers, guiding offers, good shopping offers - one can ride in relative peace. For me, Cartagena is one of the most appealing ports in the Caribbean, offering much more than beach activities and parties as so many others ports offer. One of my favourite stops by far.
The ship's sticky shaft was fixed - and we are able to travel full speed ahead again.
