The Long Road Home

As you might expect, the actual travel portion of travel isn't always fun. The only truely frightening moment was when we were passing through Colombia migration, yes. that's right. Migration. They filter  you before you leave the country. We'd already gotten our tax exemption certificate and droped off our suitcases. For some reason my brand new Canadian passport with it's Colombia entry and tax exemption stamps wasn't good. After an extremely stressful 10 minutes during which I planned my life in Colombia and tried to remember where I'd put the Canadian embassy emergency contact numbers.... I got my third Colombia stamp in my passport with no questions and no discussion. The secondary screening was weird - just at the gate there was a scrum of passengers and uniformed officers. We had to undergo more security screening including an unexpected and sudden pat down by a female military officer. it was quite comforting to step onto the aircraft and were greeted and seated.

Our night flight was uneventful. Arriving in Toronto was a bit strained but smooth. Not even any questions about visitng farms, bringing back seeds or souvenirs. I'm very glad we broke our journey in Vancouver beacause we are both very jet lagged.

Zebra Coffee Shop

After all the souvenir shopping our dogs were barking so we slumped into a couple seats at the Zebra coffee shop. I recommend it to anyone coming to Cartagena. The cafe con leche were lovely lattes. Plus the people watching was excellent.

Souvenir Shopping

As most tourists do, we like to return with something to remember the journey. Lately we've tried to limit ourselves to comestibles like liquor, spices and perfume. But, i just can't resist the lure of the tacky trade.

I just love bags- especially multi-media bags!

This, this was not tacky. Mompox a small community nearish to Cartegana is well known for its silver filigree work, and this piece was highly covetable. Also very expensive.

The shops just went on and on...

Sarah's Blue Period

I was married in a periwinkle blue silk dress. I've got a thing for blue. There is a blue here that I deeply love. it isn't just one blue, its blue with blue with blue, with a little bit of other colours under it.

Street Food & Lunch

I'm a foodie so it should come as no surprise that I try lots of food stuffs that I see other people trying. Today was no exception.

This was the coconut guy by our hotel. First you drink the coconut water, then you hand the coconut back and he hacks it in half with a machete and scoops out the fresh squidgy coconut meat for you.

We liked it so much we got some coconut water for later. It comes in little baggies almost impossible to get out.

We turned around and followed the lady with the beautiful dress... ahem... and she was stopping to get some shave ice. How lovely!

I had a tamarind shave ice and Chris had a coca shave ice. Delish.

We decided we'd try Getsemini for lunch, and when we smelled and then spied what was on offer at this restaurant we dove in with gusto.

That is a kilo of langostinos drenched in butter and garlic after we'd had our way with them. Oh, and some shrimp rice, coconut rice, fried plantain and salad to round things out.

Cartagena People

Like many tourist towns there is a lot on view here. Some of it seems specifically for the tourists (t-shirts, jewelery, horse drawn carriages). Other parts of the street life seem geared at the locals. Last night we watched a waiter from a very high end restaurant walk out into a square that our bar over looked and buy an ice cream sandwich from one of the vendors.

After all the walking we asked for a restaurant recommendation from Edgar our guide. I'm so glad we did! This restaurant was great, local food made right by the ladies in the open kitchen. Plus the cute waiter made excellent pina coladas.

Whenever we travel and stumble across a barbershop Chris gets a hair cut. The hair cut isn't the point, its about the experience. This barbershop was right beside our luncheon restaurant. Each of the men in the chairs had a lovely lady observing and ordering just the right cut. And, just in case you might need her, in the corner of the shop was a notary who advertised everything from baptismal to wedding certificates.

Cartegana Architecture

Our guide for the morning, Edgar, was wonderful. He answered all my questions thoughtfully. I have never had a personal tour guide before. Having Edgar tour us around added enormously to our enjoyment and understanding of this town.

I am unable to do justice to the lovely streets and alleys, but the gist of it is this. By fiat only the rich could have houses more than one story until after the colony declared Independence. Then the 'republican' style included multi-story homes with beautiful balconies, humongous doors and servants or slave quarters.