Our Uber driver that we met 2 days earlier in Medellín picked us up on time from our hotel as she had promised. She said she had been working all night, because Bad Bunny has played a concert in the city and there were many people requesting rides. We ended up being at the airport extremely early, but better too early than too late. The flight was rather unspectacular and we landed in Cartagena on time where it was a good 10 degrees warmer. Arriving in our hostel, our room was not ready yet. We were able to change in a bathroom, as we would have not lasted long in our airport outfits in the heat.
We started walking from our hostel in Getsemani, the hip area towards the old city centre and crossed the “Parque Centenario” on the way. Here, we saw people gathering around a tree and walked over to see what they were looking at. There was a bunch of monkeys and a man came over telling us to follow him to another tree. We did and there was another group of people looking up a tree at a sloth. We were barely there and had seen monkeys and a sloth! The guy explained that there are 8 sloths living in the small park.
One thing that we noted here right away compared to the other places we had been to was that it was much more touristy and constantly someone was approaching you to offer sunhats, bracelets, water or anything really. I was approached by one who was selling magnets and small souvenirs and when I politely declined, he said he also had white coffee… so really anything you wanted someone was selling in the street. We also started seeing Palenqueras, women of African decent dressed in dresses with either the colours of Cartagena or Colombia and selling fruit in the street. While some surely still sell fruit, many of them nowadays make money but allowing tourists to take pictures of them. We agreed to pay one and she kept asking for more and more money saying the coins we were offering her were worthless. Luckily, someone was waiting for her, so she wasn’t patient enough for us to look for more change and just walked off.
We made it to the city wall and a man selling water approached us and started telling us about the history of Cartagena. After a short while standing in the sun, we said we would have to keep going and move into the shade and he stretched out his hand to ask for a “propina” (tip) for the information he had just shared with us. We just walked away, as we did not ask him to talk to us and walked towards the centre where we did some shopping and stopped in a very nice bakery for a late breakfast. Once our check in time started, we went back to our hostel and there was a lady selling day tours, so we decided to book one for the Islas del Rosario for the next day.
We relaxed a little on the rooftop of the hostel and then headed to “Café del Mar” which was recommended to us to watch the sunset. It opens at 16.30 and we arrived shortly after 17.00 to find a large queue. We were one of the last ones who managed to get a table, so I recommend trying to book in advance or arriving at the opening time, as the tables fill up quickly. We ordered some cocktails and food which was amazing and enjoyed the sea breeze on our skin while watching the sun set. There was some live music and for the first time in a long time I started smiling to myself and felt 100% happy with my life and everything that was happening in it. I am not sure when the last time was, where I actively had this feeling, but it must have been years that I was fully concious that I was happy. Just as we were about to leave, a firework started over the sea with the new city in the background. What a perfect end to the night.
We stopped in a few more shops and bought some earrings, necklaces and I even got a bathing suit. Once we arrived in the hostel and opened the door to our room, we were hit by a stench of humid and musty air and had to turn on the airconditioning to even be able to breathe. We were still able to fall asleep quickly.
weltenbummlerinjoanna 