Thewesternprovinceblog

Hola todos de nuevo! Been a few days hasn’t it? I’m writing this one on my last night in Cartagena, Colombia 🇨🇴. It’s safe to say it has been a somewhat messy landing here without much of a plan, you see right now there is a bit of a gap in the Calendar, you see I have booked to spend Christmas & new year in Medellín in Blink Spanish school but I don’t need to be there until the 21st so this next week and a bit is an open book to do the North of Colombia. 

To sum up our first night in Colombia:

So on Sunday we flew into Cartagena from Panamá, the flight was uneventful so will skip that. We touch down and after deplaning it’s a right faf getting in as immigration in the airport here is slow and after they stamp you through you then got to go through customs which is another long line. Took about 2.5 hours though go online and this airport is known for being shite with some days taking 5+ hours so could have been worse.

I get an Uber into town, I am staying in Getsemani in the old city. I booked to do an evening walking tour to get the lay of the land which I only have 10 mins to check in and get to the meetup because of the delays. My Uber driver when I get there claims the app hasn’t paid him though it clearly did, being in a rush I end up giving him £10 thinking it was £3-4 just to get him out of my way as don’t have time to argue this out. Gringo Scam #1 I fall for reading up later.

I check in, sling the bags and straight out no time to freshen up and join on the tour. I forget the guides name but he was a good bloke and showed us round the old town while explaining the history. That we will get to on another post. It was a good little tour and ended with sorting basics out. 7.30 I go back and freshen up then head out for some grub and a gentle drink. It is actually the festival of Día de las velitas 🕯️🎆🎄 here where everyone lights candles and fireworks to basically start the Christmas season here. It also means Monday next day is a bank holiday so it’s absolutely heaving out here in town. 

Cartagena is a very colourful place and doesn’t really come to life until night time but it is still a very pretty place in the day. Having a wander I eventually bump into my English Pal who was with me back in Lake Atitlan so I tag along with his group for a bit and we have a few drinks catching up on what we’ve been up to since we separated after I left early for Antigua. 

Turns out although he skipped el Salvador we were on Isla Ometepe at the same time but not aware of each others whereabouts, we were on opposite sides of the island to each other and by the time we knew I was already in San Jose having the heebie geebies. He had skipped Panama and flew to Cartagena but went from San Jose and funnily enough had a similar experience with the border and his bus breaking down and having to spend £50 on a taxi to catch his early morning flight, meaning he didn’t end up saving any money and could have flown from Managua. Sounds like fun! He was heading to Santa Marta next and said I might catch him in a few days time.

Now we part ways about 1am but being a travel day I was knackered and apparently they don’t light the candles here till 3am. I hang about at a bar by my gaff until about 1.30 but by 2am I’m done and I’m bed out like a light. I ended up sleeping in till midday and also miss breakfast. Ay que pena! 

Oh well we’ve now landed in South America and tomorrow we will see what wonders Cartagena holds!