The view of Bocagrande at Night
It’s been over a decade now that I’ve been to South America, and something had to be done about that! I picked Colombia because I’d heard some good things from fellow travelers and the flights from Chicago were pretty cheap! As usual I kept my research fairly minimal so I didn’t really know what I expected Cartagena to look like going in, I guess my expectations were a bit influenced spending so much time in SouthEast Asia, but they were quickly altered as our plane soared past all the high rises that jutted out on this long narrow peninsula from the mainland. Definitely more like Miami than let’s say Phuket! I was impressed. A white wall of buildings. After flying past that small section of the city, the rest looked far different, which was mostly pretty flat and sprawling – ie poor. I’d seen on the map that the old town, the walled city, was just next to where all the high-rises are, which is where most of the tourists hang out.
Bocagrande and Castillogrande from the plane. Hopefully not victims of climate change in the coming decades!
Photo of Castilogrande, the part that juts out from the rest in the above photo
After the game I had a chance to walk around the city. Cartagena has a pretty interesting history, it started as a Spanish colony in the 1500’s with only two hundred people. But they got off to a great start when they found that the indigenous people buried riches with dead, so after lots of tomb raiding they had a good amount of wealth on their hands. In the next 50 years news of their wealth had spread and the French and English attacked the city multiple times with no success. Spain spent a boatload of money into fortifying the city and it became the largest port in South America as well. It was where the Spanish would funnel out their vast sums of money from the rest of the continent. The city also became a hub for the slave trade, making people’s mansions even larger. They were able to stave off a massive attack by the English in 1741, called the battle of Cartagena, and they were the first to declare independence from Spain in 1811. I won’t get into the modern history but they had civil wars and drug trade problems in the last 70 years, but things look to be steadying out for Colombia!
Taken from the fort walls with Bocagrande in the background
So back to Cartagena, it’s very colorful! Narrow cobbled streets painted in all shade of yellow, with doors, window sills and balconies painted in other bright hues. The very center of the city is the clocktower, El Reloj, where horse drawn carriages share the roads with cars and guys pushing fruit carts. Women in traditional outfits try to get you to pose with them and vendors sell everything from water and sunglasses to coke and weed, under their breath. It would be interesting to see how hectic this place gets in January, which is the peak season. Despite being a little chaotic, it’s got a nice charm to it. It feels fun and lively. The streets are clean, buildings look old but not run down, it feels safe. They’ve done a good job. And if you get too hot you can stop and pay .50c to the juice vendors or $1 to the ice cream guys to cool off a bit.
horse drawn carriages cruising around looking for passengers
so many colors!
El Reloj, the clocktower
Fruit vendor
the architecture
women in some traditional garb
Just next to the walled city is another cool neighborhood called Getsemani, which reminded me of what Logan Square was a couple years ago. It’s more residential, rough around the edges but some cool bars and restaurants popping up. Some of the bars were fashioned from what were old abandoned concrete buildings. It’s also the place to go for street art, with murals on just about every street.
Some interesting stuff in Getsemani
The fruit is so fresh and cheap!
Cartagena also has beaches! In Bocagrande (where I was staying) the beach is just across the street! The sand isn’t particularly nice, but you can pay a buck or two and get a lounge chair from the guys that rent them out. Vendors walk around with carts of drinks and seafood, all very reasonably priced. It’s a decent way to spend an afternoon as long as you don’t mind swatting off some of the sunglass guys and massage ladies. Apparently the nicest beach around is an hour away, but I really didn’t feel like heading out that far, especially knowing I’d be going to the beach in a few days anyway.
The real colors came out on the other side of the sky
Cartagena is also known for it’s nightlife, but it wasn’t as exciting as I was expecting. I guess in this season the big parties are really only from Thursday to Saturday, and I was there Sun-Wed! There were lots of party buses cruising around outside the city though! And definitely no shortage of places to drink. The food was also delicious! I hardly ever eat ceviche in the US, but I had it everyday in Cartagena. Just so many good seafood dishes in general. The next photo is from a nice place that was mostly columbians (so you know it’s good) and only a handful of tourists - the perfect mix! But the fish is topped with this coconut milk sauce and then had squid, shrimp and mussels on top. My favorite meal so far.
So I thought Cartagena was a pretty cool city, certainly worth visiting! Next time I’d take a cooking class! I also would probably rather stay in a hostel in the center than my more sterile, kind of boring apartment. Nicer hotels and airbnbs are more for when I’ve been on the road for a while roughing it and I need a clean, quiet place to get a good sleep and recharge, not when I just arrived somewhere new, feeling fresh! Next up I’ll be heading to the beaches further up the Caribbean coast. Here’s a couple more photos of Cartagena:
