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Arriving in Cartagena mid-morning was perfect. I was certainly ready to get of Panama city and back to a coast. I got a taxi since the Wifi wasn't working at the airport and it was a beautiful sunny day. Arriving at my hostel, I had the best hosts there, really friendly and my room was ready! I got to my room which was air conditioned and just a perfect fit for me. I messaged a guy, Euan (from Scotland), who I had met in Boquete, Panama since he had just gotten to Cartagena the day before and he said we would go get drinks for sunset. I walked around and ended up running into him! So we went and got food with this other guy, Linus (from Switzerland). Turns out they were meeting up with this other guy they had met the night before, Sam (from the UK) and we all sat and ordered the local food, which was this chicken dish that was absolutly what I needed at the time. I thought they were all gay but I later found out that Linus is not haha but it was a fun conversation and we got to know eachother a bit. I went and walked around afterwards and met up with them for the sunset drinks at this place on the edge of Cartagena and it was magical! There was a performer playing the saxiphone and tons of people out and about - it was nice seeing the locals as it was a holiday weekend. Two French guys ended up coming since Sam had invited them (had met them prior) and we sat around and talked for a bit and then headed to the square to get pizza at this place that had a mojito deal. We ended up meeting this German couple who we sat and talked with as well. There were younger locals performing some Zumba like dance and we sat around and got $2 beers while watching breakdancers and other performances. Called it a night around 10:30pm and then went to bed. The power went out around 3am and I woke up in sweat, showered off and went back to bed. Since there was no power, I wasn't able to contact Euan and we had planned to meet up to walk around and explore more of the town while Linus and Sam slept in. I ended up being able to use one of the hosts phones and thankfully he answered. He met up with me and we walked around exploring the churches and got a salad for lunch and then met up with Sam and Linus and the French guys (who brought 2 other girls, one from France, the other from Belgium). We all went to the beach which was actually very busy and the sand was black and the water dirty. A couple other guys met up since Sam had invited them and we all sat around talking in the middle of this "holiday" for Colombians (no wonder it was so crowded). Thankfully Linus bought a bouncing ball and we played around playing volleyball and soccer. It cost $1 to go to the porter poty and I still couldn't get in the water becuase of my burn. We headed back at dark and went to the square to get the famous street food hamburger Sam had been raging about the day prior. It actually was delicious and actually had HAM in it! Called it another early night since Euan and I had to get up and go to Isla Baru in the morning. We got to the place when they said we should be there and of course had to wait around. Took this big bus to Isa Baru and it was actually a touristy trap. I was pissed but thanfully Euan and I made it fun. We met this Asian and American couple who we shared a lounge chair/umbrella with and took pictures, napped and then tried to enjoy the "1 hour happy hour" which was actully just vodka or rum with sprite or cocacola and I literally had to go up and ask for the drinks at the time they said it would open. Not the type of day we were expecting at all but it still makes me laugh that we experienced it together and definitely got closer and met some interesting people. We had our last night in Cartagena watching the futbol FIFA World Cup and ate some seafood, went to the square one last time and called it a night around 11am since we were leaving the next day for Santa Marta!
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