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Colleen & Tom's Explorations
This morning we had a leisurely breakfast up at La Terrazza. Our waitress was Laetitia from Belgium and she knows that her name means joy in Latin! Breakfast was followed by an early trivia at 11am today because we have shore excursions this afternoon. We did well but there are some brilliant teams on here. Lunch was at La Terrazza overlooking Cartagena. It was pouring rain and with thunder and lightning and we were worried our excursion would be called off. The tropical storm passed and we went down to the wharf to join our coach - it was just drizzling by then. Our first stop was at the historic San Felipe Fortress but because of the rain only the photographers got off. We then drove on to the inside of the old walled city to the Plaza Santa Teresa where we met up with our horses, carriages and drivers. It was four to a buggy so some poor horse had to pull us plus Noelene and Garry. None of us are anorexic. Thank heavens it wasn't raining. The buggies had tops but they weren't up. During the ride a clown jumped on our buggy, he was amusing and performed a trick as well as posing for photos, then held out his hat for money. The Harbour is surrounded by mangroves, which Cartagena is not chopping down for ecological reasons - the roots provide homes for crabs and other sea creatures, and the branches and leaves provide homes to egrets, herons and other birds. The old city was just wonderful with ancient cobblestone streets. The colonial mansions had beautiful flowering creepers on their balconies. At the end of the carriage ride we were left at an old military barracks which now houses souvenir shops. They weren't enticing I'm afraid, so no shopping there. The good shops ere in the little narrow streets that our carriages rose past! Our coach picked us up after some shopping time and we slowly made our way back to the pier. It was raining again and all the roads were flooded because their drains don't work at sea level. The guide told us that the men in Columbia straight after high school. They can't enter uni unless they do! He said women don't have to because they already have military power!! :) When we returned we had time for a rest before freshening up for dinner. Yogesh, our butler, had made a booking for us at "Hot Rocks" the evening restaurant by the pool. The pool area was really pretty with coloured lights, and the lights of the city in the background. The waiter brings your raw steak and prawns and an enormously heated rock to cook it on, as well as precooked vegies. It was interesting! Steak cooked perfectly!! After dinner Tom went off to a movie in the lounge while I stayed in, read and slept. The movie started at 9.45pm. He and a guest lecturer were the only 2 there!
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