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Welcome to Colombia!! Land was in sight and the end was near :) Very exciting - felt so disgusting all hot and sweaty and just craving the steadiness of land!! We were all out at the front of the yacht as we sailed into the harbour at Cartagena... And it was pretty cool to think we had just sailed between two countries and that now we were in South America! Sym anchored the boat and we just hung around a bit chatting before we got off the boat... We had packed our things earlier that morning (I lost my pair of sandals to some pretty disgusting mould!!) and eventually it was time for goodbye and time for solid ground! Sym took us in turns on the dinghy to the mainland! We would see everyone during our stay in Colombia though as we had planned to go out tonight with the Ozzies and Sym had our passports which we needed to collect tomorrow after his travel agent sorted us out with the necessary stamps etc (bizarre to think you can just come into a country by boat and not go through any customs or immigration or anything...) Cartagena is hot!! Wowzers!!!! Definitely the hottest place of the trip so far! We headed straight for the air conditioned supermarket and bought water and drew money (Barbs drew for me given my lack of card now... Most frustrating!!) We caught a cab to Media Luna road which is in the old part of town and where all the hostels apparently are... (Got nicely ripped off by the taxi drivers with the fare but have have learnt our lesson since!!) We were honestly so hot and uncomfortable - my sea legs were crazy and I kept getting motions of being on the boat and the swells... We finally settled on a hostel called Media Luna - no aircon though just a fan... No comment here!! We were also connected to wifi for the first time in 5 days so of course we had a good amount of time catching up on e-mails, phone calls, Facebook etc... I received an e-mail with my acceptance into Origini so I was absolutely thrilled!! So so excited :) We chilled in our sauna of a hostel, showered and washed our hair properly!!!!! Started sweating all over again haha... Then headed out to find some lunch. The heat really takes it out of you so we for once quickly settled on an air conditioned place and all I felt like was fresh fruit so I had a mango granita and a fruit salad! Yum!! We then went to walk around old town Cartagena.. It is so stunning! It is apparently one of the most well preserved colonized cities in the world - in fact I picture it to be just like a city in Spain would be... The buildings are all colourful and gorgeous... The old city is actually located within city walls! We walked for ages just soaking up the vibe and cultures etc... (Men in South America are just plain disgusting and don't hesitate to cat whistle, say gross things and try come close to kiss you... It's so harrowing and I won't miss it!!) We found a gem of an ice cream shop which helped a bit with the heat... We finally found ourselves walking out the city walls and along the coastline! We walked past a game of soccer (amazing how universal the sport is), had a bus literally stop in the middle of the road so everyone could blow kisses at us (the worst I've seen yet!!) and found ourselves somewhat lost in what I can only liken to the Jo'burg city centre of Cartagena!! So we swiftly walked back into the city walls which just felt safer and with the help of Vick's lonely planet book, we found our way home... We had all the intentions in the world to have a siesta but it literally was not possible with the heat!! Sarah heard Robs talking outside so we went and caught up with them! (They had moved from this hostel as the heat was just unbearable... Awesome...) That night the hostel bar was having a big party with live music so we had told everyone to make their way here tonight! We needed some dinner though so we headed out and got picked up by some weird ass American traveller who insisted on showing us to a cheap Colombian restaurant, and then proceeded to come in with us when we were looking at the menu and then sat down with us when we decided to eat there!! What a lost soul... We heard his whole life story (which includes the fact that he is currently living in a slum outside the city as he can't afford anywhere else) and I was just bored really... And annoyed that he imposed himself like that on us! Anyways, we heard some interesting stories of his and were glad to get rid of him once we got to the hostel- claiming we were too exhausted for anything more tonight and that we were heading to sleep!! We were in fact totally exhausted so we had half a mind to just laugh off any jolling tonight, but then we sucked it up and changed into some party gear and met up with Robs, Sal and Chanty and the Ozzies from our boat and had a fun night out! It was so so so hot though! I have never... The live music was awesome though but eventually the heat got the better of me and me and Vick went to put our feet in the hostel pool and ended up chatting until 2am! Whoops! Can't believe I'm in Colombia though and that my Central American travels are almost at an end... How time flies when you're having so so much fun!
Lesson of the day: Pay extra for aircon in Cartagena!!
Moment of the day: The first sip of my ice cold mango granita :)
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