15.09.-18.09.11

Cartagena

On Wednesday, 14.09.11 I took the night bus from MEDELLIN to CARTAGENA. Apart from that it was freezing cold on the bus the trip went quite smooth. But at around 8 am, an hour before Cartagena we got stuck in a tiny village because a big crowd of locals decided to block the road and protest against the bad road conditions. Well…I totally understand their reason but after a 14 hour bus ride I didn't care and just wanted to arrive as quickly as possible in Cartagena.

Mmmhh…but there was nothing what we or the bus driver could have done…..we just had to wait until they stopped the road blockade. While we were waiting in front of a little "mini market" I met Kate and Peter from Seatle. After 4 hours of boiling in the sun we thought about hiring a motorbike or a pickup and trying a different route but a few locals told us that it would be too risky!! So we decided to wait ....and Kate and Iwent to the main road in order to find a restaurant or bar.

When we walked past the petrol station we saw a big bunch of armed police man getting ready for a battle!!! Well….up to then everything seemed relaxed and quite. So Kate and I bought a juice and just wanted to sit down when we suddenly heard a shot following by a huge crowd of locals who ran towards the petrol station and started throwing sticks, bottles and stones at the armed police man. Kate wanted to run back to the bus but I stopped her as I felt safer at the restaurant. But when the police where shooting with tear gas towards the restaurant we got quite scared and ran with a few other locals down the road back to our bus.

Peter was relieved when he saw us and we took our backpacks and jumped straight on the bus. After 5 Minutes the first truck in the queue started to move which was a good sign as the road blockade was removed. So finally after 6 hours waiting we could continue our journey. When we past the blockade we could see another big crowed of armed police man who were chasing some of the protestors.

Puuhhh….at the end we were glad that we didn't take a pick up or a motor bike as we arrived late but safely in Cartagena.

From the bus terminal we took a taxi to the "Hostal Familiar". We quickly changed into our shorts and went to a restaurant for lunch. Afterwards we took a bus straight to the beach in the upmarket and rich suburb of "Bocagrande". Oh….and it was sooo nice to jump into the clear and warm water of the Caribbean Sea.

That night we stayed at the hostel and went to bed quite early as we were all very tired from our 20 hour journey.

On Friday, 16.09.11 we left the hostal quite early in order to go to the famous "Playa Blanca". The whole journey took us two hours as we had to take two different buses, a ferry boat and three motorbikes which took us straight to the beach…..but the motorbike ride through little villages and muddy roads was good fun.

AND….when we arrived at the beach we agreed that it was definitely worth coming there…..white sand, turquoise, clear water , massages, pina colada, snorkelling at the corals, fresh fruit etc., etc.

At 4pm we took the boat back to the "mole" at Cartagena and walked back to our hostel. Later on we walked over to the "centro historico" where we were looking for a restaurant. While we were strolling through the little streets we knew why it is the nicest city of Columbia. The "historic centre" lies within the old walls and has plenty of colonial style houses with wooden balconies.

After we had a very nice dinner we were strolling through the city until the owner of a horse carriage approached us and offered us a sightseeing tour for 30.000 GOP (12 Euro). Well what a great deal….so we jumped on the carriage and enjoyed a relaxing and informative tour through the beautiful historic centre.

On Saturday morning, 16.09.11 Kate and Peter left and I decided on the last minute to do a tour to the "Volcano El Totumo" as it was recommended by my friend Claudia.

But when we arrived an hour and half later at the Volcano I was hugely disappointed as there were hundreds of other tourists all lining up to jump into the mud pool. Well…."let's make the best out of it" I thought and went slowly into the weird, thick, warm mud. I also enjoyed the nice massage the local guys were giving to us while we were floating on the mud which was full of minerals and good for our skins.

Afterwards we walked with the full mud coat to the nearby lake where local senioras were waiting for us to wash down the thick mud. I could truly feel the difference on my skin as it was sooo smooth.

On the way back to Cartagena we stopped at a local restaurant and while we were waiting for our lunch we jumped quickly into the ocean to cool down from the heat.

Even though that is was a really touristy tour and far too busy at the Volcano I had a lot of fun!

In the afternoon when I arrived back at the hostel I quickly had a shower, took my camera and walked over to the historic centre. For two hours I strolled around the little streets, walked on the thick old city walls and took millions of photos of the nice colonial houses.

Even though it was Saturday night and I would have loved to explore the night live in Cartagena, I decided to stay at the hostel and write my travel stories as I was quite far behind.

On Sunday morning, 18.09.11 I got up at 6 am and an hour later a private bus company picked me up right from the hostel. After we picked up some more Columbians we left Cartagena at 8am and made our way to SANTA MARTA further north along the Caribbean Sea and from there directly to the little fishing village TAGANGA.