Oct 11, 2005 - Cartagena - John gets a black eye

Mark - We flew into Colombia (all travel advice warns against travelling overland from Panama to Colombia due to guerilla activity around the Darien Gap by the border) a few days ago and are currently staying in Cartagena a beautiful colonial town on the Caribbean coast. The town has great buildings, beaches and a lively nightlife - a great combination. We met up with Pascal, a Swiss guy we first met in El Salvador, and two of his friends (Sara and Philipp) last night for what was meant to be a few drinks at a lovely bar situated on the...

Aug 29, 2005 - Upon Arrival

Well I just pulled into Cartagena, yup at 7 a.m. the night bus; a grooling 13 hours. The buses aren't that uncomfortable as far as buses go but when you are confined for that long in your tiny little space it gets to you. The seats recline to an almost laying down postions but I have trouble shifting and turning and trying to get comfortable; I squeezed out a few hours of restless sleep. I met a guy, Martin, and his girlfriend, Jessica; Martin is from Cartagena and is an English teacher here. I am supposed to meet up with him later. He was...

Jul 29, 2005 - Cartaghena, Colombia

Spent only a day in Bogota and didn't really do much there, pretty zonked from the bout of Lima belly and not up to much. Seemed like a really nice city and I was sorry not to be able to spend more time there, but time now pressing me on. Next step was to take an overnight bus to Cartaghena. My guidebook says to avoid overnight bus trips in Colombia, but what the hell, I figured it was a busy route, I didn't have the energy to try to find a flight and what were the chances of actually being robbed ? Thankfully I was right and had a...

Jun 26, 2005 - Colombia - Volcan El Totumo

Well this will have to rate rather high on the strange-surreal scale - yes we know volcanos have been a rather predominant feature of this trip, but this one really was different! We step into the crater - this time it is filled with mud not lava (probably just as well!) and float, for it is impossible to stand, somewhat like the dead sea. Whilst wallowing hippo style we are treated to a massage.... very groovy! Then after an hour of absorbing the therapeutic minerals, we descend the volcano like primal beasts and get rinsed off in the...

Jun 24, 2005 - Colombia - Cartagena

This is a world apart from the rest of Colombia - gone are the cowboy hats and the bandeja paisas (set economy meals) and we have entered a cool caribbean resort. The old city is incredibly scenic - colonial architecture, balconies with tumbling flowers and earthy colours abound. The historic city is really unlike anything else that we have seen in South America - much more mediteranean and its place on the Unesco list of World Heritage sites is no surprise - it is a very special place...but with this comes a plethora of tourist toot...

May 31, 2005 - Cartagena, Colombia

First of all, I just have to say, this is one CRAZY place!!!! But I will get to that in a minute. Once upon a time... While at the language school in Buenos Aires,Argentina I met an pretty off the hook guy from Amsterdam. We didn't actually speak to each other until the last day of school. We were in different level classes, but we would see each other at the cafeteria and in the computer room and never talk but sometimes make speculations about each other. The day we started talking we couldn't stop and it was very amusing...somehow we had...

Apr 26, 2005 - Colombia - Cartagena

We arrived at about 1pm and took a taxi into the historical centre. After a bit of searching around we settled on the first hotel that we had been to ! Villa Colonial is a cheap friendly hotel with a/c and cable tv ! Cartagena de Indias was founded in 1533. It was one of the storage points for merchandise sent out from Spain and for treasure collected from the Americas to be sent back to Spain. There are a series of forts protecting the city and a wall all around the inner city. It is vibrant, interesting and beautiful city and there are...

Feb 15, 2005 - Colombia: Cartagena

After the 11 day 'adventure' boat trip from Panama (If you haven't already read it Soap Opera script we were all very relieved to be on land again and excited to finally arrive in Colombia - a country I'd been nervous yet excited about travelling in because of all the media coverage and bad press that has scarred the minds of this very beautiful country. The guidebook promised Cartagena to be 'one of the most beautiful countries in South America' and indeed, the old part, where we ended up staying, is an extremely lovely area and beautiful...

Oct 22, 2004 - Cartagena, Colombia

The beauty of travel backpacker style is its unpredictability. Sometimes it goes to plan, the bus arrives, the hotel in the lonely planet still exists and the sun shines. Sometimes the bus breaks down, the road is closed, the hostel is a flea pit. On other days, like today, I find myself the ONLY traveller in Cartagena who wants to sail to Panama. So after ten days of waiting for another traveller or two to come along and join me and captain PG on his yacht for an eight day cruise to Colon, Panama, I have finally given up and booked an...

Oct 13, 2004 - Cartagena, Columbia

Cartagena, Columbia Wednesday, 13th October, 2004. Took on our pilot off a little fort right on the sea at Bocachica to guide us to our berth at Cartagena. This city was founded in 1533 and is steeped in historic areas with forts that were constructed to protect the city from pirates & Spain's enemies. The famous English pirate Mad Dog Morgan laid seige on the city successfully as did Sir Francis Drake. I think the French had a go too but I don't know the outcome - I won't offer my thoughts for fear of being branded anti-French. A very...

Aug 3, 2004 - Cartagena

Hey This is the beginning of South America!! Cartagena looks absolutely amazing from the air and the Rosario islands are just a few miles offshore and show all the colours of the sea that I have ever seen. There is a great range from the lightest turquoise to the deepest purples. I am determined to go there and do some diving or at least snorkelling. The City stretches for miles out on a narrow spit and there are high rise buildings dotted along the beaches. I can se that I am going to enjoy this place. The City itself looks surrounded by...

Feb 14, 2004 - Cartagena Jewel of the Caribbean

Copyright 2004 David Rich 1400 Words jdavidrich@yahoo.com Cartagena: Jewel of the Caribbean Cartagena sits pretty in pastel, perched on the Caribbean's most strategic position atop a vast continent, encircled by massive and almost impregnable walls pocked with secret passages, cisterns and slippery tunnels. From January 1533 Cartagena controlled the north of South America ensuring Spanish domination of a world-class land mass and providing the storehouse for the export of metric gold tons in exchange for the latest goods from mother...