30/10/2012 - 31/10/2012 - Getting muddled up

Floating on mud - a strange sensation, that's for sure!

The Cartagena clocktower

Cartagena street life - the city also got involved
with some rauncy Botero sculptures!

This time a budget airline deal assisted our decision to fly to the Caribbean coast, and despite arriving at night the humidity hit us as soon as we stepped off the plane. Tony practically needed to change his T-Shirt after the walk to the terminal!

Annaliza meeting the locals

The massive walls, plus our first
real Chiva!

Cartagena is a city with a troubled past – after Spanish colonisation it was repeatedly attacked by sea (most notably by Sir Francis Drake) until it was one of the last cities to regain independence in Colombia. You wouldn’t be able to tell by walking the streets though – the wall round the city almost puts York’s to shame (but took over 2 centuries to build, so fair play); the colonial buildings are in great condition; and the streets look like you’ve just walked onto a movie set. Take away the hawkers trying to offload paintings, sunglasses, watches, jewellery, hats (you name it, they’ve got it) and reduce the temperature by 5-10 degrees, and it would be perfect.

A movie set?

You missed a bit

What’s the best solution to acclimatising yourself to the Caribbean humidity? I doubt that a massage in a mud volcano would be the first answer on your lips! Fortunately, we were joined by 5 jovial Irish dudes in our uncertainty, and their lack of abandon meant we dived in. Not literally, of course, but one of them did bomb into the mud, much to the displeasure of the locals…

Beard, mud and beer = gritty teeth...

All cleaned off, even if we
would keep finding bits
of mud in our ears for days!

It was all going smoothly (suppose that’s one of the many qualities of mud…) until it was time to clean up – this involved being led by a woman twice our age into the nearby lake and given a comprehensive rub down. The word comprehensive isn’t used lightly either – when the swimming trunks got whipped off it was quite a shock! The Irish lads continued their shenanigans, with one stealing the other’s trunks, with another shouting ‘you’ve still got mud in your crack’. Those Irish, always up for the Craic!`

All the cruisers stocking
up on tat!

The city lights

Key Learnings:

1. Unbelievable volumes of tourists are transported to the shopping centre in Cartagena from cruises. Not sure we'll be signing up to a cruise anytime soon!