December 9 - Sweltering Cartagena de Indias, Colombia

We sailed from Willemstad around 10 PM and the town was lit up for Christmas.  My photos didn't come out too well but here are a couple.

After another calm sea day we arrived this morning in Cartagena.  Right now my iPhone is telling me it’s 83° and 79% humidity, but I don’t believe it because it feels like a taste of hell outside.  I’ve been here before, in fact the last time was just over a year ago, so my friend and I decided to take a cab and go into the old city and shop a little.  I’ve copied what I wrote about the history of this place last year mainly to refresh my memory.

The city was founded by the Spanish in 1533 and named after the Spanish city of Cartagena. A little interesting linguistic note is that the original Cartagena in southern Spain was named after Carthage in North Africa because it was founded around 227 BC by a Carthaginian general. The city lies on the Caribbean coast of the South American continent and close to the Isthmus of Panama.  Because of its location it was an important and strategic port for the importation of slaves and the exportation of silver, gold, and other products coming from the New World. The city was sacked and burned several times  by pirates, privateers and enemies of Spain, including Sir Francis Drake.  As a result of the attacks the King of Spain commissioned fortifications to be built and they were finally completed in the 1650’s.  At one time the city was protected by 29 stone forts and walls that were 16 miles long and in places 40 feet high and 50 feet wide. The principal fortress is the Castillo of San Felipe de Barajas which after its completion was the largest one constructed by Spain in the Americas.

This is the Castillo de San Felipe

The fortress system and city have a little interesting historical connection to Virginia.  In 1741 the English under the leadership of Edward Vernon laid siege to Cartagena.  The English had a large armada of ships and more than 25,000 troops, including 2000 American colonial infantry.  Among those was Lawrence Washington, George Washington’s half-brother.  When Lawrence inherited some family property in Virginia along the Potomac he named the house there after his commander, hence the name Mount Vernon.  George kept the name when he inherited the property.  The siege and attack were unsuccessful despite vastly outnumbering the Spanish.  The defender was Don Blas de Lezo whose statue is at the foot of the castle.  He is still considered a hero here.

To go into the city from the port the Colombians have built a little wildlife park attached to the cruise terminal.  The path to go out leads through this place and there are lots of brightly colored parrots and peacocks and other native animals in enclosures.  The birds are free and we wonder if their wings have been clipped or if it’s just that they are very well-fed.  There were lots of watermelons, papayas and mangos around in the various areas.

I couldn't get this peacock to turn so I could fully get his tail, but you can see a little of it.

This and the next two are of a mother and baby anteater.

Our taxicab experience was very strange.  As we exited the terminal area a man approached us wanting to give us a tour.  We told him we weren’t interested and just wanted a taxi to go to the old city to the emerald museum.  He told us it was $50 for a tour and if we just got a taxi it would be $20 each way.  We told him again that was fine; we just wanted a taxi.  He walked with us to where we got in what was supposedly our taxi and he jumped in the front passenger seat.  Okay, that was alright.  When we got into the old town to the museum and got out and paid the taxi driver, he got out too and said the driver would hang around waiting for us.  We told him that was unnecessary and went in the museum.  Of course it had a shop at the end of the tour, but we didn’t see anything of interest so we headed out and walked down some nearby streets where we found another interesting shop and went in.  We were only in there for a few minutes and who appeared but the man from the terminal and taxi.  While we shopped he sat in the store  and appeared to be waiting for us.  We didn’t like that and while we negotiated and then bought something we told the shop ladies we didn’t like him hanging around.  They eventually made him leave the store but I could see him hanging around outside. After we’d made our purchases we decided we didn’t want to wander around anymore with this guy trailing us so the shop people called us a car to take us back to the cruise terminal.  That ride cost us $8 plus a $2 tip.  The man was probably just getting commissions for getting people into inflated taxi rides, but it was a creepy feeling being shadowed, especially when we had no idea we were being followed.  Reading what I’ve written now doesn’t sound so weird, but it really did feel strange.

Some scenes in the old city

Anyway, we got back to the wonderful air-conditioning on the ship.  We had a  salad for lunch and then an afternoon Adult Milk Shake made with Mango sorbet (it was heavenly) and now we’re getting ready to sail.  The Herald, the daily news thing telling us about the day’s events says we’re sailing away from Bermuda;  the Entertainment Manager in charge of printing the thing is slightly confused.  It’s been a good day but the heat and humidity take a lot out of me.  I’m glad tomorrow is a sea day.  Hasta mañana or whenever I write again.