Cartagena

Damn is it amazing. Its nothing like any of us had imagined that a Latin American town could look and feel like. Its an old Spanish Colonial town with 2 big fortresses and 2 big walls encircling the old part of the city. Most of the walls remain and you can walk on top of them (no railings of course) and there´s a couple of cafes perched on top overlooking the ocean; perfect sunset viewing spots. The rest of old town is full of plazas with flower draped balconies and outdoor cafes. Most of the buildings are 400+ years old.

We´ve spent a full week here and could easily spend 3 more. Under the advice of a few different set of friends, on night we went on a Chivas. Basically, it´s a party/tour bus... all you can drink alcohol, musicians on board, and a 4 hour driving tour of the city. We bought maracas and another indigenous percussion instrument that looked similar from something I remember from kindergarten music. We made a lot of noise, drank a lot of booze, and thought it was weird that everyone else on the bus was much older than we are. I think the grandma behind us snoozed the entire time.

Last weekend was Los Dias de Amor y Amistad... basically Valentines Day. I made dinner for the boys and a few others from the hostel including Adam´s lady friend, Cecelia, and we tried the finest Colombian wine available at the market. I don´t recommend it, but the Chilean varieties (including boxed Chilean wines) were quite nice. After dinner she was serenaded by Glenn, on Adam´s behalf with a rendition of Simon and Garfunkel´s ¨Cecelia.¨ The music took over the night and before long Glenn and Adam had a crowd of 10+ people all singing along. The most memorable was, Casper, the incredibly drunk German. He was so hammered that he screamed everything and was so bad, he made my singing seem angelic.

Eating and drinking in Cartegena has been unusual. There is such a price spectrum its incredible. Our favorite place is a hole in the wall local´s place near our hotel. We pretty much eat the same thing there twice a day. Some sort of chicken based soup with potato and plantains followed by the chicken, rice, beans or lentils, and ¨salad.¨ Its ridiculously cheap, about 2 dollars for all of that. Other than that place, though, eating out can get quite expensive and there aren´t many places we´ve found that fall somewhere in the middle, but we have had some great meals, seafood especially. Alcohol, beer included, is across the board expensive. Its difficult to find beers for under $2, most cost $3 and mixed drinks are as expensive or more expensive than Manhattan Beach. Coffee has been a bit strange as well, there´s plenty of instant coffee to be had, in our hotel, and sold on the streets, but real coffee is more difficult to find and $3 or so a cup. Maybe its primarily an export like the other thing Colombia is famous for?

We just got back from 2 days and 1 night on an island, Playa Blanca. It was rustic, no running water or electricity, but it was just stunning. The water was warm and turquoise. Bathing involved going swimming. At one end of the beach the was the edge of a coral reef, with really beautiful fish, interesting corals, and other stuff that I had no idea what it was. For meals, we ate freshly caught fish and lobster. Soooooo good. We slept in hammocks and at night drank with a few locals around a candle inside of a plastic milk carton. Glenn and Adam played guitar and the rest of us sang along. Around midnight we went skinny dipping and the phosphorescence in the water lit up as we moved about. The moon was bright and the stars brighter. We must have spend hours searching for constellations none of us really knew well enough to actually find. The night pretty much ended when we drank the last beer available. I wish we were able to stay longer. I could easily stay for a week.

We´re back in Cartagena now, but leave for Guatemala tomorrow evening. We´re planning on going back to Antigua for a night, then over to Lake Atitlan, until we have to come back to LA Sunday night.