Day 5 - Tuesday January 2, 2024 Cartegena, Columbia

Arrival 07:00 All Aboard 13:30 Departure 14:00

The early departure was due to the morning transit of the Panama Canal the next day.

The heat has finally arrived. Very sunny with highs of 33C or 91F

Cartegena can be found on the northern coast of Columbia. Its population is just over 1 million while the country itself has a population of 52 million. It is the second most populated country in South America just after Brazil. The major industries are oil and tourism.

Today was our only scheduled tour on this cruise, the Old Town Roadster tour includung lunch. We leave the ship to board our bus which take us to the outskirts of the old town and to see our six vintage Chevrolet convertible cars dating bake to the 1950s waiting for us. Can you imagine how many kilometers or miles that these cars have travelled?

This tour includes some walking and free time to explore the Old Town as well. Unfortunately a gentleman fell while getting on to the bus and had issues when arriving at the restaurant. He was forced to return to the ship by taxi.

It was strange driving in these old air convertibles and getting looks from the passers by. At one point a runner passed our car, that's how slow the cars were going.

Our tour took us along the outside of the walled city and then a brief tour inside before we left the cars and walked to the restaurant. We were treated to an early lunch of fried coconut rice, beef and avocado toast. They also offered shrimp and ceviche which I declined.

Cartegena has been designated a UNESCO World Heritage Site due to its colonial walled city and fortress.

It was not long after the last of the guests arrived back at the ship that we were sailing on to the Panama Canal Transit.

This evening we were invited to a private cocktail party. The invitation was only supposed to go out to first time travellers on Oceania but was sent inadvertently to all guests who had travelled on Oceania before. The Insignia Lounge was at capacity. Since we received the invitation we decided to go and enjoy free cocktails. As most of you know I'm not a big drinker but have learned to enjoy the occasional mojito. Janice usually enjoys her wine but sometimes martinis.