KICKING BACK IN CARTAGENA
After the challenges of Venezuela, we got back on track and headed West again, to Colombia. We were delighted to reach Cartagena, a beautiful colonial city on the Caribbean coast. Although we've only been on the road for two and a half weeks, this is definitely our favourite place in South America so far. Great weather, tasty and cheap food, friendly people and a welcoming hostel, and best of all, a really lively and picturesque - and safe - city to explore. The first night we arrived we wandered around the old town admiring the buildings and watching the world go by, and stopped at a street kiosk that sold cups of fresh prawns in a sauce that would beat English prawn cocktail any day. Later on we had a 'comida corriente' at a local restaurant, which was some perfect home cooked food for next to nothing, which was much more in line with our expectations of travel/budget food than anything we had come across in Venezuela. Colombia is our first taste of 'street food' - which is sure to become part of our staple diet over the coming months - with vendors here selling all sorts of fruit juices, fried plantain, and corn pancakes. All pretty tame so far compared to the inevitable bushtucker trials' which will confront us in the likes of China and Thailand.
Unfortunately the morning after we arrived Emma was knocked out by an evil migraine, probably induced from the stresses of flying the day before (no, it's not getting any easier). Duncan took the opportunity to go for a wander (and a bit of peace and quiet away from the wife) and went off exploring, camera in hand. Cartagena is such a beautiful place that even our amateur photographic efforts managed to capture something of the colour and life of the place. That night we were kept awake by the loudest thunder and lightning either of us had ever experienced, which seemed to be hitting just over our hostel.
Emma made a full recovery and Team West was back to full strength the next day, We spent the day wandering in and out of some of the old buildings, the massive cathedral and along the top of the city wall, watched some local kids dancing in Plaza Bolivar, and generally hung out. We had the first perfect sunset of the trip form a bar right on the wall, overlooking the sea, and got a bit trigger happy trying to capture it in all its glory. Edited highlights in the photo album. Another comida corriente for dinner, followed by a mojito at the local Café Havana which was really atmospheric with great Cuban music.
One night whilst eating our pot of prawns on the street we watched a Colombian football match on the stallholder's TV in which the coverage of the game was completely dominated by adverts for all sorts of products. In the UK you can at least sit back and watch the game in peace for 45 uninterrupted minutes but here the commentator has to constantly break off from his punditry to plug the latest beer, mobile phone or toilet cleaner. And not just that but they have adverts flying across the screen while the ball is in play to the extent that at one point we missed seeing whether the ball had crossed the line because the goal was obscured by a massive advert on the screen. Much to Emma's relief that's about the only football we've seen so far but Duncan is hoping to rectify that anomaly soon when we get to places like Argentina and, possibly, Bogota, which is our next stop...