The Panama Adventure

I was so excited to see Cartagena. It looked gorgeous from the water, and I had read a bit about the city and the interesting historic section which was supposed to be an easy distance from the port.

What a disappointment! Well, not Colombia, or Cartagena, but our experience with the little bit of it that we were able to see. We got off the ship and wound our way through a very interesting park sort of place with flamingos and other birds.

Our ship at the dock.

The first things we saw were these beautiful flamingos.

A toucan in a tree!

The macaws had their wings clipped so they wouldn’t fly off.

This peacock looked a little bedraggled but he was doing his best to show off anyway.

This guy was paying a lot of attention to his friend, who didn’t seem sure if she wanted the attention.

I’m sitting here getting photographed by tourists all day!

Checking out Joel’s hat.

When we emerged into the taxi stand, we were instantly overwhelmed with taxi drivers trying to convince us to ride with them.

We settled on a taxi driver who agreed to take us to the historic section for $5/each, so we and our friends set out. Before the car doors were hardly open at our destination we were accosted by a man selling hats, and another selling sunglasses, and then more selling beer, drinks, cheap jewelry, and so on. This was pretty much how the whole morning went. Unless we were a bit off the beaten path on a side street, we were constantly approached by aggressive people selling things. The area was beautiful but it was very hard to enjoy it. It’s too bad that the museums were all closed too, and even the church was closing its doors as we were leaving. But, I still did manage to get some photos!

These colorful women were selling fruit at the entrance of the historical district.

The architecture is colorful and beautiful.

We found our way into this beautiful church!

We found this huge old bell in an alcove off to the side where things looked like they were being repaired and stored.

There was also a smaller bell in the same area.

The area really is beautiful.

We climbed up to walk along the wall, and looked down on a field of people playing soccer.

They look like statues below, but they are people in costume who startled people walking by. When we went back down we were hit up for a chance to take photos with them.

Up on the wall there is a beautiful view of the road and the sea.

Some art work for sale on the street.

There is a beautiful park in the center (but I had to duck and dodge salesmen, and was lucky to get this shot!)

The best part of our time was the taxi ride back to the ship. I think the driver sensed our frustration and wanted to show us a little of the city, so he took us on less than a direct route so we could get a sense of what the area was like. Everything was very clean and mostly white, and very attractive. He recommended that we come back again in a plane and stay in a hotel so we could get a better idea of what it is really like in Colombia.

Driving back to the boat, the taxi driver pointed out these beautiful statues.

I believe this interesting sculpture is in front of the convention center.

I snapped a few random photos as we drove through town.

I would love to explore more of Colombia. When you are on a ship full of tourists though, you’re like prey so it’s a whole different scene than an individual walking around the city. We were all so discouraged we just went back to the ship for the last few hours we had at this port. Now I was also apprehensive about our next ports. Were we going to face more of the same everywhere we stopped? (thankfully we didn’t, and we had a good time at the next places)

The first stop on our cruise was Cartagena, Columbia. I was very excited to visit here! This was my first glimpse of Columbia and South America, and I was curious to see what it was like. We woke to a beautiful sunrise, and coming into the city was spectacular! It was a clear day with blue skies and blue water, and as the city came into view it was gleaming white in the sunlight.

We docked right next to the container port which was really interesting. I had never seen such a port in action, and even though it was Sunday they were unloading the boat next to us as well as a couple others on the other side of it. So, between that and securing our boat, there was a lot of activity when we arrived.

We woke up to a beautiful sunrise, and the frigate bird told me that we must be getting close to land.

Land started coming into view, my first glimpses of Colmbia.

The pelicans were bobbing in the water as a couple boats passed by.

A large container ship, one of many in the area.

The city comes into view!

As we get closer, the city looks more and more beautiful.

The man in the little boat is an interesting contrast to the gleaming white city.

As we get closer, military boats and construction cranes come into view.

A tug comes out to meet our ship.

We approach a busy container area.

The tug follows us into port.

We dock next to this busy container area.

As we dock and get secured, Joel hangs out with all his women.

The container ship next to us.

Men come out to secure our lines.

It may be Sunday morning, but the container area is a flurry of activity. The boat next to us is having containers unloaded, and a couple boats farther away were also being unloaded.

The container port, with the city behind.

Cartagena has an interesting history, and there is a Wikipedia article here. It was plundered and fought over by many people, but the Spanish were the main occupiers. Today it is a thriving city with a lot of industry, much of it based on petroleum products. Tourism is also an important business. The container port is the busiest in the country.