Amazing Knockers

Cartagena is home to some amazing knockers. Though plastic surgery is almost a national pastime here, we are not talking about the girls today. Sorry boys. Also known as “The Door To The Americas,” Cartagena boasts some of the most beautiful architecture in the Americas. Once you’ve strolled through the romantic streets of the old city you’ll understand why it’s been designated a world heritage site since 1984. We have walked these streets almost everyday since being in Colombia and still never tire of seeing something new in a building or plaza that we missed the last time around. The details that adorn the buildings and streets are what keep it so interesting. So today we will start with some of the details of the city that have fascinated us and from there pan out to the overall city and sights. I hope you find these knockers as fascinating as we did.

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Boat Sitting: A Luxurious Alternative to Hostels

The roof tops of Cartagena

So we’ve been living on the sea for the past eight months.  And life was good.  But once we arrived in Colombia, it was time to go ashore and try life on land for awhile.  Skipper Paul was kind enough to let us stay on his boat until the craziness of Festival Week subsided, but once the locals returned to work…so did we. 

Alyson and I took to the streets everyday in search of the perfect accomodations.  And while hostels are overly abundant and accomodating in Cartagena, we wanted something a little more unique.  Ideally we had in mind a nice little apartment overlooking some scenic downtown plaza.  Our friends say that “we have Champagne tastes on a beer budget”, but everyone has to have a dream.

Its really quite difficult arriving in a new place and trying to find a place to settle down.  Cartagena’s streets are a labyrinth of alleyways and narrow corridors, and the midday heat was exhausting.  Not to mention that we have no car and no phone.  Its not easy, but we were determined.

Looking for Apartments

We visited a few rentals.  Some were high end and some were more economical.  We ended up looking at a few high end apartments as the rent listed in the ads and the “actual” rent were off by a few zero’s behind the cost! But while we were there it was nice to imagine living in such a posh, clean, and cool place.  It turned out that our timing for renting long term could not have been worse. Cartagena is a touristic city and it’s seasons are high from November to January. In these few months most of the businesses make up to 80% of their yearly income! Especially for renters. We found that Cartagena offered almost every type and level of accomodations. In fact, during the high seasons most condos, apartments, houses, mansions, rooms, and any other type of living quarters are rented by the day. Thus if you were on a vacation there are endless alternatives to staying at the typical chain hotel ( though they have really nice ones as well).

Stopping in a diner to get out of the heat and have some lunch.

Looking for apartments is tiring.

We found that the prices varied extremely as well. A high end, furnished two bedroom apartment in the center of town will go between $1000-2000 a month. This was a bit too high for us, and wishing they would of said as much in the beggining of the 2 hour tour, we grit our teeth and headed back out into the heat.  

A modern flat in the historic old townNice Balcony View

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Festival Week in Cartagena

Festival Week In Cartagena

Hi Hop & Jaunt Readers!

Alyson and I just returned to the hostel after a nice evening stroll through the streets of old Cartagena. I’ve never been in a city so alive with people. Even on a Sunday night the city is buzzing with activity. The city plazas are full with families, friends, and neighbors enjoying the cool night air, live music, dance, and food. Its an incredibly beautiful city, but even more so since Christmas decorations have gone up. We’ll soon write more about our day to day life here in Cartagena de Indias, but first we have some more photos from festival week as well as some important travel tips for would be tourists.

Cartagena’s Independence day falls on November 11,  the day when the city officially declared its independence from Spain in 1811. However, it was not until Simon Bolivar and his revolutionary troops crossed the Andes six years later that Cartagena was truly liberated from Spain. Simon Bolivar and his rag tag troops liberated the entire continent and is a hero across South America, much like how George Washington is to the US.  Now the holiday is a week long celebration that incorporates numerous parades and parties throughout the city.  It even coincides with the Miss Colombia Padgeant. 

The Independence Day parade runs through the maze like streets of the historic old town.  We decided to watch the festivities from the venue of Cartagenas famous wall with our friends Lily & Otto.  Below are a few of our favorite shots from the parade:

Nothing Like A Snowcone On A Hot Colombian Day

Acting Naturaly

Cartagena's Ancient Wall Is Front Row Seating Today

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Dia Del Independencia “Kid’s Parade”

We arrived in Cartagena by sailing over a sunken wall and passing by a statue of the Virgin Mary overlooking the bay.

As it turned out, we had arrived right at the start of festival time. Starting in November with the Independence Day celebrations with weeks of parades and parties, the holiday season of Cartagena continues on until New Years. On one of our first days out exploring the city with Lilly and Otto from Vagabond we happened to come across the Children’s Parade. Every day for a week there were parades around the city, ending with several large parades, parties, and the selection of Miss Colombia. Cartagena is the holiday destination for Colombians with it’s beaches but more importantly with it’s colonial heritage still intact within the city itself. Cartagena is one of the most quaint and beautiful cities I’ve ever wandered around in.

We will once again do a virtual tour of the city in upcoming blogs but for today, please enjoy the sights and sounds of the Children’s Parade from Cartagena.

Hot Colombian...Day

Out and About

Parade Princesses

Parade Jokers

The Secret Cove

(Continued from Post 1     and 2   of sailing to Colombia)

The seas grew minute by minute we raced to the boat and managed to pull up the anchor in record time. Especially considering that the swell of the seas had gotten so rough that the bow was now dipping into the sea before coming up high enough to see the beginning of the keel. With John man-handeling the anchor, Paul on the wheel and me waving a bunch of kids foolish enough to be swimming out to us away Sunrunner headed back out to sea. As we wearily watched Riohacha fade away behind us we prepared for another all-nighter until the next possible anchorage. Though we did get a few smaller squalls and some drenching rain falls in the early half of the night by the time the midnight watch was winding down the wind had disappeared completely. It is said that you always have either too much or too little wind when out sailing. This night was a case and point. My watch was from around 2 am for three hours, but as John had to practically pull up the anchor by hand in Riohacha, due to the rough sea conditions, I decided to let him sleep longer. Plus, I have always loved night-watch all alone with my trusty shuffle providing the background music. Enveloped by the dark night and sea with only Orian as your fellow company is not a bad way to spend a few quiet hours of your life.

With no wind we were barely making a couple of  knots. It did not truly matter  as we were off schedule anyway with the mad-dash out of Riohacha it worked out better to be barely moving and just waiting for the sun to rise. We were looking for Rio Palamino and were sailing only a mile or two offshore. In the dead of night as we were very, very slowly approaching land I started to see lights from shore. Not knowing the topography it was very disconcerting to see red lights hanging in various heights along the coast. Normally at sea you can tell a lot by the lights you see on the horizon. Red, green, and white at dirfferent alignments can tell you what type of ship going in what direction even if you can see nothing else. Thus seeing random placed red lights up high and low with randlomly flahsing white lights was starting to play games with my mind. When the sun finally began to rise I saw the reason for the floating lights, the land rose dramatically out of the water and shot up into mountains. The lights were from power poles strung through the mountains. The long and tiring night was rewarded by one of the most beautiful sunrises I have ever seen. From the ocean looking east onto land we saw rising up, white beaches, then lush tropical green jungle hills, then behind it the snow capped mountains of the Andes. We all got on deck and watched in awe for at least an hour while we slowly sailed along the coast.

 
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Cabo de la Vela: the Cape of Sails

John & Aly on SunRunner

(Continued from previous posting):

The next morning we awoke around 4am.  Surprisingly, the weather forecast from the day before was correct.  I couldn’t believe the drastic change in conditions.  The howling 30 knot winds had just abated.  The seas were reasonably calm.  It seemed so unreal that weather could switch from such harsh circumstances to practically nothing in under an hour.  It was as if someone had flipped a switch.  Afraid that it was too good to be true, we didn’t waste any time.  We pulled up anchor and ‘got the hell outta Dodge’.

With renewed spirit we set off for the small Colombian village of Cabo de la Vella.  As I said before the winds had seriously dropped, and SunRunner was making only 4 knots under Genoa and mizzen.  The roughly 40 mile trip would take us a little over 10 hours, but we didn’t mind.  Better to be going somewhere than sitting in Bahia Honda.  The sun was bright.  The skies were clear and blue.  It was a nice, lazy and relaxing sail. 

Alyson tanning on deck.

By mid afternoon we had cleared the Guajira Peninsula and sailed into the nice little bay off Cabo de la Vela.  It was an interesting little place.  The village was settled by the Wayuu indians, and now the town functions as a fishing village and ecotourism destination.  Yes, now we had arrived in backpacker country.  And every year dozens or perhaps even hundreds of backpackers venture to the tiny village of Cabo de la Vela to enjoy the beach and sleep in authentic Wayuu indian houses (they are made from the hearts of cactus, you know). 
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Escape From Bahia Honda

Well, we’re back. Currently Alyson and I are staying in Cartagena, Colombia boat sitting once again aboard a 44’ Lagoon Catamaran. Its been nearly a month since we left Curacao heading west towards the South American continent, and its strange to think that we haven’t set foot on the mainland in nearly seven months. The passage along the Colombian coast was an interesting one. Sailing around the horn of Venezuela & Colombia is considered the 4th most dangerous passage in the world, or so I heard a couple of drunk sailors claim (Limited internet access restricts further verification of this statement at the moment). At any rate, we completed the trip safely, but not without our share of surprises and perilous encounters.

We departed from Curacao on a Thursday, October 22 just as the sun was setting. We had joined up as crew for a single handed skipper named Paul on his 36’ ketch, SunRunner.

Our destination for the first leg of the journey was Aruba, but we were all keen to explore some of the less traveled anchorages along the Colombian coast line. The winds were fair, and we were able to keep a steady 5 knots under headsail and mizzen throughout the duration of the trip. Our intentions were to arrive in Aruba shortly after morning light, anchor, and catch some sleep before making the big jump from Aruba to Colombia. We hadn’t even considered going ashore.

We dropped hook in the small anchorage at the southern tip of Aruba, and put on a pot of coffee. This was our first overnight passage in four months, and it left us all completely dog tired. We were looking forward to some well deserved rest. Unfortunately, before the water in the coffee pot even got hot, we were boarded by the Aruba Coast Guard. The welcome we received was not particularly hospitable. Due to increased security measures monitoring drug traffic between Colombia and Aruba, we were told that we must either sail 10 miles up the Aruba coast to clear in with customs or else leave immediately. Now ten miles is a relatively short distance, but when your sailboat averages about 4 to 5 miles an hour it becomes a pain in the ass to sail further for over two hours. Especially when all you want is some sleep. At any rate, we had no better option, so on we went.
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