Singing from our supper?

We're still not sure if it was the warm air, the town's vacation-type spirit or the delicious mixed drinks we enjoyed but...somehow after dinner one night... we made a split-second decision to go for a horse-drawn carriage ride.  

There are seemingly hundreds of carriages around this small town...it must be one of the most popular things to do in the old city!    

Feeling comfortable about the fixed price for the ride, we climbed in the carriage only to be joined one minute later by two guitarists who unexpectedly hopped in too and began to serenade us. 

Their musicality was questionable but their enthusiasm admirable and we bopped along to their tunes for the next 20 minutes. 

Somehow, none of the other carriages had any singers...

Worried about the quickly elevating music costs because the two guitarists just kept singing and refused to leave the carriage, we decided to end our trip a bit early.  Luckily, with limited cash in our wallets, we could do little but shrug when they told us they deserved more than the already-generous tip we had given them.

Balmy Cartagena

It is hard to believe that Cartagena is only an hour flight from Bogota because the weather here is completely different.  And so we quickly shed our layers to take advantage of this glorious mid-30 degree weather!

The most famous part of Cartagena is its historic walled-city, which contains seemingly endless streets of well-preserved colourful colonial architecture.  

This UNESCO heritage site is too small for Cartagena's 1 million inhabitants so the city has expanded well-beyond the historical city walls.   

Nonetheless, there is lots of activity within the historic center, such as:

• Dance and street performances in the numerous squares around town, including the "men-in-black" fisherman who were represented in at least 4 areas within the city walls and were an unexpectedly huge tourist hit.

• Sunset drinks on the city wall while overlooking the water. 

• An evening ritual at the Santa Clara Sofitel, once a monastery, where two “monks” wander through the hotel waving incense, lighting candles and saying a prayer in the crypt that is still open to the public,

• Walking tours of the city and of the Church of St. Peter Claver.  The Church documents the life of Jesuit Priest Peter Claver who worked tirelessly in the early 1600s to protect and defend the rights of the newly arrived African slaves. 

• Wonderful drink mixology at both El Baron and the Santa Clara's El Coro Bar Lounge.

You don’t need a long trip to Cartagena but with the beautiful weather and the inviting historic center, it is a lovely place to visit!