So since last blog where have we been?! Well we took 3 fligths up and down Brazil as is the typical way in Brazil as nearly everywhere you want to fly you have to go south trhough Sao Paolo even if youre right up in the north! So three stops later and 3 changes of plane we eventually landed in Bogota where to our utter disappointment it looked remarkably like Ireland in a dreary day when landing! This matter was not improved upon landing realising everyone was in their full winter gear - this kind of weather was not part of the year plan! Anywya our mission was to go stright to local domestic airline desk in depatures and get next flight to Cartagena. Online they quoted us 197 dollars each US - top tip , go directly to the airline (cant buy online with European credit card) and we got flights for 35 euro each! So 2 hours later we are sitting on the plane ready for the just over 1 hour flight to Bogota hoping this distance will clear us of the crappy cold weather! Had to pull the scarf out of the bottom of the bag for the first time in ages!
So belted up and ready to go about to settle into a snooze as wed been on the go for over 24 hours already and next thing theres an announcement in rapid Spanish that I didnt quite catch adn everyone is getting up and getting off the plane. Back to the departure lounge with no explantion except a technical problem and here we sat shivering for at least another 2 hours with only a vending machine and no change. We mustered together a small enough note to buy some cookies and on arrival 35 hours or so later of travelling we got some tasty chips in the airport snackbar - umm healthy and just what you want after eating crap travel food all night and day!
Anyway watches changed again and so we gained 3 hours on arrival into Cartagena, grabbed a taxi and got our first glimpse of the amazing old city walls as we drove to our hostel. Checked in, did some handwashing , creted a laundry look in hte room and got some well earned sleep! Ill put up pics in next couple days. Cartagena is beautiful, full of character and the people are very friendly and the city has a very safe feel to it. Ther e are quite a lot of tourists yet ity still retains its Columbian character. After finding a gem of a breakfast cafe with free wifi the next day we got a taxi to head to the nearest large shopping centre in order to buy a new memory card for hte cameras. Taxi driver misunderstood our destination and dumped us at a random crappy shopping plaza that had no camera shops but after making a few enquiries we found ourselves on a street with one official camera shop which didnt sell XD cards but told us of a market we could get one in. At the word market we knoew it meant danger! We just cant help oursleves - so 2 panama hats later, 2 pairs of fashionable , posery not practical pairs if sunglasses later and a few items of clothing for Christmas Day it was suddenly dark adn wed seen no sights - woops! Turns out shopping in Columbia is pretty awesome with amazing clothes nad shoes for very resonable prices so Adam has been warned to bring a larger than needed suitcase with him to Oz in order to bring home our purchases! In th meantime we now have an extra bag of crap hangin out of us including large salad serving spoons and bowls made of coconut shells - well you have to have some local souvenirs!
That night thanks to the Lonely Planet we found a lovely restaurant and had another excellent non fried meal - these are rare! Following that we took a wander to one of the main plazas and took a seat on the footpath to listen to some of the local musicians and people watch. Soon enough 2 guitar players were seranading thier way over to us as we pretended not to notice, its a little embarrassing sitting on a foot´path while people sing at you, you dont really know where to look! Anyway after they complimented us on our fairness and how beautiful the white hairs on our arms were we introduced ourselves and promtly lost one of them as soon as I gave them the Im engaged line - works like a charm for getting rid of unwanted attention! However Jo on the other hand still had a contender and he then brought uys to a local bar where bears are only a dollar and gave her an impromptu salsa lesson as I sat by with the camera! Nice friendly locals and a good Carribbena vibe to the city , night two and we decided as cities go this was pretty cool.
Next day we did the old city , wandered around got lost down the side streets and admired the bouganvilla hanging over all the beautiful old balconies. it has a touch of Venice about it. Yesterday rainy season kicked in and we were quite disappointed as we had decided to spend the day travelling by boat out to PLaya Blanca - a supposedly beautiful beach off cartagena, on hte island of Bara , the second largest island in Columbi. We decided to risk the weather and go anyway, planning to just get hte boat direct and return that afternoon. However we somehow ended up on a touristy trip on a large boat which by 9am had everyone up Salasa dancing and us giving demonstrations to all the other who were South American in how Europeans dance - it was hilarious , youd never see it in Ireland unless drink was involved. Quite ht eowrkout too as you had to concentrate quite hard on your balance while trying to dance on a wobbly boar deck! After an impromtu stop at a random island to visit an aquarium (or sit on the deck a nd watch the men shelling large prawns as we did) we finally arrived to Playa Blance wher the wwether was dry which was an improvement. After a large lunch of huge fish and rice nad fried bananas we wandered down the very tropical plam tree lined beach with crystal clear waters and sat ourselves down for the hour before we had to return to the boat.
Within 10 minutes Lola and her mate had arrived with thier kids bach buckets full of water nad aloe vera offering massages. We said no but they were insistent so we let them give us hte free demo and then ofcourse they brought out the old line of please we have 4 children each we need money to pay for our babies. After realising that the massage was only going to cost just under 2 euro we gave in and several cracks later we were massaged! Next came the jewellery seleers and we tried to do the old trick of saying no but still having a sneaky look as they go by. Obviously we loked a little too interested and next thing they were sitting down beside us nad the bargaining had started! Just as we were about to strike a deal we hear a horn blowing - it was our boat about to leave nad it was at least a 5 minute walk back down the beach. So in a panic we leapt up and grabbed our stuff to go. The jewellery sleeers afraid of losing out on a sale told us not to worry , it would wait and they sort it out. So we quickly make a deal and 5 dollars later we are the proud ownders of 4 new pairs of earrings! We quickly gater up our stuff again and start running towards the boat whose horn is now blowing incessently. A couple of hundred metres down the beach I realise Ive left my dress hangin up on a stick back where we were sitting so I have to double back trying not to drop the new earrrings which are cradled in my hand or my sarong or bag. Just as we arrive back at the boat sweating nad puffing we see the small linking boat to bring us to our big boat fully loaded with all the other people from our tour and alrteady moving out. Picturing us tyring to swim out to catch it with all our stuff we start shouting at it while running int the sea soaking our bags and sarongs in the process. Theres a ramp still hangin down so we try to climb up on that but suddenly health and safety becomes an issue nad were not allowed so were told to go wade back to the shoreline nad the boat will reverse. So a liitle embarrassed later as the whole boat is looking on we climb onboard and are homeward bound!
Great preparations are going on in Cartagena this week for hte annual festival of the queens , a beauty pageant whihc we are heading back for next week so lots of live music nad parades going on and people in colourful costumes - all very exciting. Inspired by our morning of salsa dancing onboard we decide to book ourselves a lesson so last night spent 2 hours with 3 others attempting to learn the basics of merengue and salsa - it was all quite technical with alot of shoulder and ass shaking and a lot of fancy footwork. But we really enjoyed ourselves and have booked in for another lesson when we return to Cartagena.
Last night the biggest thunder and lightening storm Ive ever experienced hit Cartagena and we were woken up in the middle of hte night by hte sound of driving rain and our room was positively shaking with the bangs of thinder. Our bedroom floor had a huge puddle on it also from where the water had leaked in under the door form the corridor outside! Today we took a 4 hour bus ride north with the craziest bus driver ever nad have safely arrived in a little fishing viallage called Taganga , very near Tayrona National Park. Its a cute little beach with excellent diving in the area so might give that a go. Plan to stay here for 4 nights then head into the National PArk for a night in the hammock before heading back down to Cartagena where we fly out of on the 13th Quito, Equador bound. From there we are acclimatising for 2 days before embarking on a 5 day climb of 3 of Equadors biggest volcanoes , ending with Cotopaxi, the worlds second largest still active volcano - semingly! So will get pics up soon and keep you all posted of events! Ciao for now xoxox
Oh I now see this is not the mototaxi video but one from the buffalo festival!
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