Cartagena, Columbia

Wow, we have never seen this many shipping containers in one spot. They are like the blood cells of our bodies that supply equipment, goods, food and provisions to the world container by container. We are all connected and the globe is smaller than we might imagine. Welcome to Cartagena, Columbia, population 2 million where public education is from preschool - 5 years old through high school, and it is free! Retirement is 57 y/o for women and 62 y/o for men, they have designated bus lanes for public transportation. US $$ are used and can be changed in most shops. Colombia has the best flowers, cocoa, gold mines, coffee and it has newly found stores of oil and gas reserves. Weather is hot and hotter… this is the dry season November - May. The Old Fortress was built in 20 years and finished by the Spanish in 1657 to defend the Port as this Port carried the riches back to Spain. We lost two passengers in the shopping center… you don’t want to be that couple… a 12 ‘ high wall was built around the old city for 11 miles. One of the neighborhoods we toured was called San Diego and the tile roofs are called Islamico. They call the wooden balconies colonial (16-18th centuries) and the concrete balconies are called republican (19th century). We are touring with several white OAT buses today in the old city. The new city was an island they filled it in and now it is a peninsula. Regular Gasoline is $4.00/ gallon regular, $5.00 premium. Healthcare is supplemented by the government for all. Slavery was practiced with indigenous and African people brought to Colombia. We went to an aviary and a monkey liked me. We left the port and joined the building of the Panama Canal lecture at 2:30.Read more