Panama Canal and elsewhere

Morning excursion into the old part of the city….

Spent about an hour getting from the Theater excursion check-in to the bus located on the pier. Organized but not well planned. I was in a line to the theater that went 2/3 the way down the ship. A lot of disgruntled line standers. But eventually we made our way on the “Best of Cartagena - Highlights” tour I signed up for. Good thing I did a guided tour as the pier was no where near the things to see, though I could have done a Hop-on-Hop-off bus and just chanced it. I think I picked well; got a lot of steps in but also had some windshield touring which was nice in the heat and humidity.

Saw the basilica of Saint Peter Claver, who is known as the slave of the slaves, or something like that. He spent his ministry serving and supporting the African slaves that were brought to South America by the Spanish just as they were by the English and Americans in North America. Interestingly, his remains are ensconced in a glass-faced case below the altar. So we were able to walk up there and look at his skull poking out from his vestments. I dropped $1 in the tray the nuns were proffering to us on the way out to assuage my heretic (this place was very Catholic) guilt.

We went by the Fortress but the tour didn’t include the hour+ time to go inside. Sorry I missed that experience - it looked pretty cool

Old City was interesting, but had a constant faint smell of rotting rubbish and at times a very strong smell of pee, which I think I narrowed down to coming from the street gutters, which despite it being very hot and dry seemed quite often to have a small stream of stagnant water in them. And then there were the street vendors selling hats, magnets, woven bags, hats, cold water/beer, dresses, hats, various forms of artwork, cigars, hats, coffee, and one local lady even walked by and tried to sell me what appeared to be a lollipop she pulled from a bag of lollipops like you’d buy at Safeway (I passed). They were pushy but not threatening and avoiding eye contact and a firm no thank you became my mode for the morning, which I wasn’t too troubled by. They’re just trying to make some money and the cruisers are the major target. That said, our guide indicated that since the government and guerrillas that had been at war for years signed the 2016 peace accord Colombia - especially Cartagena - has become quite safe and the country overall is doing really well economically. Price of gas here btw - -$2.50/gal (quite expensive for the working class locals) , but they are suffering the global inflation in various products as is much of the rest of the world.

All in all - was a great stop and I’m thrilled to have had the opportunity to spend a few hours in Cartagena.Read more