Bye Bye South America - hasta luego

We arrived in South America on January the 8th in Santiago ( day 157). Today, March 31st (day 239), we leave, but we are not going too far, just a short hop to Jamaica via Panama.

It's been 82 days of adventure and amazing contrasts, 82 days of natural wonders, wildlife and plants, and 82 days of great personal and cultural experiences with the South American people. I will write my reflections on the details of that in the coming days.

We end this part of the trip, where the colonial history of the continent began, in Cartagena Colombia. The old city has a long city wall and inside many well-preserved buildings with Spanish colonial architecture and the typical balconies. It reminds Flo and myself a bit of Cuba, but in contrast to there, it's all amazingly well restored and maintained here.

We had dinner on the old town, which does have some downsides, in that outside there is a constant flow of assorted buskers and beggars asking for money, since we only have 80,000 pesos ($16) in cash, and we need to pay for a taxi back and some water, they are all out of luck. Actually later we discover that a taxi for 5km, only costs $3, and the water for all 6 the same, which reminds me that 3Kg of fruit in the afternoon, cost only $1.75 ( Mangoes, Bananas and Pears).

Outside the old town, Cartagena is a growing modern city that sits on a beautiful coastline, and on our 5 hour journey along the coast to there, the entire coastline is really nice.

Bye, bye, hasta luego.Read more