Cartagena

Cartagena is on the North Coast of Colombia, the weather is tropical. The old town was built by the Spanish, some houses are 400 years old. The narrow streets save you from the blistering hot sun.The fort that overlooks the town is thought to be the best of its kind in South America. It has steep walls so though it has been attacked it has never fallen. The sculpture that I am standing by is Monumento a Los Zapatos Viejos. It is drawn from the last line of a poem '... and he left his boots behind'. You can see the fort in the background.

Cartagena was one of the slave ports where slaves were bought and sold in the market place.

My hotel El Pedregal is in the old town so very well situated for exploring. Walking around you can quickly see that the culture is clearly different from Washington. There were many homeless asking for money in Washington but here I have only seen one. Many people sell things on the street to make money (pens, jewelry, drinks, hats) either from small stalls or often from carts that they push around. Lots of them have fruit; mangos, pineapples or oranges that they squeeze for the juice. They also sell snacks, cheese balls and pancakes that are deep fried with either chicken or egg inside. I found a local restaurant and I have eaten there twice, good cheap food.

The weather has been very hot much hotter than Washington my shirt has been sticking to me while I walk around. I have had to wash it when I get back to the hotel but it dries quickly in the heat. There are lots of sculptures both of famous people and art sculptures. There are also lots of murals on the walls, not graffiti but art.

This definitely isn't Otto,

.... but this might be!
















To finish this post these are things you might not see at home...