After spending a few days in Santa Marta recharging our batteries at the hostel pool and having drunk Brits drool over the impressiveness of Juan’s bigote, we headed for Cartagena. With its cobblestone streets, flowered balconies, impressively big wooden doors and an eroded fortress wall wrapping around the entire city, it is easy to see why people consider it Colombia’s most beautiful city.
We tried sweets from the portal de los dulces (mentioned in Love in the Time of Cholera), bought Juan some authentic Cuban cigars, and partied with Lucy and Tomas again! I don’t know how we forgot in the short span of a couple of weeks just how many beers Tomas can drink…
We were too lazy to plan any day trips to nearby beaches, but we did motivate for a trip to Volcán de Lodo El Totumo. When we first arrived, the 15m mound looked like a poorly placed man-made attraction. But, after climbing the stairs to the top and lowering ourselves into the natural mud bath, it made more sense. The mud was buoyant and extremely difficult to maneuver in. If NASA ever needs a new zero gravity training site, it wouldn’t be a bad choice. In order to move from one side to the other, it was necessary to create a human chain and pull each other along. The only thing that dampened the experience was the human vultures – people who will want money if they help you down a single stair, or pretend to watch over your flip flops, or throw water on you when you are cleaning off.
GOODNESS ME! Where I come from Juan’s impressive bigote is NOT appropriate dinner conversation!!
ReplyDelete- Matt P
That can't be true as I'm sure Roberts would want to talk at length about it...
ReplyDeleteThat is a pretty kick-ass bigote.
ReplyDelete