"Treasures of Cruising the World" with Bill & Mary Ann: Report #125 Cartagena, Colombia May 4, 2016 Wednesday Partly cloudy & 84 degrees Part #1 of 2 86 Pictures

Sent: Thursday, May 5, 2016 3:34:24 AM
Subject: Report #125 Cartagena, Colombia May 4, 2016 Wednesday Partly cloudy & 84 degrees Part #1 of 2 86 Pictures

Colombia…………that is the country of the day. The total area is 439,620 square miles and the capital is Bogota. The total population is 45,644,023 Spanish speaking people. Colombia was once the "bad boy" of South America, but the civil war is now in the distant past. Foreign travelers are re-discovering its diverse geography, Andean peaks, rainforests, and savannahs. Their greatest asset is their hospitality.

When is the best time to visit? January through March, but not October, when it rains the heaviest. Even today, the temperatures were not extremely high, but the humidity made it seems much hotter.

The best things to see are the cobbled lanes of Cartagena, the romantic colonial city. The coffee-growing region in the volcano regions are nice. Bogota is a vibrant and style-conscience city with a growing art scene. Visit the old-fashioned settlements on the Caribbean coastline. And see the beautiful subterranean salt cathedral in Zipaquira.

What is there to do? Seek adventure with rafting, caving, horseback riding, or mountain biking. Visit Colombia's Amazonian wilderness. Trek through rainforest and mountains to see ruins. In San Augustin, explore archaeological sites in the rolling hills. Take a mud bath inside a crater at Volcan de Lodo El Tatumo.

How about the food? Corn cakes served with cheese, pork, and other spicy toppings are good (arepas). A hearty soup made with meat, yucca, and veggies (sancocho).

How about their drink? World's best coffee, tinto, black espresso size. Pintado, a small coffee with milk, or café con leche, a latte-size more milk than coffee.

Trademarks: Coffee, emeralds, lost cities, Shakira (the singer), football, and unfortunately….cocaine.

Random fact: The first commercial airline was founded in the Americas called Avianca, Colombia's flagship airline.

So our port for today was Cartagena, called the Pearl of the Caribbean. Founded in 1553, it was named after Cartagena, Spain. In the 16^th and 17^th centuries, it was the commercial gateway to South America for exporting gold to Spain, and importing slaves from Africa.

Famous pirates came here to plunder, the most famous being Sir Francis Drake. He reportedly sacked the city in 1586, but accepted a pricey ransom for not burning it to the ground. The fortifications were built much stronger, so much so, that when England attacked in 1741 with 24,000 men and 186 ships, they failed.

The 18^th century was the Silver Age, when Cartagena became the political power for the rich and powerful. It became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1984.

Sites to see: The Old Walled City, the Fort of San Felipe, built in the 17^th century, La Popa Hill with the Covent, Bocagrande Peninsula, Palacio de la Inquisition, Iglesia de San Pedro Claver, built in the 16^th century, The Cathedral, Iglesia de Santo Domingo, the Navy Museum, and Las Bovedas – the Dungeons, now a handicraft center.

Tours offered here today were fairly short, since our visit was from 7am to 1pm. City highlights was $70, Site, seeing was $55, Land and Sea was $90, less shopping tour was $65, while more shopping was $60. Strolling the Old City was $60, or a drive-by of the Old City was $40. A new tour took folks to the National Aviary for $90, a possibility for our next visit, and an emerald jewelry making tour for $80. Wifi was available for a small price in the terminal, although we heard it was not that great.

We enjoyed a nice breakfast in the coolness of the dining room this morning. Since we have been here countless times, and been on all of the tours but one, we chose to stay "close to home". Even though Captain Fred mentioned that there was a 40% chance of rain, it did appear that it might rain later in the afternoon. The morning would remain hot and hotter.

By the way, while we are thinking about it, there are no more little port info cards with the money conversion on them. Now we have the Port Shopping Ambassador flyer with the port info, emergency names and numbers, the shopping info, and currency info (not the conversion rate).

Busses lined up on the dock, and it appeared many people had booked the 2 ½ to 4 hour tours. A complimentary shuttle bus took the folks to the terminal a matter of yards away from the ship, perhaps a quarter of a mile. We did appreciate the ride several years ago when it rained buckets here, and we were caught off guard without umbrellas.

We walked to the terminal shops and little zoo there. Entering under a newly-built overhang, we found the park area full of pink flamingoes, black swans, peacocks, ducks, and some iguanas. The gardens were very green and lush. And we don't remember seeing the waterfall and pond below it, where the birds were cooling off. Really looked nice and inviting. There is an area with tables and chairs for coffee and snacks….all under the shade of mature trees.

Inside the shops, it took just a few minutes to spot some treasures we would purchase. The first was a bag of delicious hard coffee candies we like. Also, they sell a line of jewelry that is locally-made from gourds. The gourd trees grow in hot areas in South America, and produce a fruit that has a hard skin. It is extracted and dried, then processed for multiple uses and designing. Anyway, we spotted a set of a necklace with earrings in shades of yellow and orange. So they got added to the collection. A small leather purse with four zippers was also a good buy.

Going outside the back doors, we were surprised to see how much the area had been re-modeled and cleaned up. Entering around the side, we walked through the air-conditioned Emerald Cave, where a display of emeralds were behind glass, magnified for us to see how they are cut and polished. There were no other people walking through here, because it is out of the way.

Out back, we took many photos of the various birds which included beautiful macaws and Amazon parrots. Peacocks strutted around loose, but the little toucans were locked up in an aviary. Last time we were here, there was a toucan who liked to follow you and untie your shoelaces, when you were not looking.

Overhead, we spotted many sizes of red howler monkeys. They were the best show in town as they slid down a pole to snatch over-ripe bananas from the bird food tray. Once they grabbed their treasure, they flew up the pole to the safety of the mature ficus trees. Every now and then, a large male let out his signature yell, reminding of why they are called "howler" monkeys.

On the far end of this zoo, was a quarantined area where we saw some hawks and a large bird that might be a type of condor. There were no signs identifying the caged birds, so we could not find what type of raptor he was. If you wandered outside of this wooded area, you would be in contact with the taxi guys. Needless to say, we did not go outside the park. If we had more time in this port, we may have ventured somewhere.

All aboard time was 12:30pm, so we walked back to the ship and the absolutely wonderful air-conditioning. The good thing was that we walked right onboard. Later on, all of the tour busses came back and the line of folks never seemed to move. Bet they were not happy because they were in the direct hot sun at this point.

Sail away was at the back deck, but there were no flags, no live music, no food, but some drinks of the day were being offered. The name of the drink today? The Emerald for $6.50. Appropriate. Of course, it was lunchtime in the Lido, so food would not be served outside. We ran into Brooke, Captain Fred's lovely lady, who we have known for a long time as she has been with the shore ex team for many years. She will be onboard for most of the Alaska runs, then will come back for the Tales of the South Pacific in the fall.

Very close to the city, massive thunder clouds gathered. It sure looked like rain was coming, especially when we saw the lightning strikes and roaring thunder. Probably dangerous, it sure was exciting as we seldom get this type of weather at home in California. Although we could see the sheets of rain in the distance, it never did reach us. The ship left the harbor by 1:15pm, and sailed slowly around the buoys and islands on the way out to the ocean.

We headed west towards the Panama Canal, which we will reach sometime early tomorrow morning. We received a letter describing the intensity of the sun and humidity and precautions we should take to avoid heat stroke and exhaustion. All good info if the folks take the time to read the letter. Another letter we got yesterday outlined the Zika virus health advisory which has been in the news for quite a while now. This notice was signed by Grant Tarling, MD, MPH, who is the chief medical officer onboard now.

There were a few things going on this afternoon like a talk about Mayan chocolate and coffee in the Queens Lounge. That was followed by a virtual tour of the Panama Canal with location guide Wallis. Hope it is on TV later.

We always forget about the tea time at 3pm, which for today was a Royal Dutch Tea Time. But since we did not go to the dining room for lunch, we needed to find something to eat around 2pm. That would be a stop at the Dive In Grill. One of us stayed and ordered two burgers (no sauce), and the wait was only 15 minutes. Not bad, but so, so hot while sitting at the table nearest to the taco bar. I asked the waiter how far these beepers worked distance-wise. He said anywhere in the Lido pool area. Asked if it would work in our stateroom, he said no, but would be happy to phone me when the order was ready. Thought that was nice, but I said no thanks. As always, the burgers were worth the wait, and enjoyed even more while sitting in our own cool room.

There seems to be a blip in the internet on the ship in regards to getting our complimentary minutes put on our account. Staying onboard for this following cruise has not seen the transition for our internet minutes, although they did carry over from the world cruise. We cannot seem to add the new package. Not all of the front desk staffers understand our predicament, and Christel has gone home. The only one left that we trusts knows how to help is Jennifer. As of this afternoon, she is working on it. Our friends that have back-to-back cruises like us, have run into the same glitch.

Dinner consisted of soups, salads, and a shared entrée. Back bean soup and French onion soup were great as always. They could have been hotter, so tomorrow we will have to request "hot" soup. We suspect the soup starts out hot, but the larger bowl drain the heat immediately.

The entrees of cobb salads topped with sliced chicken breasts were really a good choice tonight. Definitely not as heavy as last night's ribeye steaks. While we are on the subject of our dinner last night, we forgot to mention that we saw a couple come into the Pinnacle Grill in jeans. The fellow even had on a baseball cap. Guess it is OK to dress this way, as nothing was said to this couple. Come to think of it, we don't know if a dress code is suggested for the Pinnace Grill Restaurant. We have always assumed it was no shorts or t-shirts at mealtime (even lunch). Heard some passengers dressed that way recently. Again, nothing was said as far as we know. Not sure how the rest of the "old-timers" feel about these changes?

Showtime was a repeat for us……harmonica virtuoso Bernie Fields entertained everyone with his skills. We have to admit that he plays a mean harmonica. Nice to see the showroom filled with more guests this cruise.

Tomorrow……..transiting the Panama Canal………again.

Bill & Mary Ann

The buses wait for passengers on the Cartagena dock