Since we arrived at 8am, and would be leaving right after 1:30pm, our stay was very short. There is a lot to see, especially the cobbled streets of Old Town Cartagena, Colombia's most romantic colonial city. And perhaps there might be time to try local corn cakes with cheese, pork, and toppings. And it is definitely the place to drink some good Colombian coffee. Actually one of the main exports of this country is coffee, along with emeralds, gold, cut flowers, bananas, rice, and sugarcane. Natural gas, oil, and coal are also exported. Prices for fuel must be good here, since the Amsterdam bunkered fuel here today.
Trademarks are once again, coffee, emeralds (best purchased in high end shops for authenticity), lost cities, Shakira (entertainer), football, and cocaine (it's written in the Lonely Planet book, what can we say?).
Taxis were available for $12 to $15 per taxi to the downtown area. The businesses in town accepted the peso, US dollars, and also Euros, we were told. Credit cards are always welcomed.
Shore excursions offered 12 tours that ran from 2 ½ to 4 hours and cost $40 to $90. They included a basic transfer for shopping with a little touring, or less walking or less shopping, museum, cathedral, and monastery sites, as well as jewelry-making and a tour of the Old Town on foot. By the way, there was no shuttle bus today to take the guests from the ship to the small terminal complex. But then, this is not the world cruise anymore.
It sure was kind of Sir Francis Drake in 1586, to agree not to burn the entire city down when he invaded with his pirates. It did cost Cartagena 10 million pesos as a bribe to Drake. It was no wonder that a 50 foot thick wall and fortress was built to protect this city from further invasions. In 1741, this helped the locals from being sacked again by the British, as they were able to defend themselves, sending the English packing.
It sure would be fun to visit here on November 11th, their independence day from Spain. Everyone dresses in costumes and masks like Mardi Gras, then parades down all of the streets in Old Town. No longer a defensive city, Cartagena is open for a most lucrative tourist business these days.
After a nice breakfast with friends Don and Alene, we relaxed until 10:30am before we ventured off of the ship. Just as we suspected, it was boiling outside and steamy as well, with only a slight breeze blowing. Good thing we did not plan on going too far, as we have seen everything in this city numerous times. So we walked to the small terminal shop that is really a store with a coffee and juice café outside the main door. There used to be a duty-free shop here also, but it was closed today, actually empty of all of the perfumes and liquors they used to sell.
There is a mini-like zoo set in a jungle of trees in the back of the store. Today we saw more birds and animals than we have ever seen here before. And it has been cleaned up and upgraded for the birds they house here. If you stood still long enough, the birds and animals would come to you.
The first unusual bird we spotted was a brown and yellow-breasted great kiskadee, who was building a nest on a small barge pier side. Brown pelicans flew overhead, but up quite high, while a few were floating in the bay. Outside the terminal, there were American flamingoes, very salmon-pink in color. We figured they feed them "flamingo chow" that has that coloring in the feed. It tends to keep them that pretty shade of coral, as the dye travels to their feathers. They were joined by some peacocks and black swans, where they shared a pond and a waterfall. We used to see iguanas here, but we saw none today. They may have been removed.
Passing through the air-conditioned store, we went out the back door to the landscaped gardens. Here we saw two newly-built jungle gyms for the most beautiful macaws. There were three types here….scarlet, blue and yellow, and red, blue, and green military macaws. These birds eat fruit, nuts, and seeds, and the females lay 1 to 4 eggs that take 28 days to hatch. The fledglings are 14 weeks old before they can fly to join the adult flock. The smaller Amazon parrots were scattered through the gardens also.
Right in this area is a grove of huge trees, ficus to be exact. Up very high on a horizontal branch, we could see a family of howler monkeys resting in the heat. Doubt they move too far until later in the evening. Much cuter, we saw a ½ dozen little furry monkeys that might fit in the palm of a hand. A large hand perhaps. They wiggled down some vines to check us all out.
Around the surrounding walkways, we could see some more squirrel monkeys rooting for some peanuts discarded by the macaws. These little guys were really cute as they came close to everyone, probably looking for treats. Their best bet was to raid the macaw feeders which contained mostly sunflower seeds, nuts, and sliced fruits. Later on, we gave one little monkey a coffee candy. Delighted, he scurried off to savor the sweet treat, taking it in and out of his tiny mouth, looking at it. He would share it with no one.
The macaws were something else. They can chew wood like it was paper, peeling chunks off of railings and peeler cores. Quite playful, we talked to them, hoping they would respond. Of course, we said hello in English. Two birds started bobbing up and down, and muttered "hola" over and over…..no kidding. They did talk, but in Spanish, of course. Got some really great photos of them, and also a pair that were nesting in a specially-made box. Perhaps they would use that nesting box to lay their eggs.
We set off to explore the rest of the garden, and found the cage area. Normally this was reserved for injured and recovering birds. Now there was a caged area where we could enter with some games birds. We walked with some ringneck and silver pheasants, crested caracaras, and two types of toucans. There were ones with mostly green bills called keel-billed toucans, and the other ones were channel-billed with black bills. What we thought to be a type of vulture, was really a pair of South American king vultures. There were a few pairs of exotic great curassows, with curly-crested feathers on their heads. These tropical rainforest birds can reach three feet from the tip of their beaks to their tails.
We had spent over an hour here filming the animal life, which was fun. Except for the oppressing heat, which finally sent us back inside the store for two things…….to cool off and to do some shopping.
The locals sell some native jewelry here by the name of Mapache. Some of it is made from real gourds, but we spotted some pendant and earring sets with pastel designs on them. Something looked familiar about them, so one set was purchased. One of us realized that the design was actually a copy of a famous Monet painting in pastel pinks, blues and greens. Also, we picked up a bag of the best hard coffee candies we like.
All aboard was 1:30pm, and the ship left within 10 minutes of that time. There was no "sail away" event on the aft deck, just Amsterdam departs Cartagena. It was so hot, we thought our shoes would melt into the fake teak decking on the Seaview deck 8. So needless to say, we did not last too long. Just long enough to visit with friends until they "melted" as well.
At 2pm, Barbara H gave her presentation on the Panama Canal, the second one that we have heard on this long trip. Always fun doing this transit. But the best part is the Panama rolls of course. Today we all received a letter warning of heat exhaustion and dehydration during the transit tomorrow. One suggestion always surprises us, and that is to avoid using seasick meds, especially the scope patch, as it tends to interfere with sweating, and can cause over-heating. Good to remember.
The rest of our afternoon was keeping cool in our room while enjoying Cobb salads from room service. Perfect. Although the sunrise and sunset is no longer listed in the daily newsletter, we can find it on channel 44. Going out on the promenade deck, we visited with Canadian buddies we remembered from previous cruises. The sun was promising a good sunset, but it dipped below the gray clouds, and that was that.
Dinner was nice, although we only had two courses. Entrees of sliced short rib meat with mashed potatoes was just fine. Ice cream finished the meal. Our waiters were so good with their service, we were done before 9:30pm. Once again, perfect. And thanks to friends Leslie and Handler, all of us that have stayed onboard since the world cruise, have been given extra internet minutes to fill out our questionnaires for the world voyage. They thought to ask for all of us, and we certainly appreciate it.
Looking forward to the Panama Canal and those tasty rolls……
Bill & Mary Ann
New flower arrangement (vase is hidden)
Very nice, but not created by Eddy and Calista
Mums, daisies and orchids
The pier in Cartagena
Crane in the working port
The Boca Grande district of Cartagena
Ships docked
Bunkering fuel to the Amsterdam
Tugs boat in the harbor
Amsterdam tied up
Starboard side
Taking on fuel
Bouganvilla in pots – doing well
All the potted plants look great
New tugs
Welcome to Cartagena sign (also new)
Snowy egret
A great kiskadee – building a nest
A grackle
Looking for food
Must have good eyes
Great kiskadee
New trellising into the terminal
Sunning pelican
American flamingo according to the sign
Must feed them "flamingo chow"
Outdoor café for Colombian coffees
The terminal building is really a nice shop
Resting flamingoes
Their faces look painted
A pair of salmon-pink birds
They get their color in the food they eat
The color migrates into their feathers
Black swans
A pair of black swans
Peacock shares the pond with the flamingoes
Lucky they have a pond
They even enjoy a waterfall
Tiny furry monkey (name unknown)
We saw at least six of these monkeys
Checking us out
Very agile
Could fit in the palm of your hand
Ready to jump
Great climbers
A unique species
A scarlet macaw
All the macaw were banded
An adult howler monkey
This pair were up very high in the tree
Male peacock
Two wooden structures for the parrots
A blue and yellow macaw chewing wood
Howler monkey is not so cute, is he?
Is he really waving at us???
Glad he is very high up
Best not to stand under this group
Blue and yellow macaw
Perfect colors
Extremely powerful beaks
Probably a mated pair
Agile feet
Four types of macaws
Three types of Amazon parrots
Groom each other
Looking for bugs
Playful
Bobbing up and down
Saying ola to us
Pretty bird
A scarlet macaw
A nesting pair
Both fit inside the box
A type of grackle or black bird
Numerous bird here
A type of bird of prey
Amazon parrot
Very tame
The jungle walk
Not afraid of us
The little beggar
Many ficus trees
South American king vulture
Almost looked stuffed….not real
A top predator from Mexico to Argentina
A caracara hen
Native to South America
