Our last full day dawned and we decided to visit an area outside the Old Town of Cartagena, called Getsemani.
It contained the same colourful houses that adorned the old town but also had its “umbrella street”Â
It was a very hot day, 32 degrees centigrade with 86% humidity, so after a hour or so walking around Getsemani, we decided to go back to the Old Town and retreat to the air conditioned atmosphere of the Fokelore Colombian Cafe that we had visited the previous day. The lady behind the counter, Maye, remembered us and, apart from discussing our travels in Colombia, wanted to practice her English which was very good.
After refreshment we moved on to the Cartegena Gold Museum (Museo del Oro), a smaller version of the one in Bogota, that was further reduced due to refurbishment but is still worth a visit. It contained items from Colombia’s indigenous peoples prior to Europeans arriving and the map shows that the gold items were found in many different parts of Colombia. Most of the artifacts in the Cartegena museum are from the Zenú people who inhabited the costal inland plains to the south of Cartegena and it was their elaborate work that attracted the Spanish conquistadores. The Spanish, including Cartegena’s founder Pedro de Heredia, led countless expedetions into Zenu territory to steal the gold by rading the villages and robbing the graves.
Cartegena is so different to the rest of Colombia, not just being at sea level and therefore having generally better weather, but it feels more like being in the Caribbean. The people generally have darker skin and our guide said that this was the natural influence of the West African slaves that were brought to the area many hundreds of years ago.
The old town of Cartegena has many good restaurants to suit all budgets and it was nice to be able to sit outside in the evening at one of the many small squares and enjoy the buzz of the town with a nice 28 degrees centigrade.
That said, if you only visited Cartegena, as the cruise ship people do, you would get an unrealistic view of Colombia as the other parts are very different. The tourist industry has no doubt suffered from the many years of internal conflict. Consequently, the people in the hotels and restaurants often do not speak English, as in other countries we have visited. This presented a good opportunity to test my Spanish which surprisingly came back quickly when I started using it again. That said do not be put off going to Colombia as the people are very friendly, the sights are worth seeing and the food is good.
We then went back to the hotel and got ready for the long trip home which started with a flight back to Bogota and then to London Heathrow.
Adiós Cartegena and Colombia.
Copyright: Words and photos John Cruse 2019
Fascinating. Where next on the bucket list?