Here in Cartagena

Current Position:   10° 24.648′N   75° 32.654W

Anchored off Club Nautico, Cartagena, Colombia

Saturday 14th March, 2010

We have been here in Cartagena a fortnight now.   As I noted earlier and in some emails, it is a much larger place than I had envisioned, also more modern (we have seen only a handful of cars that look > 5years old), wealthier (lots of pet care shops and cosmetic dentistry establishments), and cleaner (bags of trash awaiting collection) than our previous port of call.    However, having been in Luperon so long and it being so much smaller, we did get to know more of the local people (who remained friendly to the last, well, with the exception of the Comandante)  than I suspect will be the case here.

The harbour is a very busy place (for Sydney readers, it’s a larger combination of Port Jackson and Botany Bay minus the runway).   In addition to the small cruising boats like ours there is a container terminal which has a fairly rapid turn around (one morning 3 ships left and two arrived) and seems to operate on a 24 hour schedule; there is a cruise ship terminal; there is a terminal for visiting foreign navies (last week the French ship Jeanne d’Arc, a helicopter carrier, was in town, on her farewell tour, presently a Spanish frigate is at the dock) and also plenty of room for foreign naval vessels that wish to be at anchor (such as the US Naval Ship Henson which left this morning…we thought about going over in the dinghy to say ‘Hi,’ but decided that was perhaps not such a bright idea); a Colombian naval base (we can see 6 frigate sized ships from our cockpit plus innumerable naval boats of smaller size and function); commuter ferries also of various shape, size, and speed; various other working boats; several historic tourist boats (think the Bounty on Sydney Harbour);  small fishing boats (dinghies and canoes); sail boat races on the weekend; and  sport fishing boats all overseen by the constantly patrolling Colombian navy, coast guard and water police.    In short, constant activity, day and night.    There are occasional helicopter fly overs as well.

Small boats and big ships - there's plenty of room for everyone

The north end of a south bound tourist galleon

Cartagena de Indios is an old town, the Spanish having arrived here early to mid C16th (part of the Spanish Main) and is named after Cartagena in Spain, itself an even older town, at least as far back as Roman times and Hannibal fame (no, not Hannibal Lecter, Hannibal and the elephants and crossing the Alps to attack Rome from the North) (Oh, we’re off to see the wild west show/ The elephant and the kangaroo… now it all makes sense)   Anyone wanting a brief refresher on ancient Carthage, Rome, Hannibal, and the Punic wars, go here

Our anchorage is just off the site of Club Nautico Marina.   The marina is presently a building site, with work halted whilst various legal claims are in dispute (in fact the work already done is in the process of being dismantled!).   Bummer for the dockmaster John.

We are getting ourselves sorted out  (laundry done, boat cleaned up, ongoing mold patrol, repairs and maintenance… the usual stuff) from the trip here and preparing for the next stage.   The marina abuts a residential neighbourhood, mostly high rise apartments and some old converted C19th villas…several old villas have become small private pre-schools, schools and academies (such as the Montessori School), the police occupy another one, another has the Internet Cafe where we currently sit…On the outside, the Villa Susanna looks slightly dilapidated and at least in need of a coat of paint.   On the inside it looks like an annex from the supermarket, a kind of odd arcade with old tiled floors and funny  little shops in alcoves.   In fact, the supermarket is the annex to Villa Susanna, which has been hollowed out, the floor tiles and basic supporting columns preserved with various shops now taking up the space.   For Sydney readers, it’s like a more modest version of the QVB with a cheaper reno. budget.    The trees, where they exist in this neighbourhood tend to be old and large, and provide a bit of shade from the intense heat.

C19th Villa, Manga district, Cartagena (ignoring the blue fence, note the Islamic design influences in the exterior decorative work)

Villa Susanna, side view (we are sitting inside at the internet cafe)

In the course of trying to track down replacement parts, we have made a couple of trips into the Old Town.    We visited the Palacio de la Inquisición, to satisfy our perverse curiosity.    The building once held the infamous Inquisition, back in the day, however each item of torture on display had on the display card, ~ ‘This piece was never used in this city.’   So, garrotte anyone?   No, not done here   How about the thumb screw?   Oh, no, never    The rack perhaps?   Not on your nellie buster!   Well then, what about the tooth smasher?   Good Lord, no!    The noose?   How twisted are you?    The guillotine?   Now you’re just being silly!    The executioner’s axe?   No, no, and again, no!  The boob squeezer/remover?    Upon my honour, never in a million years! After a while, it just reminded us of  the  Monty Python sketch that takes place in a cheese shop.    You can view that sketch here if you’d like:   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3KBuQHHKx0 Upstairs from the instruments of torture, was the museum of the city: we concluded that the downstairs part was to ensure that people would come and visit the city’s museum as it was included in the ticket price.    No photos of instruments of torture, replicas or otherwise.

We have also visited the Naval Museum.    It had  two floors of exhibits, and two floors of empty space, so I guess that Cartagena envisions a glorious future.    It had an impressive display of the history of the Cartagenan defences (forts, batteries, harbour entrances sealed up), Spanish expansion, attacks by other European powers, and other bits of naval lore.     Cartagena was coveted by both the British and the French for the protection that the harbour afforded  naval vessels, and the treasure held within the city walls.   It was attacked by both countries at various times in the past with varying degrees of success: Sir Francis Drake relieved the place of its gold in C16th, whilst Admiral Vcrnon did not fare quite so well in C18th.   Cartagena has seen some good times (well, for some of its residents; it was also the major place the Spanish brought slaves from Africa, not to mention the fate of the original inhabitants), some bad times (the cholera epidemic in C19th), and appears to be enjoying good times again now.    Here are a few photos from the museum.

Courtyard, Naval Museum, Cartagena

Naval museum, interior, Cartagena

Lots of Knots

Very large blocks, with sunglasses for scale

We were able to track down some replacement computer and electrical parts near the Old Town, as well as the Post Office.    The latter a small pokey single shop front that, frankly, did not inspire confidence that the letter posted would actually leave the city much less cross an ocean, and all for the low, low price of US$10….Blimey! is all I can say.    However, I can now see why there were no post cards for sale at any of the museums….didn’t seem like much point really.

Streetscape, 1

The Old Town is in a good state of preservation although the shops consisted mostly of exclusive women and men’s clothing boutiques, cafés, and hotels.    The original wall is mostly intact (we walked along a part of it).

Part of the original wall that surrounds the Old Town with remnant cannon defences

Streetscape 2, Old Town, Cartagena

The newer Centro area, adjacent to the Old Town has skyscrapers and one continuous open air market of fruit and vegetable stalls; lottery ticket sellers; men and youths with iced juice and cut fruit carts, or refrigerated bins selling bottled water; innumerable watch sellers, sunglasses, and  T shirt sellers; fried food; meat and fish both cooked and fresh(ish) (the latter a little suspect looking); electrical parts (outlets, blenders, fixtures: because that’s just what you need when you’re walking down the street); mobile phone vendors, people selling minutes for mobile phones, and those selling the use of a mobile phone (these attached with string to a cart); 2nd hand books; Colombian souvenirs (hats, woven bracelets and anklets, beads, shells) .   In short, something for everyone so that the otherwise wide foot paths were quite crowded with the press of humanity.

We stopped in at the Museo de Oro (the Gold Museum), the pick of the museums we have seen here.    We learned a little about the history and culture of the pre-Conquest inhabitants, the Zenú – their methods of flood control and subsequent agriculture, the importance of weaving (ongoing) and pottery (some of the earliest in the Americas), and of course their metalworking skills.     Here’s a few of our favourite pieces from the museum, for more photos from the Museo de Oro, check out our picasa page,  here.

Museo de Oro, Cartagena

Funerary Urn

Faces from the mists of time

Filigree earrings

Koo lKat

Pottery basket with weaving pattern design

We walked to the Castillo San Felipe de Barajas, a huge, very imposing fort on a hill overlooking the city, it was built over the course of a century.  The intense light outside the fort was contrasted by the dim narrow tunnels within.

Part of the exterior of the Castillo San Felipe de Barajas

The view over Cartagena from the top of the fort

Detail of fort construction

A small part of the tunnel system within the fort

This weekend there is an election – of no consequence to us we thought, until we learned that alcohol sales were banned after 6pm on Friday night until 6pm Monday…we were informed in time to make the appropriate arrangements.    We have sampled all the malted beverages: lagers and pilsners….good on a hot day (ie everyday).    We have also done our best to work our way through the new fruits on sale – who knew there were so many members of the passionfruit family?    Granadilla our favourite of the passionfruits.    Also so many members of the night shade family, our favourite the uchuvia (aka Cape Gooseberry, though it is neither gooseberry nor native to the Cape (of Good Hope)); with the tomatillo a close second.    We have a few more exotic fruits to try in the next couple days…most fortunate to have access to Wikipedia in the same building as the supermarket so that we can learn something about the foods on offer prior to purchase.

Once our inverter is back from the repair shop we anticipate to be on our way again.

That’s about it from here for now

Margaret and Moe