Day 11 - Cartegena Is For Rich Old White People

First I want to mention that I told my travel mate that I was going title this entry this way. So I had to live up to my word.

So the yesterday (Saturday) we waited for a female friend that we meet in Santa Marta, who wad going to join us on our trip to Cartagena.

We decided to leave earlier than we had originally planned. In trying to call my new friend, there must have been a communication issue with my broken Spanish over the phone. We waited about 2 hours for her and then we decided to head out with out.
We went 2 1/2 via bus to Barranquilla, famous for giving birth to Edgar Renteria and even the even more famous Shakira. The place did not seem as well glorified as described in Shakira songs.
After waiting 45 minutes for our late bus we made our way to Cartagena. We were there, and made our way to our place to stay.
Now we know that the place was supposed to be out of the way of Cartagena but little did we know how far out. Our poor taxi driver had a tough time trying to find the place. Getting was kind of scary as it is not a place you would want to be at late night… And yet we were there late night. We slept the night and found out we were in a fishing town known as Boquilla, which, when sun was out, an amazing beach area. If we did not already book a place in central Cartagena I would have stayed. the beach here was long and there was a lot to do. Not to mention a lot of touts.
This morning we made our way to our hotel. Afterwards ate something and made some friends of the bartender at a neat by Mexican restaurant.
We made our way to the historical center of Cartagena. I would have thought I was going to see some nice looking Colombian women that I say in Bogotá, but instead, we saw a lot of old rich white tourists. At this point I realized that this city is as far as where most tourists would go to see of Colombia.
After lots of photos we headed back to Bocagrande, where our hotel is, and decided to go grab something to eat. The key was to avoid where all the MANY tourists were and follow the locals. In doing so we found a place frying stuff. We had a potato and egg like sandwich deep fried. It was so bad for us, but so damn good. We had worked so hard to eat it and was tired afterwards.
We decided to take a walk and wanted to sit and relax. We went to a drinking hole with a bunch of locals where some greeted us warmly. We got to know some of the locals. Afterwards we called it a night.
The past few days have been interesting. We don’t want to be with a bunch of tourists, so tomorrow we will make our way outside of Cartagena to see what else is out there.

Erick Redcloud

A partially blind Graphic Designer, Freelance Travel Photographer, Artist, Buddhist and Vegetarian who loves to travel. Erick loves traveling by being with the locals and going off the beaten path. He is the founder and owner of Pathlesstravels and loves inspiring others to follow their dreams, whether it is to travel or something completely different. He started Pathlesstravels to hone is photography skills and to meet amazing people, and to help a friend break into journalism. Check out his photography at his link.