Here in Cartagena
Filed under: Tales
of Go — The Crew @ 10:07 pm
Current Position: 10° 24.648'N 75° 32.654W
Anchored off Club Nautico, Cartagena, Colombia
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 defenses (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 Vernon 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 passion fruit family? Granadilla our favourite of
the passion fruits. 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
Hola Margaret and Moe,
Great overview of my adopted city-Cartagena,
Colombia.
We're glad you had the fortune to drop
anchor, and especially pleased regarding your posting, and
the wonderful photos.
Along with your permission I would like
to include this on our popular Portal: www.cartagenainfo.net.
Thanks again.
Be safe, and Leave A Clean Wake.
James Bone
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