Cartagena (Bienvenidos a Colombia!)

After just over a month in Costa Rica, and a month in Panama, we arrived safely via sailboat (Gitana III) in Cartagena, Colombia.  We pulled into the enormous harbor at about 4am, and had to wait til about 8 to disembark.  That whole previous night, the sailing was fairly smooth, but there was a massive electrical storm across the sky over the Caribbean.  Pretty incredible sight to see...

About 8am, we jumped aboard the dinghy, and Guillem motored us into the dock, and we stepped foot for the first time on Colombian soil.  We were tired and pretty hungry, and the first mission was finding an ATM machine so that we could all figure out the exchange rate in Colombian Pesos...


We stayed the first 2 nights, along with the majority of the Gitana crew at Media Luna Hostel, which is on Calle Media Luna, in Cartagena.  Place was cool looking, but overpriced.  They advertised a pool, and it was a 'cesspool' that was about 2 feet deep.  Other than that, we all enjoyed a big dorm room together, that we had to ourselves, along with Johann, the German guy who showed up late that night.  Cami and Gonzalo, the Argentinians from the cruise, found a private room across the street.  We took their advice after the second night, and found Hotel Marlin, literally right across the street, that was half the price, for a private room with a private bath.  Ended up staying in Cartagena for about 10 days.  One of the nights there, James invited the two of us out for dinner, which was incredible.  Good wine, and seafood, right on the beach.

Cartagena is a gorgeous city.  It is full of color, and culture.  The street food is amazing!  There are many small restaurants that have great breakfasts, for cheap, and amazing smoothies.  Our favorite one was called "Locombia," on Calle Media Luna, where they serve a delicious breakfast, and make any kind of juice smoothie you want.  Also, the best coffee, ever.  There is a giant several-story mall full of computer and electronic products as well, where you can most likely find anything you need along the way.  (My girlfriend found an adapter for her Ipad, to upload photos from her SD card from the camera), which was impossible to find anywhere else, even in Panama City.

Best espresso I've ever had, at Locombia, Cartagena

Cartagena is full of night life, almost every night of the week.  There's always live music somewhere nearby.  Don't forget to walk around the wall of the city, there's some great lookout spots, and the old city (behind the big yellow clock) is also nice to check out.

One word of advice (warning really), is, in certain parts of the city, you will be bombarded with street vendors trying to sell you everything you DON'T WANT!  Sometimes you really need to just turn your back and walk away (or run)...It can be pretty annoying, and of all the places we've been so far, Cartagena was the worst for this!

Some tips on Spanish language differences in Colombia:

Instead of saying "de nada," or "con gusto," for "your welcome," which is very common throughout Central America, and Mexico, Colombians say "a la orden," which is kind of interesting, meaning literally, "to the order," and I had a hard time figuring it out at first...

Also, certain fruits and veggies change names from Central to South America, such as "Naranjilla," which is "Lulo" in Colombia, and other parts of South America.

Hot peppers, which I'm used to as "Chili Picante," are "Ají" in South America.

Stop signs, which usually say "alto" in Central America, now say "pare" in South...

The typical colorful Cartagena buildings...

Part of the Gitana crew...Daniel, Sarah, Me, Danica and James, at 'Demente'

The 'Demente' Staff

Hanging with Gonzalo and Cami in the square

Sailing trip aboard 'Gitana III' - Panama to Colombia!

We booked a sailing trip to Cartagena, through a guy named Guillem, who was staying at Luna's Castle in Panama City.  We sorta lucked out, because he approached us upon entry into the hostel, while we were looking at their bulletin board that had info on the boat trips to Colombia.  Super nice guy.  He showed us photos of the boat, told us all about it, and we spent 5 days hanging out with him at Luna's Castle, as we waited for the trip to start.

The boat was called "Gitana III," a 70' long Ketch rigged sailboat from France.  It was a beautiful boat, with a huge wooden deck up front, where we spent most of our time hanging out.

We were dropped off on a little shore just inland from the sea, and jumped on a small 'lancha' boat that took the 4 of us (Danica, James, Daniel and I) to the island of Porvenir.  Once on the island, Sarah, the 'missing' passenger was already there, and came the previous night with another boat.  Two more passengers were already aboard Gitana, Cami and Gonzalo, the Argentinians.  The 5 of us waited on Porvenir, near the shoreline, and all of a sudden spotted Gitana making her way through the sunset towards us.  An inflatable dingy was lowered down from her deck, and Guillem, with the help of a Yamaha outboard, came racing to pick us all up at the dock.

After meeting the Captain, Marc, and his parents, who were aboard for the ride, along with Marc's Colombian girlfriend and cook, and Coco, the 3 month old Parrot, we were briefed on the rules of the ship, and we set sail for the 1st of our stops in the beautiful San Blas Islands.

We anchored just at sunset, just offshore of a tiny little island with white sand beaches and tons of coconut palms.  There were a few huts scattered around it, housing the local Kuna tribes.  We woke up in the morning to an immensely hot Caribbean sun, illuminating the crystal blue sea in all its glory.  Everyone jumped off the boat, and into the sea, where we swam to shore to explore and bask in the San Blas sun.

The first 3 nights were spent in the San Blas Islands.  We made our way through them, passing more and more sailboats along the way, many of them with passengers traveling to Colombia as well, and some of them heading the opposite direction.

The second and third nights were also spend anchored in beautiful spots, and the third night, we were dinghied ashore for a bbq from Guillem and captain Marc.  We spent that day snorkeling (with the supplied equipment), and Guillem spent the day spearfishing the local reefs for dinner.  He ended up catching us some fresh fish, and the 2 of them cooked us up some chicken and seafood on the grill on one of the islands.  We waited hungrily on a table, accompanied by a couple bottles of Caribbean rum.  A local Kuna man came out of his hut, and James asked him nicely if we could by some beer from him...He said he was out, but would be happy to go in his canoe and fetch us some...We agreed, and he, and his tiny son, paddled into the night, across the sea to another island, where he picked us up a 12 pack of "Balboa."  Ice cold, they were, along with the fresh smell of fish from inside his styrofoam cooler.  We all enjoyed them nonetheless.

An hour later, James again asked if he wouldn't mind getting 12 more...Of course, he didn't mind, as we were paying him well for those distant cold ones...Finally, dinner was served, and we grubbed on a delicious barbequed meal, washed down by our cold Balboas in the night moon.  Unbelievable scenery and placement for this all, as you could imagine.  Once we were done with dinner, we were motored back out to the boat, and Danica and I decided to play a little concert on the deck.  We grabbed our guitars, and everyone sat around while we sang for an hour or so...

We suddenly heard a shrill scream coming from the island, and as we focused our attention in the direction, we realized that captain Marc's girlfriend had been left behind in the night...Sarah started laughing hysterically, then we all realized it was pretty damn funny.  Soon, Marc was in his dinghy, with the motor at full speed, heading back to the island to pick up the poor girl.

We spent the following morning swimming a little, before heading out to open ocean in the late afternoon.  Our next stop would be Cartagena, Colombia...South America!

Some words of advice to travelers looking to book a sailboat to Colombia:

Make sure to bring plenty of snacks, soft drinks, beer/wine, and whatever else you may think you'll need on a 5 day sailing journey.  Although our trip was great, it wasn't 5 star dining, so make sure to bring provisions as needed.  You can sometimes buy beers from the Kuna people, but it depends on what island you end up visiting.  Several boats do this trip back and forth to Colombia, and there is quite a competition.  Most boats charge around US $500.  Everything is included normally, except the transport to either Portobello, or Porvenir.  Ours was to Porvenir, and we ended up paying $25/per person for the SUV transport to a little port town on the Caribbean, and $10/per person for the lancha (motor boat ride to Porvenir).  After that, everything was included.  It's really nice that they take care of all your passport stuff as well.  You hand them your passports when you board the boat, and they take it to the neighboring island on their skiff to get your exit stamps from Panama.  Then, when you get into Cartagena, they take them to the Immigration office to get your entry stamps for Colombia.

We highly recommend doing this trip.  You get to Colombia safely, and you get to see and visit the San Blas Islands, which are like no other place on earth.

 

Gitana III, as she pulled into Porvenir