The flight sure beat a 12-13 hour bus ride from Bucaramanga to Cartegana, Colombia. The price was nearly equal. We touched down and caught a taxi to the Hotel Villa Colonial. Within about twenty minutes we were taking what looked to be an alley which emptied on to a street where we found the hostel. Picture a movie scene depicting a slum area and you’ve got the location of the hostel which was the jewel amongst squalor.
After check-in we took a walk to the ‘walled city’. The wall was actually the wall of the old fort the Spanish had built back in the 1500’s. Cartegana was once the main sea port for South America from the 1500’s till the 1800’s.
The British and Spanish banged away at each other over this time to claim the fort. And the French actually had a time or two as well. In fact one of the best conquerors of the fort, and subsequently the most well liked leader in the area was this French guy that waded into battles with one leg, arm, and eye. Somewhere in that is a . . . “If I were half the man he was . . . “ saying.
We noticed the heat was more pronounced than any other place we had visited in Colombia. We had been told by most people that Cartagena was going to be hot. They got that correct. Both Kathleen and I were sweating profusely. Yeah, you’re right, Kathleen was glowing instead.
Another observation we made was the trash and filth on the streets. This was not so apparent within the fortress walls, however, step outside and the grime and the unpleasant smells were quite noticeable. Couple this with the streets being clogged with vendors and people trying to con us into exchanging money or taking us on ‘tours’ was something we had not experienced yet to this extent in Colombia. 
I even had guy trying to get me to exchange money grab my shirt and try to pull me around as I walked by. He let go, I kept walking. We spent the rest of the day beneath the ceiling fan in our room.
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