Going from one third world country to another..

Going from one third world country to another was very exciting, I couldn't wait to experience the differences and man are they different.

At the end of an epic 8 week sail from Grenada to Colombia we found ourselves in the historical city of Cartagena.

Cartagena reminds me a little of Durban with there massively tall hotels lining the beach front and on the other side of the city the common folk.
In between the tourist hub of there main beaches and the common folk is s place older than the discovery of south africa.

The old city with its massive coral wall around it, cannon placements, guard posts, dungeons and oozing with a colourful and rich history.
I can't remember dates off hand but I do remember reading a plaque in the wall with a date present the 1820 settlers.
The city of Cartagena was a thriving port of trade before South Africa was even explored

We spent 5 weeks anchored opposite the Colombian navy just outside the old city over the bridge from Getsamani the tourist hub of Cartagena

We arrived just before Christmas from a journey much void of people and cars. Our arrival to the bright lights big city was a bit of a culture shock.
Our anchorage was on the edge of the main traffic route from one side to the other. Like clockwork daily the water taxis would pass in the morning and return in the evening. Breakfast and coffee needed to be made before the manic rocking caused by the wake of the speeding taxis.

At night the city came alive music, parties and fireworks everywhere all night. There were nights we would sit on the front of the cat and enjoy live concerts in a part if the old city, right in front of us or chill at the back with a party mix of expensive power boats cruising past with there own private parties on board, the music was never ending.

The people of Cartagena are awesome as are the majority of Colombians. Cartagena is a tourist city and has its tourist issues, its hard to get a good deal as a tourist.

We arrived in Cartagena with just over 100usd and although the dollar is fairly strong our time in Cartagena become a little stressful. It was our plan to run a holiday program for all the kids that were expected to arrive, but as with sailing you can't rely on anything until it happens.
As it happened the expected boats twelve in total never arrived. I did however get to clean a couple of boats and this allowed us a simple and enjoyable Christmas dinner.

New year saw the combination of a month worth of fireworks in one night an what a spectacular event it was. I have never seen so many fireworks all over the place as I did that night. Phenomenal!

Our time in Colombia was drawing to a close and although there was much we wanted to do our constraints of the CoP (Colombian peso) still allowed us to immerse ourselves in the daily lives of the common Colombian. We interacted, ate and moved in the amazing street life of Colombia Cartagena.

Baz