ping pong

Cartagena was beautiful, and in 3 days I feel like I got a better tour of its historic highlights than even the last time I was there, as we spent a lot of time just wandering around the streets. We saw a good number of museums, and several street performances of Afro-Caribbean dances. Thsi is us at el Castillo San Felipe, one of the strongest fortresses of the Spanish empire, holding out against the British attacks on Colombia´s Caribbean coasts. That was the history lesson of our vacation. Below is the Plaza de Santo Domingo where we spent a couple hours each night drinking Aguilas (Colombian beer) and wine, listening to musicians playing from table to table, and turning away repetitive offers to buy trinkets. Just as Ian got a good bearing on the historic district where we stayed the whole time, it was time to go. We are getting a good sample of Colombia´s Caribbean coast in 2 weeks.

We took the 4 hour trip back from Cartagena around noon today. The scenery between here and there is relatively un-picturesque, in contrast to some of those in Valle del Cauca, where I had taken bus trips before. The landscape is dry and the beaches are gray, in tune with the that around Taganga and Santa Marta.

But these days, La Casa de Felipe in Taganga is like home away from home. We´re on our 3rd set of reserved nights here, and because there was nothing else available tonight, we got a suite with about 7 people´s worth of beds and a private kitchen.

After devouring dinner, as we survived the day on arepas (sort of like corn-flour pancakes) and guava bread, we´re just hanging out in the hostel here in our hammocks, reading and listening to the hippie music they play on the stereos. The question of the day is what to do with ourselves in the next four. We aim to take the mini-diving course tomorrow, which should only take the day. From there we´ll decide if we A) continue diving for another 3 days to get the open water certification, B) go back to Tayrona on Sunday and come back early on Tuesday before we leave, or C) go back to Cartagena early Sunday and take a direct bus to the Santa Marta airport on Tuesday.

M le consegui un paquete de varios cocos en Cartagena, y la revista que pidio. Ahora no puedo contar nada del buceo porque, como dije, lo vamos a hacer mañana, ojala. Todavia tengo que buscar los otros mecatos que pidio, como los tengo que recordar que son (cucas y cocadas).....

P I got your keychain.

For G & J Sabatino, Ian is doing well :) We are both a shade darker and lighter haired, I think. And Ian is maybe 5 lbs lighter. Any requests just email us to let us know. Mine is rosasparami@yahoo.com.
<-- another Taganga sunset.