Friday, January 9, 2009

Roaming around Cartagena

On Wednesday, we went swimming here on the beach right by our hotel. Luis was amazed at how well I could body surf, but I've been doing that since I was a kid going to Jones Beach. It's difficult to teach someone exactly how to catch a wave. But I showed him a bit and he caught a few waves. The waves are big enough but not too big here, so it's a good place to learn bodysurfing.
We had a nice dinner with the Canadian couple at Cafe del Santisimo on Wednesday night, then they headed back to Bogota for their trip back to Canada.
Yesterday we went on a nice tour to Isla del Encanto (Baru), one of the islands on the archipelago of the Rosario Islands. Luis took a tour from that island to go snorkeling. I went swimming.
The tour included a great lunch of fried fish, platanos, rice, salad and more. (Notice that every blog entry of mine mentions food.) There really weren't any waves on the island; it's quite calm.
After, we walked around the walled city. It is absolutely stunning, and I would recommend this city just for the walled city. It reminds me of Old San Juan, the old section of Puerto Rico. All of the balconies remind me of New Orleans. Plazas with fountains dot the downtown. And pedestrians walk atop the wall surrounding the city. There's also a cafe on the wall that we plan to visit today.
Today, we're going to spend the entire day in the walled city.
There's also a 45-foot volcano (yes, 45 feet) about an hour from here. The ashes have mixed with water, and it's now a mud bath with lots of minerals. We haven't decided if we'll make that trip.

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