Cartagena, Sun, Salsa & Mojitos

Cartagena is hot,hot,hot in more ways than one. The temperature here has been a steady 32 degrees with 75 percent humidity which makes it feel like 46 degrees according to our groovy new iPad weather app. There is lots of sunshine and the occasional thunder storm when the humidity builds in the afternoons. That usually cools everything off quite nicely and then there is a beautiful Caribbean breeze that blows in during the evenings. We have discovered the Cafe del Mar where they have really chill music (Gary got the CD), a fantastic view of the ocean - complete with sunsets and great Mojitos. We went to the Havana Club last Friday night for some serious Salsa and the best Mojitos in Cartagena.  The live band was great and we got to watch some cool Salsa dancing.

This view is from the Fort on top of the hill that protects Cartagena.  Seems as though everyone including Sir Frances Drake and Pirates wanted to invade this place so there is a big protective wall complete with canon ball pot marks from all of the attacks over the years.  You can see the new city in the background complete with tall apartments buildings and beaches.  We much prefer the old town which is closed to traffic after 5:00pm so it is great for walking around.

We did a little side trip to Santa Marta which is a five hour bus ride away along the coast.  From there we went to Tayrona National Park and walked along the beautiful beaches.  Gary spotted a 2 foot long iguana who was in no hurry to get away from us on the trail.  We had a bit of adventure going back to Santa Marta because we jumped on a bus that turned out to be smuggling something for the black market.  One of the Colombian gals we were with said it may have been clothes or something but definitely not drugs.  The police were bribed COP 200,000 pesos which is about $100 dollars and we were on our way!  You just never know what you will find aboard some of these "Magic Buses".

The beach at Tayrona park was really beautiful but unfortunately you can´t swim at this beach because of the riptide.

We are flying out to Quito Ecuador tomorrow and then moving on to the Galapagos Islands for some serious sea lion and tortoise viewing.  We will miss Cartagena which has been a wonderful relaxing stop for us.
More to come soon mi amigos!
Salud,
Pat & Gary

Bogota - A Risk Worth Taking!

Bogota Colombia
Where else in the world can you watch Guinea Pig racing live on the streets and get a really stiff shot of whiskey in your coffee at any time of day?  (We have had many in the middle of the afternoon in order to warm up - or at least that was our excuse!)  In a city of 8 million people things can get kind of crazy but we have had a lot of fun here in Bogota and we would highly recommend it to anyone who is looking for adventure. 
The Gold Museum or Museo del Oro is really cool and the security doors they have protecting the exhibits are stronger than the security deposit box doors at home at my bank.  There are lots of really interesting gold pieces from way back when and the museum entrance fee was only $1.50 or three dollars for the both of us.  I was trying to show Gary the solid gold necklace I wanted for Christmas but he would have no part of it.  I also tried to get him into the Emerald museum with no luck. What is a girl to do?

The first person we met here in Bogota was from LA and all he talked about was the Vancouver Riots as soon as we told him where we were from.  He said he was glad to see that Canadians had some spunk in them.  Great!  The next two people we talked to were from Calgary and the guy had just graduated from UBC - go figure! Our spanish sucks so it is a little difficult to converse with the locals.  Our goal is to be able to speak this beautiful language at least a little bit before we leave.  We shall keep you posted on our progress.
Ok so after dragging Gary through the Gold Museum we went to the Police Museum and we saw the Gold and Silver plated Harley Davidson motorcycle that Pablo Escobar the Cocaine Drug Barron owned.  It is apparently worth $90,000 US and you can tell by the look on Gary's face that he would love to have it. 

We went to a small bakery that has been around since 1861 called La Puerta Falsa and we had yummy hot chocolate and cheese.  Yes you dip the chunk of cheese in the hot chocolate and go for it. Now don't get me wrong, I love chocolate and I love cheese but this combo was just a bit weird. 

The next day we headed off to the Museo Botero which is totally cool.  They've got great Picasso paintings as well as Salvador Dali statues.  The museum was free and it was really well set up.  We discovered the Juan Valdez coffee chain which has so much more than Starbucks because you can get the shot of Whiskey in your coffee anytime you want. In the evening we went to the Zona Rosa which is like a mini Champs Elysees in Paris.  Actually it is not so mini and I would say that almost all of the
major names and designers were to be found there.  I even found a Naf Naf store which I have not seen outside of France since leaving Paris.  It was a very cool part of town and we had a beer at the Bogota Beer Company.  They have 3 litre Giraffe's or very large tall glass jugs there.  It was really fun watching them serve up the big pour!

We took a trip up the cable car to Montserrat which sits at 3600 metres.(That's 11,800 feet and yes you can feel the altitude as you walk up the steps to the beautiful church on top of the mountain).  For lunch we had Pollo y Papas con Guacamole (Chicken and Potatoes with Guacamole) and they gave us clear plastic gloves to eat it with instead of cutlery.  Gary was in his element!   The shot below shows the city and the place we are staying.  Try to pick it out!  Just kidding.

Tomorrow we leave for Cartegena and we hope to find some sunshine and warm weather.  We will keep you posted on our adventures and we really like hearing back from you all as well.

Until next time,
Salud!
Pat & Gary

Leaving for Our Big 2011 SA Trip

Here we are on the doorstep with our luggage for the Big South American 2011 Trip.  This is all the luggage we will have for the next five months.  Turns out mine weighs 11.9 Kilos and Gary´s is 9.9 kg.  I guess girls just carry more stuff!

We arrived last night safe and sound in Bogota and we are happy to report that the luggage arrived with us as well.  It is always a bit nerve wrecking to wait for your bag at the luggage carousel at the airport. However, everthing went just fine and we are now happy campers.

Our hotel the Cranky Croc (Yes it is run by Australians) is pretty cool and we are settling in nicely.  I seem to have forgotten any of the Spanish I´ve been trying so hard to learn over the last few months and I don´t even remember how to ask for a room.  Good thing Gary made reservations and they speak English here! I´m sure the Spanish will kick in as I get more acclimatised.  We are both happy to report that we have not been affected by Altitude Sickness and we are able to drink the wonderful beer from Bogota. Not bad at all really! It is called Club Colombia and I¨m happy to join.

We slept well last night and woke this morning to sunshine which quickly turned into clouds and rain just as we finished breakfast and stepped out to explore the city. Timing is everything as they say!  The first impression was not so great since it began to pour with rain and today is a holiday.  Many of the shops and restaurants are closed.  We quickly retreated back to our hostel, waited out the rain and grabbed an umbrella.  After that we headed out again and the sun came out.  One of the main streets was blocked off due to the holiday and we could walk around quite nicely. We made it down to the Plaza de Bolivar which is pretty cool and then we simply wandered around the city to get a feel for everything.  We are now nicely settled in and we got some great Chilean wine in a box that cost six bucks.  I´m currently sipping some as I type and its not bad at all.

We are going to get some more photos and give many more details as we go along.  I´m just excited to get the infamous blog up and running and I look forward to your comments!

Much more to come!
Buenas Noches
Pat & Gary