Slothing Around Cartagena

Yesterday we got up had a cold shower, not by choice, and headed to the Walled City to explore.

We decided to get an Uber for ease, while we’re still settling in and getting used to everything. There are few people here that speak English and our Spanish is limited at best! Another reason an Uber would be simpler. Jorge dropped us off just outside the city and we walked the rest of the way. We had no real aim and were happy to just have a wander and see what we could find. The streets are narrow and busy and very pretty.

We grabbed some lunch in a restaurant and then of course Dave wanted ice cream. We sat in a little park square while Dave enjoyed his ice cream.

We were starting to struggle a bit with having no aim. We realised that it’s been so long since we’ve had nothing to do, we don’t know how to do nothing. We weren’t comfortable just being, we felt we should be heading somewhere or doing something. On most of our previous trips we’ve had a fairly good idea of where we want to go and what we want to see. We soon realised that there will be days when we are not doing anything in particular and we have to get used to that.

We stopped in another park on route to Getsemani and sat for a while watching the world go by. There were huge colourful lizards sitting in the trees, I was a little bit worried incase they poo’d on us! Then we spotted this guy

He’d been sat in the tree behind us the whole time, slowly making his way down. He was so close and not at all bothered by us or the gathering crowd he’d drawn. We heard a nearby tour guide say they only come down to he ground once a week. I was impressed by the little guy, he was slow but he barely stopped moving. He climbed down to meet his waiting fans, nonchalantly walked across the grass into a bush.

He didn’t stay there long, he soon crawled out and mooched along the grass to a wall nearby. We had prime view of him doing his thing and then the crowds began to gather again. All of a sudden there were familiar words and accents around us. We started talking to a couple who were living on a boat. They’d been traveling around on their boat since 2016. They were interesting and it was nice to speak to people who’d been living in such a different way.

We walked over to Getsemani. It was pretty in a grubbier sort of way compared to inside the walled city.

We found a little cafe and got some drinks. We were sat on a bench table with some young travellers either side of us. These people had not known each other long and were talking about where they had been and where they were going. It was interesting listening in but I found myself wondering if I’d want to sit and talk to these people. I concluded I probably didn’t. Maybe I’m too old for this now!

We wandered over to Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas and had a look around. We mainly went for the views over the city but ended up watching a film about how the castle was built and it was really interesting. The castle was key to keeping the city safe from the evil invading British.

There were some old tunnels under the castle that you can walk through. They were dark and I wasn’t keen on going through them to begin with but once we’d started walking through them, it was good fun. I couldn’t understand why the tunnels were so low but the stairs were really deep. Were these old Colombian dudes tall to tackle these really high steps or short to run through the tunnels?

After the castle shut we headed back to Getsemani and found a bar with some outside seating on the square. They’ve really gone to town here with lights and decs for Christmas. It looks great at night, there are lights everywhere. Disaster struck just after we got our first beer. Disaster in the form of me. I managed to knock the table and send my beer flying after having just one sip. What I didn’t realise was that I’d managed to lodge the arm of my chair under the table. I moved and so did the whole table, beers included. I think at this point any other person would have stayed still and assessed the situation. I’m not any other person and so I moved, yep, I moved again and sent any remaining beer flying over Dave, the table and myself.

We ordered more beers and sat for quite a while watching the goings-on in the square. A particular highlight was when MJ rocked up and treated us to a little performance.

MJ and a sloth in one day, what a way to round off 2018!