Cartagena – Colombia’s Caribbean Gem

Cartagena de Indias is so unique with the contrast of the old town – A Unesco World Heritage site, and the outer town. It is like two totally different places.

This historic old town faces the ocean and is surrounded by a 13km stone wall which can be walked.  Inside this stone wall is one of the most magical towns I have ever laid my eyes  upon, and is like something out of a fairytale, with horse drawn carriages trotting along the narrow cobblestone alleys.  Brightly coloured colonial houses with wooden balconies covered in bougainvillea adorn these narrow alleyways which lead into a number of town squares with huge churches being the focal point of most squares.

Everything is so clean and there is a sense of peace walking through these alleyways, until the evening approaches.  This is when the place comes alive.  Music from every corner, dancers with bright coloured outfits and glistening bodies tell stories with their every move.  From the driving african rhythms that seem to work their way into the dancers souls and unleash this raw intensity that takes over every inch of their bodies, to the sensual and sexy moves of the salsa.  It is hard to sit still in this place.

Hot nights had us sitting on the town wall gazing out over the Caribbean and praying for a cool wind to relieve us from the sweltering heat.  The town is always busy and sunset sees the old town wall bustling with people to watch the sun go down, listen to the many styles of music being played or just taking a stroll and enjoying the beauty of it all.

This is where it all changes – once you leave these walls there is a whole new experience to be had.  Tons of traffic and a sense of chaos all around which can be quite frustrating at times when first arriving.  This is very much the working class side of Cartagena and you almost feel like you are in a totally different part of the country.  However to the south and a stones throw from the old town is Bocagranda which reminded me of Miami as we were flying in.  This is a very trendy part of town, with fancy coffee shops, restaurants and upmarket stores and condos.   5 minutes either way and you start to see the poverty that is very much a part of Cartagena.

I had travelled here to visit a friend who runs and organisation called Emerging Voices.  I was to work for 2 months with them doing voluntary work in projects such as , terminally ill children, rehabilitation for young drug addicts, teen pregnancy and teaching english in a community called Nelson Mandela.  I was also going to document the work done by all the volunteers by taking photos.  Monica – who runs Emerging Voices, and myself met in Kenya in 2006 whilst working in voluntary programs there.  I visited her in Colombia in 2007 and always wanted to come back and see the great work she was doing here.  I was met at the airport and taken to the house where the rest of the volunteers stayed.  I nearly died when I stepped out of the airport and felt the heat.  I had just come from the Antarctic and knew this was going to be a challenge trying to adjust to the change in temperature.

My time in Cartagena was one of mixed emotions.  I was really looking forward to getting stuck into the work, but was struggling with my leg and the heat.  I started feeling ill only a few days into my trip and discovered in the 2nd week that I had been infected with the Chikungunya virus along with Monica.  Our wonderful cook and house mother Rita had been very sick with it, along with two wonderful young men, Beto and Juan, who help Monica with the daily runnings of the programs.  I had heard about this terrible virus and was mortified when I got it.  So that really cut into my time and made me quite miserable at times.  The heat was also getting to me as I just couldn’t cool down and when you feel ill it seems worse in that heat.  I decided I was going to leave a couple weeks earlier and go to Bogota where it was cooler and help out at the other voluntary house.

But I was sad to leave Cartagena. The other volunteers I met were all wonderful and we had so many good days and nights together.  We all struggled at times with the heat and long travel to the different programs, but all agreed that we loved what we were doing and the people we worked with along the way.  Our house was close to the old town and right by the beach, so it was easy to access everything.  Monica and the staff looked after us and we got to see a lot of the sights in the area.  Spanish lessons were organised, salsa classes could be had and then we tested our wares at the wonderful salsa clubs in town.

I loved all the programs I worked on, but most of all I felt at home with the kids in Funvavir, which is a house for terminally ill children.  The lovely Carlos was our leader and we would join him daily to play games, teach english or do crafts with the kids.  The other place I loved was Nelson Mandela where we would go and teach english to children of all ages.  This place is just amazing and I loved the fact that these kids wanted to learn so badly.   The only problem with all of this was the day I had to say goodbye to all of these wonderful people I had met and worked with.  You form special bonds with some and friendships that may or may not last with others.  Either way they all change your life in one way or another.

I shed many tears on those few last days and the day at Nelson Mandela was really hard.  The beautiful July who was one of the staff at Emerging Voices and who taught us Volunteers english, got all the little kids to make cards for me.  They all walked in and presented me with them and gave hugs and kisses.  I tried so hard to hold back the tears, but one little girl wouldn’t let go and that just broke my heart.  But I have all these wonderful letters, cards, photos and memories of a very special place which I will return to one day, and I know that I will be meeting up with some of the people that I shared time with in this special city.

A favourite place for me was Plaza de Trinidad which is in one of the oldest parts of Cartagena.  This little square comes to life at night with entertainers wowing the crowds.  I think we found the best mojito in town and for an absolute steal compared to most places.  Then there is the famous burger.  Well I can’t rate this highly enough.  I have no idea what goes into it, but there are a ton of ingredients, and it takes forever to make, but man it tastes pretty damn good.  There is a whole production line going on here, and each person has a certain part to play in putting this grand burger together.  Not possible to get your mouth around one of these things.

A couple of times Monica and myself would disappear and go to her favourite hotel in the old town.  This place is just so majestic and calming and we would head here for a glass of wine and catch up.  One of the evenings we had one of the local favourites for dinner – serviche, which is a raw seafood with lime juice and a few other ingredients.  After this we tried their special coffee creme brûlée.  I thought I had died and gone to heaven that night.  The best thing about all this was the air-conditioning.  Oh heaven – any time I walked into a place with aircon, I just didn’t want to leave.  Back at the house we only had fans, and even though they can be helpful, there were some days and nights where they just pushed the hot air around and very little relief was had.

Up and down the coast are stunning tropical beaches with aqua blue waters to cool off in.  Most of the volunteers spent their weekends visiting the national parks or islands around  Cartagena, but I only got to the one place Playa Blanca.  This is a stunning part of the coast with pristine beaches and water.  As I was there over Christmas it was extremely busy and the beaches were packed with families and travellers alike.  I tend to like the quieter spots when spending time at the beach, so I wasn’t missing out on too much.

New Years Eve was one I won’t forget in a long time.  Monica had booked a table for a number of us in one of the squares.  Each of the squares in the town have tables and chairs set up with a stage for bands.  There are fireworks, music, dancing and eating and everyone wears yellow underwear.  Yes you heard right – yellow underwear.  One of the big things here is that if you wear yellow underwear you will have good luck for the next year.  So off we went and bought our yellow knickers and bras, and headed out to see the new year in.

I was with a group of 7 Canadians that had come to volunteer for a couple of weeks while I was there. They were a great bunch and I decided to join them at the square that night. This was one of my better New Years in a long time.  The setting was idealic, the company great, and the music spot on.  No major drunken disorderly, fights, unruly behaviour, just good hearted fun, and a lot of happy people in a beautiful setting.  What a great way to see the new year in.

So I left Cartagena with mixed emotions.  Loved my time here and the people, but found the heat unbearable. Maybe if I hadn’t have been sick, and just back from the Antarctic, I could have enjoyed it more.  This means one thing – I have to go back and give it a second chance.

South America – a long way from the bottom to the top. Ushuaia to Cartagena.

After saying goodbye to my home on the sea for the last 12 days, I headed out to the airport for my flight to Colombia. Once again the flights were delayed (at least not cancelled this time) and I settled down for a long wait. Luckily it wasn’t too long before we were on the plane and heading back to Buenos Aires and my connecting flight to Chile.

While waiting for the plane I must have looked very confused at trying to figure out what they were saying in Spanish, as a very nice man next to me offered me some assistance. He was going to Cartagena as well, so we were to be flying buddies for the next day almost. We swopped seats on the flights as he has quite long legs and always seemed to land up in the smallest spaces, and as most of you know, I am slightly on the short side so never have much to complain about when it come to leg room. Jorge was delighted with this outcome and we both had very comfortable flights. On our third flight from Bogota to Cartagena, we swopped seats as usual and on arriving in Cartagena he went on ahead as he didn’t have luggage to collect. It was only once I had my bag that I realised I could be in a bit of a pickle.

As you leave the baggage area, you have to give security the baggage stubble that they check against the name on your bag. If you don’t have the same name then of course they think you are stealing someone else’s bag (and rightly so). It now dawned on me that Jorge had my boarding pass sticker with the stubble on the back as we had swopped ours as the stewards wanted to check the seats. How on earth was I going to pass as Mr Jorge when I clearly look like a Miss. Well this is not the country I really want to get into trouble in and I was tired and just wanted to get to the house, but the security guard was not looking pleased. So out tumbles this story that I am with my partner and he had to run as he was there for a business meeting and I would be seeing him at the hotel and we must have got our bag tags mixed up. He was not happy with this story and as he was about to fly into some rant, a very irate lady came up to him and started shouting about something. I took my cue here and legged it out the door. Visions of police with guns running after me came to mind, but when I turned round there was no one. I had made it safely out of baggage and was on the home stretch. As I walked out the front door to meet the guys picking me up, I almost passed out. The heat was unbearable. How was I going to make it through 8 weeks here after spending the last 2 in The Antarctic.

I had planned on staying in Cartagena for 2 months to help out a girlfriend of mine who runs an organisation called EMERGING VOICES”. They run voluntary programs in Colombia and house the volunteers from around the world and set them up in the desired programs. I was to be helping in these programs and offered to photograph and document the great work that they are all doing. Monica and myself had met in Kenya in 2006 while we were both volunteers there. I was working with AIDS orphans and she was teaching the Masai English. I later visited her and her family in Colombia and was shown the most unbelievable time. We spent a week in the Amazon Jungle with an Indian Tribe, spent time on their Ranch in the Llanos and visited the Coffee Zone. One of the most memorable experiences was when her brother and sister took me to the Emerald mines in Muzo. I had been granted permission to do an article and take photos of the mines which was a very humbling experience. While at the mines a number of gems were found and I was presented with one of them to take home as a gift. To this day I treasure this the most, and designed a beautiful necklace with which I wear with pride.

As well as the voluntary work, I was going to be going back to the emerald mines once in Bogota, but my main aim was to spend as much time as I could with my girlfriend. Well this was going to be a challenge as the heat was pretty tough going. I don’t mind heat, but when you add almost 90% humidity to it, then I start to fade. We were in a lovely home and all well looked after, but there was no air-conditioning, just fans. When its that hot a fan helps a little but only just. After a few days I was beginning to wonder just how long I would last. Some of the programs meant you had to travel a good hour or more on old, cramped buses and after standing in the heat it just becomes unbearable. Even the evening didn’t bring much relief from the heat. It just seemed to hang in the air, and to top it off, all day and night you had the constant buzzing of mosquitoes around you. These little suckers were beginning to do my head in. Venezuela was testing enough with the amount of them around, and no matter how much deet you put on, they still found a spot to bite. Now these little suckers were just as forceful and annoying as their neighbouring Venezuelan family.

The one thing I was beginning to hear about constantly was this terrible epidemic of CHIKUNGUNYA in Cartagena. So many people had got it from the bite of a mosquito and were pretty sick and if you had the symptoms to go to the hospital. After my first few days there, I started getting the most incredible headaches and joint pain. I kept putting it down to dehydration and the remnants of my shattered leg, but two weeks later Monica came down with the same and off to the hospital we were sent. When the diagnosis came back as Chikunguya and the doctor said to me that it could take anywhere from 2 weeks to 2 years to go away, I was not happy. It was like “Welcome to Colombia – have some Chikungunya”. As there is no cure for it, I just had to have an intravenous drip for fluid and painkillers. Then as much bed rest as possible. It makes you very tired and you experience the most intense arthritic pain in your joints. Not pleasant. So Monica and my reunion was being hampered by those blood sucking little creatures around us. Neither of us had the strength or energy to do anything, and when we could muster up the energy, there was a lot of work to be done. Monica never stops and has such a stressful life, so she had to just keep on going.

I was beginning to find the heat alongside the chikungunya very hard to deal with and decided to leave Cartagena three weeks early and go to Bogota where it is cooler and no mosquitos. Monica runs programs there as well so I would stay in the voluntary house and get images of the work that they are doing in Bogota.

 

I also had a 3 day trip to Muzo planned with Monicas brother and father. They work in the emerald industry and create wonderful jewellery for the world market. I was looking forward to seeing the changes over the past 8 years and documenting them. I also had a meeting with a very interesting gentleman called Miguel Caballero who runs a company that makes high end fashion that is bullet proof and all the bullet proofing for military personal, vehicles, and dignitaries. I was to interview him and have a tour of the factories and ballistics site. So my last days in Colombia were to be very bus. I also had to leave a little earlier than planned as I had an exhibition to plan and needed to return to Ireland to collect the work I would be using.

TO BE CONTINUED………