Saturday 8 June 2013

The happiest country in the world

Bienvenido a Cartagena!

At 4:30 am on Friday morning, after 10 hours of motoring (no wind), and dropping the anchor three times before it would set, we considered ourselves "arrived" and had a celebratory glass of rum. (Okay, it was more than one glass, but who was counting?)  We had a great trip down, sailing more than 90% of it, and with less than 10 minutes of rain in total.

The rest of the day was spent in a sleep-deprived blur that included mundane things like having our passports processed and hijinks including the acquiring of official hats from both the police and the harbour patrol. 

Both yesterday and today I have been dissapointed that once I am on dry land it keeps moving back and forth a bit.  Just can't quite please me!

Cartagena is a beautiful city, with fortifications and cobblestone streets in the old town.  It also has a cityscape of condo towers across the harbour that rivals Vancouver.  The Captain and I are looking forward to exploring it more over the next couple of weeks, even though our trusty crew, Nigel, heads back to Jamaica on Sunday.

The boys, happy to have arrived and wearing their new "Armada" or Colombian Navy hats.  (Ask Nigel about his boat ride if you get a chance, it involves a power boat, swimming trunks and AWOL as an illegal alien.)

The fortifications around the old city.

Inside the old city - and it is an old city, founded almost 500 years ago.

Just when Captain Phil was about to sit down on the curb and refuse to walk anymore, we found this lovely little restaurant for dinner.  It was on the second floor, suitably called "el balcon," and we spend the first part of the evening watching the football (soccer) game on TV (Colombia vs Argentina; nil-nil) and the second half of the evening watching the happenings in the square below.

The food was very yummy - lots of seafood!


The Captain and I, enjoying something down below.  We saw a mime, break-dancers, a man with a big belly who wore a grass skirt and danced to Shakira music, food and trinket vendors (also a man who came by selling fishing rods (!) and all ages of people hanging about and enjoying the evening) 
The lovely owner of the restaurant was British, just by chance. She had come to Colombia for a man (oh, the places we go for love...) and gave us some tips on what to see.  We also spent some time talking to her mother, who was here for a visit, and she said that Colombians are supposed to be some of the happiest people in the world.  And last night, we definitely felt it too.  Maybe it was the relief of our safe arrival, maybe it was something in the air or maybe it was just the mojitos, but life is good!

*Grin* - it's been a good one, team Diva!