I’m back to complaining about our rooms. I thought for sure the room we would have for three days in Cartagena would be great. So disappointment was worse because of my high expectations.
LOOK how beautiful outside our room is!! And then take a good look at our room. The circles were windows that had been covered with paper poster board and glued on. There were three of them. I’m not entirely sure why. Note the closet — a shaky piece of furniture with one pole and 2 hangers. The little table was necessary since there was no room in the bathroom for anything. We couldn’t drink water from the tap, and yet the hotel did not provide bottled water. The little white circle was the holder on the ceiling for what was supposed to be a smoke alarm. There were no windows and no ceiling fan.
As I laid in bed looking at the painted bare ceiling studs and the peeling paint, I realized this was karma!!!! All the things I just complained about — I had done in the apartments I rented out at home — including caulking white paper plates over the hole in the wall where a stove pipe used to be. As they say ….. Karma really is a b**ch!!!
Jane, Patty and I chose a day long catamaran cruise, while the rest of our group slept in, had a nice lunch and soaked in that beautiful pool. Cartagena has a beautiful skyline.
Met this couple from Orlando who left their 2 kids with their grampa for some gettaway time. They are only a 3 hour flight from Cartagena.
woo-hoo. Fun with the naked girls!!
We rushed back to our rooms, showered and changed within 25 minutes and had to walk back to almost the same place from which we had just come.
Very cool sunset shot of Susan’s (?) drink.
What’s not to like on this vacation!! Happiness all around.
We took a horse-drawn carriage ride to the restaurant. I was a very nice restaurant, but too dark for my taste. I like to see what I’m eating. I had some kind of shrimp fried rice and a baby crab on that yellow plate.
While in the carriage, Steph told us the horse had a bad leg. She could tell by the gait and the sound it was making on the street. Wow!! Cattle ranchers are so cool!!
You’ve got to give it to ingenious homeless people. The bed looks almost comfortable.
After dinner we all got off the old streets with the artists and all the art; and walked into a huge modern 4 story mall. This was a private party. I guess everyone got the memo to wear white!!
Photos of the Fortress in Cartagena. They certainly knew how to protect their land. They had many ways to see the enemy coming and then kill them before they knew what hit them. They were never defeated.
Don, the guy second to the left talked us into this. He had taken several plank photos of himself in other places.
I’m proud of this photo. It’s a perfect shot.
The Shakira and Susan shot is out of place, since she from Barranquilla and we didn’t get there until the last day.
And this was my lunch one day. A little scary eat something with a head and tail and the rest hidden under cheese sauce, but it was DELICIOUS!!
Our French cooking class was a blast. And the chef was just as crazy as we were. The police were not called; they just saw us from the window and came in to say hello.
Cool chef. Delicious food. Check out the video.
The story of pasta putanesca: Puta is the Spanish word for prostitute/whore. So the prostitutes used to make this delicious smelling putanesca made with fresh tomatoes, capers, onion, garlic, over pasta. The odor would waft through their open windows and draw in customers.
Cooking and then eating the food was just a hoot!!
Google sent me my 2023 travel info while I was there. Google knows exactly where I go every minute of every day. (So far it hasn’t caused me any great harm.)
In 2023, I visited eleven new countries and traveled 60,000 miles. (some of it included walking.) SHEESH!!
Happy Travels!
Linda Jeanne