Cartagena- Day 1
Off to Cartagena
Up at 5:30am to catch a taxi at 6:30am for our 8:50am flight to Cartagena. Love these early morning starts! The one hour flight from Medellin to Cartagena is uneventful…just how I like it.
Bantu Boutique Hotel by Faranda
In Cartagena we are staying in El Centro which is the old walled city. By 10:15am we are checking into the Bantu Boutique Hotel by Faranda. Yes it only took 25 minutes from the time we landed to disembark the plane, get our luggage from the carousel and take a taxi to the hotel. I can tell by the tropical toucan bird themed decor that I am going to love this place.
I am very excited because John told me there is a live toucan that lives at the hotel. Of course this is one of the first things I ask about. Alas the bird moved to one of their other hotels during Covid. Sigh.
We are early and our room is not yet ready so we change, leave our bag and head out.
Lunch at La Mulato
We walk around the historical walled town. It is very pretty with its brightly painted colonial buildings with colourful tropical flowers draped all over the place.
It is sunny and very, very hot. I am hungry. We go to a restaurant that was recommended called ” La Mulata“. I am a bit concerned when we walk in because the decor is so-so. The seafood menu looks good. I order the garlic shrimp with rice, avocado, turnip and sauce. Delicious. John orders one of the ceviches. Also really good. To drink I order a coconut lemonade which is totally awesome.
Palace of the Inquisition
Refreshed, we head back out into the heat to explore more. There is much more of a Caribbean feel to Cartagena compared to the Latin feel of Medellin.
We make our way through the small Simon Bolivar Park. The park is pretty but has that stale urine smell in places so its probably being used for other purposes by the homeless.
Across the street from the park is the Palace of the Inquisition Museum. The signs are mostly in Spanish and its collection is a bit sparse but the old colonial mansion that the museum occupies is just as interesting.
We head back to our hotel where our room is now ready. The room is lovely and the air conditioning works like a charm.
Walking Tour of Getsemani Area
After a short rest, we leave for our 4pm walking tour of the Getsemani area.
As we are waiting, I spy a tree filled with wild, happy, squawking quaker parakeets. I knew I would spot them sooner or later.
Our guide, Arturo, points out the convention centre and proudly informs us that that is where the Miss Columbia pageant is held every year. He says that Columbia has had two Miss Universes. He mentions the pageant numerous times on the tour. It is a very popular event. Earlier John and I saw a display on the street with all the Miss Columbia winners. I must admit, some stunningly gorgeous women.
The Getsemani neighbourhood starts just outside the main gate to the walled town. Getsemani used to be inhabited by locals and was quite separate from the touristy old town. But now it is becoming gentrified and more tourist oriented but still retains some of its local culture. Our guide tells us that pre-Covid Cartagena had 190 cruise ship visits a year.
We go down and interesting street with flags from all over the world strung over top.
There is a lot of very cool graffitti in this area. There are a lot of restaurants, hostels and hotels as well.
After the tour we head to the main square in Getsemani called Plaza de Trinidad. This is a hub for street food and a number of restaurants. I am not up for fried and greasy street food even though they are known for their street food (Anthony 
Bourdain came here for the street food). Instead we grab a table outside at a restaurant and order some tortillas. Mine is seafood and is very heavy because it is laden with cheese and a heavy sauce. It tastes fine going down but I know I’m going to pay later.
We enjoy the people watching and then head back to the old town and our hotel.
My tummy is starting to feel like I have a ton of bricks in there.