First, the blog name—why “This is not my hat.” It is already the name of my instagram for no good reason really, I just liked the children’s book. However, it seemed to extend nicely to this adventure. This not our country, this is not our language, and this is not our ordinary! We simply are excited try something new.

The Famous Walled City

So Cartagena—we arrived at about 4:00 pm local time and left the airport with a new stash of Colombia Pesos. We mushed into a too small taxi and were immediately introduced to the driving habits of the locals. Motorcycles, taxis, buses, were all engaged in some great game of gaining seconds by passing one another in the barest minimum of space. The address of the Airbnb seemed to mean nothing to the driver, but we managed to find the building given it was one of the beachfront high-rises in Boca Grande. The skinny barrier island south of the city has only one road along the sea, so we came across the building eventually.

I expected an ordinary condo, but this place was more like a high-end hotel, with doorman, large lobby and a friendly front desk staff. It had a fantastic pool that extended to the very edge of the building with beautiful views of the Caribbean. I had seen photos, of course, but it was much nicer than I hoped. The apartment itself was high up above all the chaos and noise, with a floor-to-ceiling glass wall overlooking the sea. We flopped on the bed, enjoyed in the view, and thought yes we have arrived. t\The beach below was not as great. The road runs very close to the sea, so close that waves wash over and flood the street. I assume the 8 inches salt water on street is an everyday occurrence as everyone just splashed through unconcerned. It also made for a noisy beach.

Of course, the attraction of Cartagena is it’s perfectly preserved walled city, but soaking up the last of the sun was a very nice way to end 17 hours of travel. We had intentions to taxi into the old town that evening, but we never made it. After the pool, the kids splashed around in the waves, and we walked a couple meters to Colombian-Caribbean dinner and called it a night.

The next morning old town! We started with a tiny but very good cup of black coffee from a street vendor and walked the along the enormous wall for a bit. It is no wonder this city was never compromised by an attack, it is an astounding fortress. The interior is as imagined, with colorful buildings, balconies draped with blooming bougainvillea, and old-fashioned doors with a delightful array of knockers. We had hoped to get breakfast, but wandered around taking photos for so long it ended up being lunch. In the heat of the afternoon, we took refuge in the little ChocoMuseo and spent a relaxing time learning about cocoa and chocolate making, and tasting lots of their chocolate. We wandered all they way across a busy bridge to Castillo San Felipe de Barajas, a Spanish colonial era castle perched up on the hill of San Lázaro. We arrived too late to go in, but it was fine, as we return via the Getsunami neighbhood which we enjoyed. It had chearful streets draped with flags and lights, and charming little touching like hanging umbrellas outlined in lights. We listend to music in the square having cervesa at the cute little restaurants. Sage befriended every street dog or cat, there were remarkably sweet and well mannered and healthy.

The city, somewhat sleepy in the afternnon, kicked to high gear in the evening. We walked towards some of most popular landmarks of the city and this is where the steady steam of touts selling everything becamse overwhelming. We had been approached all day on and off, but the selling hit a feverish pitch in the main square at night. The parades of horse-drawn carriage rides were kind of cute, and the open-air tour buses each with their own band of four older men in flowered shirts and a mandatory accordion held a sort of kitchy charm, but all the men with laminated brochures selling all things were flat out annoying. Cartagena is hands down the tourist capital of Colombia and it showed.

We escaped the square to more normal ground. The beautifully preserved buildings are not just few token streets, it’s a huge area. It’s pretty amazing. It didn’t seem real at times, but real people do live there. Lyle decided to test our how if the door knockers work around 10 pm. After the loud bang, he ran for it in classic 12-year-old fashion. I stood there and met the angry old Colombian man, who seemed shocked to see a 50-year old woman standing there, and wasn’t quite sure who he could yell at.

We had an exhausting but fun whirlwind tour of the place. It is amazing even if over touristed. We had just booked two nights, then onto next place. We were leaving in the morning.