Feb. 17 Day 2 - Blogger has decided that it won't let me post pictures today so it's just text.
We woke up well-rested and headed up the rickety, steep stairs to our rooftop breakfast. The view was excellent and the boy serving us was careful to get every utensil in the right place. The food was good and we tried to use our limited Spanish with the staff. When Meg tipped the cook she was also very she about receiving the money.
Back in our rooms we watched a Chilean morning program and repacked our backpacks. We dropped our stuff off at our new hotel(we arrived a day before our trip group started so that we could get a direct flight) and tried to find money. After two machines said they couldn't contact our bank we saw a bank crowded with tourists, a good sign. Success!
Next it was off to the Museum of Cartagena in the Palace of the Inquisition. It's a small museum that informed us that it was under renovation and lost a lot of its collection in the troubled 90s. There were about 4 rooms per floor with the first one focusing on human rights and the inquisition and the second on the history of the city. Each room had one explanation in English but we had to use our terrible interpretive skills to figure out what the artifacts were. The models on the second floor were nice and the huge park area of the museums with stocks and gallows were weird but not a whole lot to see here.
The Museum of Modern Art was our next stop but it didn't open until 4pm on Sundays , to accommodate church and siesta time we figured. Now we were hunting lunch and landed in a small place offering a vegetarian lunch. The two helpers in the restaurant couldn't tell us what it was or how much it cost so that chef had to come out and set things straight. This place seemed more authentic than our previous restaurant, serving us vegetable rice with beans and fried bananas. The hot sauce de la casa was excellent and no one was disappointed with their grub.
Meg was up for a nap at this point but the hotel still wasn't ready for us so we walked to the playa. It was outside the city walls with tall waves smashing on large volcanic boulders. We walked through a little park where two people were sleeping under bushes nd a statue devoted to gannets (alcatraz in Spanish). We walked back along the city wall, which seemed low for a defensive wall but maybe had lost height over time, and began to feel the heat.
Back at the hotel, the rooms were ready and so we settled in before our G Adventures launch meeting on the rooftop patio at 6 pm. We arrived and met our guide and 14 co-tourists. We were expecting to amongst the oldest in the group but were more in the middle. In the middle of Filipe's presentation fireworks started going off behind him, which was a nice touch. Most of the group had been travelling for a week already and we were the replacements. It amused them that they lost, then gained a Canadian couple and a Swiss woman.
We walked to a restaurant and found the people we spoke to as being pleasant with many people being seasoned travellers. We had a mojito made from corozo, a local tart berry, which went down really well. We had been drinking the tap water but our guide advised that we switch to bottled. Confusingly he was fine with the sliced fruit sold on the street, which is usually listed as one of the first things you are not supposed to touch. So far our stomachs are alright.
Back from the restaurant it was straight to bed as we were to have an early start the next day.
We woke up well-rested and headed up the rickety, steep stairs to our rooftop breakfast. The view was excellent and the boy serving us was careful to get every utensil in the right place. The food was good and we tried to use our limited Spanish with the staff. When Meg tipped the cook she was also very she about receiving the money.
Back in our rooms we watched a Chilean morning program and repacked our backpacks. We dropped our stuff off at our new hotel(we arrived a day before our trip group started so that we could get a direct flight) and tried to find money. After two machines said they couldn't contact our bank we saw a bank crowded with tourists, a good sign. Success!
Next it was off to the Museum of Cartagena in the Palace of the Inquisition. It's a small museum that informed us that it was under renovation and lost a lot of its collection in the troubled 90s. There were about 4 rooms per floor with the first one focusing on human rights and the inquisition and the second on the history of the city. Each room had one explanation in English but we had to use our terrible interpretive skills to figure out what the artifacts were. The models on the second floor were nice and the huge park area of the museums with stocks and gallows were weird but not a whole lot to see here.
The Museum of Modern Art was our next stop but it didn't open until 4pm on Sundays , to accommodate church and siesta time we figured. Now we were hunting lunch and landed in a small place offering a vegetarian lunch. The two helpers in the restaurant couldn't tell us what it was or how much it cost so that chef had to come out and set things straight. This place seemed more authentic than our previous restaurant, serving us vegetable rice with beans and fried bananas. The hot sauce de la casa was excellent and no one was disappointed with their grub.
Meg was up for a nap at this point but the hotel still wasn't ready for us so we walked to the playa. It was outside the city walls with tall waves smashing on large volcanic boulders. We walked through a little park where two people were sleeping under bushes nd a statue devoted to gannets (alcatraz in Spanish). We walked back along the city wall, which seemed low for a defensive wall but maybe had lost height over time, and began to feel the heat.
Back at the hotel, the rooms were ready and so we settled in before our G Adventures launch meeting on the rooftop patio at 6 pm. We arrived and met our guide and 14 co-tourists. We were expecting to amongst the oldest in the group but were more in the middle. In the middle of Filipe's presentation fireworks started going off behind him, which was a nice touch. Most of the group had been travelling for a week already and we were the replacements. It amused them that they lost, then gained a Canadian couple and a Swiss woman.
We walked to a restaurant and found the people we spoke to as being pleasant with many people being seasoned travellers. We had a mojito made from corozo, a local tart berry, which went down really well. We had been drinking the tap water but our guide advised that we switch to bottled. Confusingly he was fine with the sliced fruit sold on the street, which is usually listed as one of the first things you are not supposed to touch. So far our stomachs are alright.
Back from the restaurant it was straight to bed as we were to have an early start the next day.
Nice, even if there are no photos. I look forward to more posts and agree with Wendy: post early and often. Who cares about spelling and editing.
ReplyDeleteSolidarity! We're going to fall behind when we're out of wifi but can make it up on dull transit days. Good to know you're following, we'd love it if you joined us somewhere!
ReplyDelete