Cartagena de Indios

 Borealis Saturday 29.04.2023

A strange dream in the night. I was on my way to work and caught a bus with some other commuters, mostly young men, at a bus stop. The bus was taking us on a different, more rural route, as we all talked and chatted to the middle aged lady who had greeted us as we entered the bus. We were all in excellent spirits happy with the thought that we would arrive at work a little later than usual. I was looking at a map to explain the route to another passenger, and it seemed familar, but in an imprecise sort of way. And then I suddenly felt a note of alarm. I did not recognize the English countryside around us. "Where exactly are we?" I asked the lady. The others stopped talking and waited for her answer. I can't remember what she replied, but she implied we were on a journey to nowhere in particular, like a joy ride, more than a planned mystery tour. Then I woke up.

I am obviously on a countdown to reality, The dreaminess behind this cruise is close to ending. We have drifted here divorced from the humdrum life at home. For Albina and me that is a dream lasting 80 days and never to be repeated. Our financial reserves could not permit something like this again. But for others on this voyage the dream is reality. They have no reason to return as their children have flown their nest. Others want to be with friends and relatives at home to tell them of their adventures, before they again plunge into this world of cruising where they are being pampered and spending money they have earned in their hard working earlier life. It is a fantasy life withour much purpose for people with higher octane finances.

Next on our current dream tour is the port of Cartagena de Indios on the coast of Colombia. We are scheduled to arrive before noon today. The sky is overcast and the sea is calm.  Initially I sunned myself by the pool and then moved over to our cabib balcony. Albina remained in bed with the fruit I brought her for breakfast still untouched. I watched the coast sitting and drowsing from our balcony, surprised that it was on the port side. That suggests that the boat sailed in a circle padding Catragena so as to approach it from the east. I watched the low level coast pass by waiting for the first sign of a city on the horizon. To my surprise the coast suddenly started disappearing. I was amazed as I seemed to be staring at a deep inlet or even an open sea. I stood up to peer to my right and was completely stunned by the sight of a forest of high rises only a mile away. They reminded me of a group of meerkats standed to attention carefully watching the horizon. This group of high rises is matched by a further smaller batch of high rises several miles to the west which form the backdrop to 6 high cranes and two empty piers, one of which is designated for us. The port is covered by a mass od containers from all over the world, stacked six high like lego boxes. The sunny weather had begun to cloud over again and there was a speck of rain in the air as we drew into port. The pier looked surprisingly empty with one longshoreman waiting for us, and we all joked that perhaps they had got the date wrong and were expecting us tomorrow, However, just as we were within touching distance of the pier, two more appeared from nowhere and caught our mooring ropes.  The time was 12.15 and we would be here until 10pm.

Albina had got up by now and we had lunch. We had at least four hours before we had to leave on our tour. We decided to visit the Oasis Park connected to the Port Terminal. As we left the ship we were faced with pouring rain. A shuttle bus had been provided by the port authority and that drove us the short distance before we reached Oasis Park. It was not a large enclosure, but so enchanting in content. It consisted of a large souvenir shop selling goods, ranging from jewellery, handicrafts to clothes, which was surrounded by a mini zoo of local animals. The first large enclosure with an imaginative lake and stream, included flamingos, black swans and brown pelicans. However the park also included pecocks and parroys of all colour, which seem free to leave and wander around the nearest buildings but also come back to be fed. I had never seen so many parrots, blue, red and green. There must have been near enough one hundred. 

Other animals included toucans, anteaters, turtles, tortoises and sloths, Albina's favourite. When in a Costa Rica gift shop she had bought herself a cuddly sloth, which she keeps next to her when she sleeps. Here she went all mushy when she saw a keeper hold a bay sloth, almost as endearing, if not as handsome, as a koala. She stroked it and posed with it and of course I had to take a picture of that. In the gift shop she bought herself a gold chain and a beautful leather brief case adaptable as a laptop case. Altogether a very enjoyable visit. As the rain had stopped now we caught the shuttle bus again tore turn to the ship. 

Our tour started just before 5. A coach carried us to the city centre. As we passed through the area surrounding the port we were dismayed to see how many houses were surrounded by high walls topped with barbed wire. Cartagena has a population of 1.5 million and is proud of its multiethnic mix, but obviously there are still social tensions in the city, which is the fifth largest in Colombia. It has to be remembered that Colombia could be a violent place. There were decades' long struggles with drug cartels, based particularly in the cities of Medellin and Cali, and there had been a guerilla war with the native populations in the countryside for decades as well. It is not surprising therefore that even now, with a left wing president, there are still the remnants of these tensions, with disaffected former guerilla still trying toadjust to a peace time economy.  

After a half hour's drive we reached the Castle of San Felipe de Barajas, one of the largest fortress I have ever seen, comparable to the ones I saw in Cairo and Agra, but more concentrated in its sheer mass. Its construction apparently started in 1536, but the most doinant section of the fortress was added in the early seventreenth century after the destructive attacks by Francis Drake, and to prevent further attacks by buccaneers and British and Dutch privateers. Cartagena Castle was important because it was the Fort Knox of the Spanish Americas. All the gold and silver and precious stones collected from Acapulco in the north to Cuzco in the south was accumulated in Cartagena and then shipped from there to Spain. This made Cartagens a tempting city to attack, and explains why not nly the fortress was built, but also a massive wall surrounding most of the city, of which some 13 kilometres still apparently remain. Both the fortress itself, and the remaining ramparts surrounding the city contributed not just to the safety of the town in the past, but also to its prosperity as a tourist attraction in the present.

Within these wall is a charming street layout still reflecting the splendid Spanish houses in shady streets belonging to those conquestadores, colonial officials and merchants who had become rich as a result of plunder, trade and the sale of slaves. Apparently, a total of one million slaves were sold in the markets of this city over two centuries. 

The next stage of the excursion was to travel around this wonderful old town centre in hors-drawn carriages. Albina and I shared a carriage with Lisa and Steve. It was a wnderful way to sample the colours and smells of the old colonial quarter in the darkening dusk. We must have driven around for at least 45 minutes watching and being watched by local traders, residents and tourists, as passed under the decorated wooden balconies and house fronts painted in yellow, red and green. The locals could be boisterous. As the cavalcade of horse carriages paused at one point, some sprightly young local Colombian rappers began a five minute chant literally leaning in to our carriege. I brushed them off with a two dollar bill for their trouble. We also passed churches, museums, hotels, jewellers and expensive fashion stores. We could also see the roof and high dome of the Cathedral a block away from our carriage tour.  By the time the carriage ride finished it was dark. We were able to do some more shopping for gifts and souvenirs in the Las Bovedas, the former dungeons, and now a popular arched arcade of shops attached to the city walls. Then the coach took us home afer what we considered a more than satisfactory tour. But again, we were alarmed to see how poorly the city streets were lighted. It is a mater of what you are used to, but, outside of the Old Town,  I would not choose to wander around the streets of Cartagena at night.

A lovely Colombian experience awaited us on the ship. The vessel had booked a local Colombian Folkloric Show. It was a troupe of six young male and six female dancers  from Colombia with a sensual and energetic display of traditional Colombian dances. I say traditional Colombian, but actually the tradition is overwhelmingly African. Apart from the Fandango and the dance about a farmers market, which are both Spanish Amercian, the remaining dances all told stories, of  peasant or fisherman's life, or about the jealousy of two women over one man, and were danced almost savagely to the beat of African drums, accompanied by an indigenous flute. The women and the men dance wildly waving their arms without grace, and then the women were lifted in turn either individually or together in a mutual cradle hold, and then tossed and spun round crazily to an ever increasing beat. All the time they wore flamboyant Spanish style costumes, which again mixed the genres and made the whole performance extraordinary erotic. It was a wonderful breathtaking performance.

Helen and Tony did not turn up for the late night quiz, but the remaining three battled on to get only 11 out of 15.