Cartagena, Colombia March 2020

Denver to Colombia

The bus to the airport smelled of disinfecting wipes. A few passengers wore face masks and looked extra cautious; others behaved as usual. I wrapped a thin cotton scarf around my lower face not wanting to appear panic-stricken and at the same time, hoping that it would provide some protection.

We had a night flight from Denver to Fort Lauderdale, and then to Cartagena. Why is it always so difficult for me to leave home for late flights? I wished I could stay and watch TV instead of getting dressed and going outside into a cold dark night. What made me think that I love traveling?

My mood quickly changed once I was on the bus. Curiosity woke up, I was eager to see new places.

Both flights were full. Spirit has the most uncomfortable seats out of all airlines that I flew on. By the time we arrived, my back and shoulders hurt from sitting on their slippery chairs that were not designed for the curves of the human body.

In Cartagena airport, we joined a long line to go through passport control. There were already known cases of COVID-19 in the US and none in Colombia. So, we had to declare that we came from a contaminated country.

Our plan was to take a cheap taxi colectivo but we did not find where it stops and started walking toward the hotel. We went through poor neighborhoods; the residents looked with interest at the two foreigners with backpacks and followed us with their eyes.

After a half an hour of walking, a Metro bus caught up with us. We flagged it down and rode the bus for a while. Frankly, I was grateful for that feeling tired after a sleepless night. The bus did not go close to our hotel; we had to get off and to walk the rest of the way.

The city was full of tourists. Surprisingly for such a popular destination, the majority of tourists spoke Spanish; they probably came from other Latin American countries. We hardly heard any English on the streets. Accordingly, the locals communicate in Spanish only. There was no reason for them to learn another language as it happened in tourist areas of Egypt or Thailand where the people quickly adapted to the situation and became very multilingual.

Cartagena struck me as a busy city bustling with activity. Its center is like an open-air art museum. The painted house walls were a feast for the eyes. I took so many photos of these paintings that they will require a separate post. Below are just a couple of them.

Cartagena is the place of the National Beauty Pageant that takes place every November. Colombians are proud of their ladies who won many major international beauty contests. Two of them were named Miss Universe in 1958 and 2014.

Gifted artists, Colombians are not as crafty as their neighbors, Ecuadorians and Peruvians. Markets in those two countries dazzle with variety of high-quality artisan goods. In Cartagena, it was t-shirts, fridge magnets and other run-of-the-mill stuff. But never mind that. There is a lot to enjoy there besides shopping.

Old town of Cartagena