Colombia Trip Part 3 - Day One Cartegena
We stayed at the Decameron Cartegena. This is a nice-enough three star place. It is an all-inclusive place and it’s good. All the food: meals, drinks, snacks, even alcohol, are included. No worry about keeping money or signing stuff. They just put a plastic wristband on you and you have the run of the facilities. Our particular package also had a couple tours added in. One was a city tour that gave us the sights of Cartegena. Very nice, and the guide, Pepito, was a wonderful guy. We saw some great views, crawled around an ancient Spanish fort, and did some nice shopping. Lisa was happy with an emerald ring she bought at a mercado. It was a nice time.
The evening “tour” was not as good. It started as a coach ride to old town Cartegena in an old-style, one-horse carriage. Might have been nice enough, but not the way the hotel handled it. First one of their people grabbed a coach just at random off the street in front of the hotel. The other carriage driver’s were arguing with each other over which one should have gotten the job from the hotel. It was a mess, but finally we headed off.
The route we took was nothing special, just heading down a road in a rickety horse-drawn carriage. And we didn’t know where we were going! We go through the old stone archways into the old walled city of Cartegena and end up in a plaza.
The driver says, here we are! Where’s here? Dinner at the restaurant on the corner. Okay, but it’s not open for an hour. No problem, just look around! How do we get back? A bus picks you up at seven! Where do we meet the bus? I don’t know!
And the buggy driver sends his horse clopping off.
Well, we finally get into the restaurant. The food is okay, but nothing special. Then we hang around for two hours waiting for the bus and getting hustled by the street vendors.
One particular problem with traveling to Cartegena is the incredibly aggressive street vendors. They run in packs at every plaza, beach, hotel entrance and attraction. There is no quiet walking in this city as every few feet some obnoxious person is thrusting something into your face. If you sit down it is even worse, as you get a constant stream of people thrusting the same worthless trinkets in your face.
Finally, after two hours of assault by the street vendors a Decameron security guard comes through announcing the bus is here. It’s after 8pm. We finally head off.
It could have been so much better if the tour people had given us even a little bit of information.
The evening “tour” was not as good. It started as a coach ride to old town Cartegena in an old-style, one-horse carriage. Might have been nice enough, but not the way the hotel handled it. First one of their people grabbed a coach just at random off the street in front of the hotel. The other carriage driver’s were arguing with each other over which one should have gotten the job from the hotel. It was a mess, but finally we headed off.
The route we took was nothing special, just heading down a road in a rickety horse-drawn carriage. And we didn’t know where we were going! We go through the old stone archways into the old walled city of Cartegena and end up in a plaza.
The driver says, here we are! Where’s here? Dinner at the restaurant on the corner. Okay, but it’s not open for an hour. No problem, just look around! How do we get back? A bus picks you up at seven! Where do we meet the bus? I don’t know!
And the buggy driver sends his horse clopping off.
Well, we finally get into the restaurant. The food is okay, but nothing special. Then we hang around for two hours waiting for the bus and getting hustled by the street vendors.
One particular problem with traveling to Cartegena is the incredibly aggressive street vendors. They run in packs at every plaza, beach, hotel entrance and attraction. There is no quiet walking in this city as every few feet some obnoxious person is thrusting something into your face. If you sit down it is even worse, as you get a constant stream of people thrusting the same worthless trinkets in your face.
Finally, after two hours of assault by the street vendors a Decameron security guard comes through announcing the bus is here. It’s after 8pm. We finally head off.
It could have been so much better if the tour people had given us even a little bit of information.
posted by Unknown at 11:44 AM
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