Colombia Trip Part 4 - Day Two Cartegena

The next day is the worst of the trip. We start by going to the beach. This is a dirty beach that have flocks of street vendors. The hotel has a number of shade tents for the guests. We find one and settle in. A vendor, wearing a semi-official looking smock comes by and asks if we want a leg massage. Sure, why not!

Big mistake.

Suddenly we have a cluster of women about us, starting to give Lisa and I leg massages. They insist we need pedicures, manucures, full body massages and much, much more. They saw us coming! One lady insists Lisa should have beads in her hair. No thank you, says Lisa. How about I put one in so you can see what it looks like? Okay, just one.

So I have one slapping some kind of lotion on my legs and rubbing it in… some of the rubs getting high up my legs and into some unprofessional parts! Another is trying to strip my shirt off. Two more are going at Lisa’s legs with a fifth sticking foil and cheap beads in a ridiculous display on Lisa’s head. What happened to just one bead?

I fork over money, too much money, because they grab it and disappear in a flash. Lisa is irate with me because I paid them way too much. I didn’t care because they were gone. We left soon after, disappointed at the bad experience.

Then we hop on a bus for a LOOONG bus ride to our next destination. I felt Cartegena was nice to visit, but I don’t want to go there again. It is way too commercialized, overflowing with obnoxious street vendors. The city itself seems to be full of lovely places, but there is no way the locals let you enjoy it. They are just too focused on wringing every ounce of money out of the tourist. It’s a pity. If the locals were better I’d love to go to Cartegena again and again.