The Mighty Colombia... Part Two.....

Leaving Aguachica was somewhat of a soggy affair. Our clothes were still damp. Just enough to make you feel uncomfortable when you first put them on, you know.....dry socks, wet boots type of stuff. Not to worry the sun was 'cracking the flagstones', we'd soon dry out.

Today we're heading for Cartagena. It's a bit of a ride, over 300 miles. 'That's not much!', I can hear some of you saying....well ...over here...on these roads it's probably too much, so we may not get there tonight....we'll see......

The days riding went well. The roads are a lot flatter so no getting caught behind any wagons laboriously crawling uphill.We soon dried out and for the rest of the journey, simply rode, sometimes we like to do just that......ride.....

About an hour from Cartagena we pulled into a petrol station and ended up meeting an Amateur Sports Team, Club Pulsar NS ...from Cartagena itself. What a laugh these guys and gals were, so pleased we met you ❤

Eva and the guys confirmed we were about an hour away from Cartagena. Time to get a 'wriggle on', the light is fading.

Cartagena

Finally we arrived after battling through what appeared to be 'rush hour'... and for those of you that know me, you'll be surprised to hear... I hadn't booked anything 🤣 Luckily one of the first hotels we pulled into had a room, breakfast included and parking for the bikes round the back....sorted!!

We changed hotels the next day, got a 'posh un' by the castle.....I got a discount ….nice 😀 So ready to explore for a few days we decided that as the castle, correctly called ' Castillo San Felipe de Barajas' was just across the road we'd go there first and 'bonus'....two of our other motorcycling friends were also in Cartagena, Phil and Sapna, (You can find details of their trip on their blog at the bottom of the page.).

Arrangements were made and off we went. What a good day. First we all wandered round the castle. Built between 1536 and 1763, it's well preserved with lots of tunnels to investigate Once bored with that we went down to the Old Town. What a beautiful place, well worth the visit, you seriously should not come to Cartagena without visiting.

The best bit of Cartagena is the old walled town, originally a port for the Spanish, with narrow streets and brightly painted houses. There's remnants of the Spanish conquest everywhere. We spent the afternoon wandering round taking in the sights and had lunch in a café I simply can't remember the name of but the food was really good. Maybe if Phil or Sapna read this they may remember and comment below. Time flew by and eventually we had to say our 'goodbyes' to Phil and Sapna. They would be moving on and we'd planned to stay a while. We went and stood on the old city walls and watched them ride off. I And that was that, best sort another place to stay out. Unfortunately I couldn't wrangle an extension or a further decent price in the 'posh' hotel we were in so we changed to a cheaper one.

Boring not boring but I'm an avid film lover. During our stay we popped down to the local cinema to watch Jurassic World- Fallen Kingdom....it was packed out !! When you're on the road as long as this. it's nice to do 'normal' (What's normal?) stuff too.

The next few days were spent exploring Cartagena more. The Old Town really is very pretty, sorry am I repeating myself...….just visit...whatever you do, just visit 😀

I'd also arranged to meet Ludwig from the Stahlratte….remember our cancelled sailing from Panama? Well Ludwig was mooring up for a couple of weeks, here in Cartagena where he is based. We just couldn't miss the opportunity. We may not have been able to sail on her this time but Ludwig kindly invited us on board for a coffee. There was a little confusion over meeting but thankfully another friend and motorcycle traveller, Yuriy, whose motorbike was still onboard the Stahlratte at this point, kindly phoned Ludwig to let him know we had arrived at the dock and Ludwig came and collected us in a dingy. And so, we finally got to meet the man behind the emails. We must have spent several hours aboard just chatting and being generally nosey. Ludwig was very obliging.

After an interesting discussion regarding the cancellation of our trip because of the authorities in Cartagena and general chit chat, Ludwig dropped us back to the dock. The day was not done After spending time with Ludwig we then met Yuriy. I'd only ever spoken to him online so again another friend made from social media. Despite our cancelled trip, sailings had continued and Yuriy had managed to get on the second one. Along with Yuriy came two more new friends Joy and Liam. Turns out Liam had been one of the crew on the Stahlratte but was now moving on.

Another cracking day in Cartagena ensued, swapping stories, sight seeing and general messin' about 😜😀

Amidst all the buildings and people on the way back to our lodgings we stumbled upon a little park, 'Paque Centenario' I think it was called that and bouncing around in the trees ….ha, ha.... or not were monkeys and a sloth. Brilliant !!

We've pretty much wrapped up Cartagena but there's still a couple of things I want to show you from our little tour. We'd found a pair of boots, ha, ha....yes boots. They're famous. The first time we went to find them, it was heaving with tourists trying to get selfies. Needless to say we left and Chris returned the next morning to get a people free shot.

The sculpture is called 'The Old Shoes' and is a tribute to the poet Luis Carlos Lopez, who was born and died in Cartagena between 1879 and 1950.One of his most famous poems, 'A Mi Ciudad Nativa describes Cartagena as comfortable and familiar 'as an old pair of boots' hence the sculpture.

Cartagena is also fairly well known for it's 'knockers'...…...boys....please......not the sort that suddenly sprang to your mind!!! 😂😂

We didn't set off to really search them out but then we kept spotting them on our visits to the Old Town.

Last but not least, in the final hours of our time in Cartagena,Chris captured the fishermen, back after a day at sea ,bringing their nets in and yet another beautiful sunset.