The country of Colombia in South America historically has a bad reputation... drugs, crime, danger... But with the recommendation of a friend who did a solo trip there, and after some deep internet research, we went for it! We visited Cartagena Colombia in January 2022.
Hotel
We stayed in what is referred to as Cartagena's old city, at Hotel Santa Clara. We had a gorgeous room with a balcony view of the pool. Ryan quickly realized he forgot his bathing suit, which made us thankful for the hotel gift shop where he almost ended up with quite the short set of trunks. The pool was beautiful pool with a bar and a casual restaurant for poolside fare, where we easily could've spent the whole trip. Continental breakfast was included each morning, although we tend to have a hard getting moving early enough. The first night at the hotel we noticed an extravagant wedding reception happening outside off the pool, which we were very enticed to "crash". On one of our last nights, the side streets leading up to the hotel were all blocked off, making it tricky to get back to our room. We later learned that the President was staying that this very hotel!
Greeted daily by the gentleman in the white top hat.
Open air atrium within the hotel
Things to Do
-Shopped and ate along the colorful cobblestone streets
-Walking tour opportunities, for more of a more structured, guided city experience
-Perused grocery stores, where we love to stock up on local snacks
-Watched a championship soccer game
Tour the Getsemani Neighborhood
A colorful, artistic part of the city that warrants a little walk outside of the walls of the old city. We played the part of photographer for a while, before escaping into the air conditioning of a few bars and breweries to cool off.
Peep my tote bag, handmade locally.
Boat Excursion through the Rosario Islands
Some moments of our boat day:
-We were picked up [late] from our hotel - thought this trip was a scam...
-Couldn't find the tour guide when we were dropped off - again thought this was a scam...
-Boarded a speed boat, where vendors were selling hats along the dock, offering to attach a string to the hat to keep it from blowing off into the ocean
-Met a guy from Moldova, who was part of a guys' trip, but none of the other partiers ended up on the boat trip...
-Met a girl from Peru who lives in California, who w traveling alone through Colombia while she was between jobs
-Boated over top of a famous sunken airplane, visible from the surface of the water
-Snorkeled off the side of the boat
-Provided lunch at another island where we drank beers in the shade with our new friend from Moldova
-Stopped at the "party island" which looked like Spring Break. We stood in the water at a table where our server brought us drinks. Loud music, lots of people. All the boats were pulled up parallel along the edges, also blasting music
-Another island of fruity drinks, sitting in lounge chairs looking out at the water
-Next island - beach massages in covered cabanas
-Last boat ride was when the sun set where we were hoping to see glowing plankton, though we were unsuccessful. Afterwards, several "boatfuls" of people were dropped off at a dark beach location where we walked to board coach buses, to take us home to each of our hotels.
-All in all, it was a little intimidating at first, but ultimately this boat trip was one of our favorites memories of Colombia.
Restaurants
Food is something Ryan and I majorly bond over. We love to cook, but we also love a good international restaurant. In Cartagena, we ate Cuban food, pizza a few times, had a few meals and drinks on breezy rooftop bars, found some great local seafood. Some of their restaurants are quite actually holes in the wall - a small brick room with only a few tables. We spent quite a few days and nights at some version of outdoor seating, taking in great weather and people watching.
Floating Hostel
An experience we didn't get the chance to do is the Casa en el Agua - a floating hostel! Stay the night, lay in a hammock near the water, and enjoy the cool blue waters.
Cartagena was a great experience overall. Knowing what we know now, we have a little more guts to explore beyond the walls of Cartagena's old city next time. But as you might know, Ryan and I don't have the need to see ALL of a country to have a good time. We left with great memories of what we did get to see, and we would definitely recommend it!
Comments