2017-02-15
Playa Blanca, Baru, Colombia

Hotel Donde Le Le

Well we finally made it to the Caribbean blue waters. How beautiful it is. After the brown water of Cartagena, it was refreshing to see the aqua blue water and white sandy beach. 

We did have a bit of a adventure getting here, but in the end, being here was all that mattered. 

We walked along the shore, but the sun was so hot that soon we jumped in the water. Much to my surprise the sandy bottom was littered with large rocks. On the way coming back to shore a wave washed me into one, and I felt a sharp pain in my foot. At first I thought that it was just a sharp rock, but after I saw the small black dots on my foot I knew that it was a sea urchin. Ouch! It really hurt to walk on it. Soon a local boy came over and told me I must pee on it and the pain would go away. I will leave It to your imagination, but I must say it is feeling better. 

Our hotel sits right on the beach, just feet from the water. As the sun set we walked up the beach and had nice nice taco dinner and a local beer. 

I think that we will stay here a while. 

2017-01-14
Cartagena, Columbia

Old Town

El Viajero Hotel

Love is in the air! We are in one of the most romantic cities in the world on Valentines Day. 

We have just had a wonderful time here. Last night we sat in the plaza with the romantically lit church looming over us just feet away. We had a couple of overpriced beers, but it was well worth the $8000 pecos ($2.75 US) to sit in such a magnificently beautiful place. Later we walked over and had a Colombian pizza and then walked on to have a hand made gelato for dessert. It was really delicious, but just the show was worth the price. 

This morning we got up early and took a romantic stroll along the ancient fortress wall that separates the city from the sea.

 The sun had been up for a while, so it was already starting to take a toll on us. The waves were crashing onto the sidewalk so we had to protect our cameras. Then we came upon a bunch of fisherman who were pulling in a gigantic net full of fish. We stopped and took pictures until the net was pulled in. It looked like a pretty meager catch. 

Later we strolled on inland and had a nice breakfast. 

 We finished the day with a trip back to the main plaza for a beer and meat and corn on a stick. Wow what a great Valentines Day with a wonderful friend. 

2017-01-14 

Cartegena, Columbia

Old Town

El Viajero Hotel

We just finished a lovely visit with a good friend of mine and her husband. Both are from Austin, Texas. How strange, and what a coincidence it was to hook up in such a far away place as Cartagena. 

 

We walked together all around town, drank beer on the plaza, had gelatos, and then we went up on the wall that surrounds the city and watched the sun set. Afterwards we went to the Plaza Bolivar and watched a dance troup salza on the park. 

Then, just as they were about to board a bus for Santa Martha they pulled out their musical instruments and serenaded us in the sitting room of our hotel. 

I’ll tell you it doesn’t get much better than this. I wish them well on the rest of their journey through Colombia. 

2017-01-13
Cartegena, Columbia

Old Town

El Viajero Hotel

To my photography friends I have to make a few notations, which are really in the form of excuses. 

I am using a Sony A6000 mirrorless camera. It is an older model, and very compact. There are now two newer models, but I am just too cheap to upgrade. Just as an aside, the A6500 lists for $1500. I paid $400 for mine. I did however purchase a new Sony Zeis 16-70 mm f4 lens for the trip. It was twice the price of my body, and about as heavy!

On this trip Kim and I decided to travel light. So no laptop or even iPad. Just an iPhone. To get a picture from my camera to the iPhone is pretty convoluted. I have to wifi it from camera to phone, fix it up in Snapseed, a free photo editing program. At this point the photo is too large so I have to reduce it in a app called Photo Compress as it would be way too large to try to upload. 
WordPress, which is good enough to host my blog for free, has an app for the iPhone that is at best usable. I write the text in Simplenote, another app, and then paste it into WordPress. The compressed photos have to be then inserted. Whew!

I have never done this just using the small screen on my phone so all of this is new to me. Yes, there are plenty of mistakes and the quality of the photos is probably not the best, but I am so very thrilled that it works at all.