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. 

2017-01-12Cartegena, Columbia

Old Town 

El Viajero Hotel

If you like Romancing the Stone this is the place for you. Usually I don’t like large busy cities, but I am wiling to make an exception for this one. There is an old-time beauty everywhere you look. People are having a great time singing and dancing and eating and drinking at the many open air restaurants. Some right in front of ancient churches. 

We arrived last night and hit the streets. When we saw all the seats right on the square we just had to sit down and have a cold one. The people watching was extraordinary. The music was loud and had a nice Caribbean beat and everyone pulsed and swayed in time with it. 

This place is not cheap, but it is not expensive either. This morning I got up with the sun and had the Old City to myself. What a treat! When I got back to the hotel Kim was sitting at a table and we both knew that two nights would not be enough. 

Leticia, Colombia

Eco-Hotel, El Refugio de la Floresta 

2017-02-11 

This was our last night in the Amazon. In a few hours our flight leaves for Cartegena. We had breakfast and walked down by the warf taking pictures along the way. Then we went to an ATM changed money and bought a new pair of underwear for me to sleep in. 

We also stopped at a travel agent to compare prices with what we had paid, by booking online versus booking once we got here. I winds up that we would have saved hundreds of dollars, and had a lot more flexibility and adventure. Of course that is hindsight. If I came back, and I would love to do a month in just the Amazon, that is the way I would do it. It would be a long slow boats up river, and jumping on a tour when I needed to experience more. 

In the end I am really happy with what we did as it worked out perfectly. I wish that we were going to spend a lot more time here. I also feel much better prepared to return.

You can see the Amazon River in the distance. Cartagena here we come.