Ahoy!!

I am writing now from the absolutely beautiful and enchanting city of Cartagena on the Caribbean coast of Colombia. Of the colonial cities I have seen in my day this one is certainly on the top. I mean, I can't turn a bleedin' corner in this city without taking one, two, maybe even three pictures, often of the same wall. Its hopeless. Have a look at the pictures, the historic centre of the city is made up of narrow one-way streets lined with tall and colourful houses, each a different colour from the one beside. To add to it, many of the houses have these gorgeous balconies and wooden "bars" (I have no idea how to describe them) around the windows. Honestly, its impossible to refrain from taking pictures, it really is.

Not only is the city beautiful, but it has a really old colonial port city kind of feel to it - I feel like I am in a pirate movie or something.

You know, I have always wanted to be a pirate so this is the perfect place to live out that dream. What's even more perfect is that with the huge (I mean really wild) week long festival going on here, no one really notices a foreign gal running around the streets with a red bandana tied around her head, a cover over one eye, and an open bottle of rum in hand. Its completely acceptable!

Last night was the second last night of this huge bash (the Independence Day of Cartagena). The night started with a big parade passing my hostel. On my way back from the centre to view the parade I noticed that several people were throwing flour or pouring paint on each other, a couple guys thought they would like to get me with the paint, but I gave them a good look and they changed their minds....

After the parade a group of us went down to the plaza at the end of the road where the whole neighbourhood had gathered to dance and drink and throw mini fire crackers. So here I am, oh so cautiously making my way through the crowd trying to watch out for guys lighting these terrifying explosives when we came to a cross roads. It was kinda dark and we (myself and travelmates) weren't sure which road we should take. Finally, we came to a conclusion and just as I take the first step in our new direction I see this pair of hands coming for my face, blurring my vision. The next think I know, these wet hands are a being rubbed all over my face, in my eyes and in my mouth. I thought to myself, is this water all over my face? Wishful thinking I guess. I wipe my face with a finger and to my surprise I realized that my face (and shirt) was now covered in wet bright blue paint. Yup, everywhere. It was good fun though, I got a lot of impressed looks from the locals.

Here is a video of the entertainment that hop from bus to bus making money:



Anyway, here are some pictures of Cartagena.