Cartagena, Colombia

How to sum up the last 9 days in Cartagena... after some flight delays in Lima and Bogota we (Laura and I coming from Bolivia) finally arrived in Cartagena. My sister was already there and waiting for me in the hotel lobby and it was so awesome to see her! It's been a year and a half since we have seen each other and for her birthday this year I decided to get her to Colombia so we could hang out. I try not to have any regrets in life, but my true regret is being a terrible sister when we were growing up. Mary is such an amazing human being and I was such a super huge bitch to her when she was little that I feel like I want to make up for lost time. We have never done a sister vacation, so this was it!

We decided to splurge while she was here and stay at the Hilton. Luckily one of Laura's friends was also here and had Hilton points so we got hooked up with an awesome free breakfast every morning and access to the "excutive lounge".

Our first big excursion was to get on a bus (Las Chivas) and do a night tour of the city. Of course we had no idea what to expect, but it turns out that you get a free bottle of rum and some coke and ice to go along with it. I think they sat us five girls in the very front seat because they could translate more easily and it turned out to be a benefit for us because we kept getting new bottles of rum. Of course we end up at a "disco" and the fun begins...

Next day we wake up early to head to Islas del Rosario to chill on the beach. The ride to Bocachica (the little mouth) was ok, but then we reached open waters... whew, not a fan. I luckily didn't have to puke over the side.

Not 10 minutes off the boat we decide to jump back on and go see some coral. Mary orders the extra huge fins and we jump overboard and get masked up. Mary couldn't get her mask on right and it kept squishing her ears and the guide must have asked her 15 times if she was ok. She was kind of pale and looked pathetic, but we adjusted and enjoyed the waters. It wasn't as clear as I thought it would be, but still nice.

Mary left after 5 days and it was really sad to see her off at the airport. I wish I had planned to go home with her and spend the holidays with the family. Actually Raleigh just had 8 inches of snow, so maybe I'm glad I didn't head home. Hanging out with her made me realize that I want to be around my people. Thanks to Larry we all have similar travel styles, you know, get out there and explore!

The last 4 days in Cartagena were really unnecessary. Laura and I didn't know when we planned the trip that 5 days is a perfect amount of time to see what you want around here. I have done a bit of exploring and have some great photos of the walled city. We went to another island and hung out for the day, did laps around the streets in the city, ate really good, expensive food and found the Starbucks of Colombia... Juan Valdez. We made friends with street beer sellers and jewlery vendors, and hung out in the ritzy plazas as well as the ghetto plazas.

Now it's time to have one last meal in the city and then get on a bus and head north to Taganga and some real beach time!