Cartagena, Colombia

Cartagena is a beautiful walled city up in the north of Colombia. It is really charming colonial town that oozes history with a really Caribbean feel, it reminds me a little bit of Cuba. The colours are bright, the food is fried, the alcohol is sweet, and the dancing is sexual and it´s all to the beat of a Caribbean drum. The women all wear incredibly tight clothes and the men stare. The cobbled streets are lined with people selling hand made jewelry and all the old buildings are gorgeous, it´s very "Pirates of the Carribean". That said, it is beautiful place with a dark side. Definitely somewhere you need to be aware of the fact that you are a tourist, and some people do just see you as an opportunity so you just need to keep your wits about you and not flash your cash, or camera, in public too much.

It is one of those places that you get the most from just wondering around and soaking it up. We took a trip to a mud volcano, which is exactly that. Really weird sensation and lots of giggles as you're massaged and pushed around whilst you float in a bottomless pit of dense mud. You then go into the lagoon where your bikini is whipped off you quicker than you can say "Cuba Libra", and washed all over by women waiting in there for you.

We also took a day trip to Playa Blanca which is absolutely beautiful. Just as we pulled up, the heavens opened accompanied by pink fork lightening and some pretty awesome thunder. Taking shelter and eating our Fried Fish, Coconut Rice and Planata, the local dish, we got bombarded by lookie lookie men and women. Then, quickly as the rain comes it goes, as do the "lookie lookies", and we got some sunshine, white sands and turquoise waters.

I think for us, the best thing for us about Cartagena was the people we met there with whom we've been traveling ever since. The usual debauchery of drinking games ,playing cards and exchanging stories which is as much a part of traveling as the places you visit. Introducing Lacey, Jill, Ronan, Ian, Mike and Clive.

LP