ROCKING AND ROLLING ALL NIGHT: CARTAGENA, COLOMBIA GIVES US SOLID GROUND!

Tuesday, January 14, 2020

Emerald Princess

90F, sun and clouds

While at dinner last night as we entered the Caribbean, the seas became rougher and rougher. The captain suggested that guests take seasickness medication and thankfully we did. Our go to is Bonine, a non-drowsy med for seasickness. Back in the room, we decided to go straight to bed. TK and I have taken almost 60 cruises and these were the roughest seas ever. All night long. 

I know for certain that one or two of my readers do not like the idea of cruising, but TK was in the Navy four years, and I sailed the U.S. Brig Niagara on the Atlantic and we both survived. In fact, the Niagara hit a very rough storm one night and I was praying for my life. The Niagara is much smaller, with masts, of course, and the storm was just north of a hurricane, but I did not get sick. The Niagara was rolling from side to side and was almost parallel to the sea, to give you an idea of what I mean.

I digress. The Emerald has great stabilizers, but both TK and I awoke many times in the night thinking the ship would fall apart. This morning the captain announced that we had experienced 20-foot swells. No thank you.

The captain has warned us to take our seasickness medication again tonight, as we will be facing the same situation when we leave port.

La Fuerte de San Fernando

We did reach Cartagena, population 1.2 million, later than expected, but since this beautiful port has large docks, we were able to walk off the ship without water shuttles. On the way to docking, La Fuerte de San Fernando greeted us. We were told that it appeared in the movie, Romancing the Stone.

As we approach the port we can see the modern Cartagena

View of another part of this magnificent city

t

A crane operator worked diligently, lifting the containers 

from a semi to  place them on a ship 

 When we four disembarked, we easily found our driver, Jimmy, and guide, Dency. After reviewing our schedule, we left the port area and drove to the Fortress San Felipe de Barajas, a landmark with a remarkable history of almost 500 years. It has been invaded by pirates and navies, but still stands today.  It is the largest fort in South America and overlooks the city of Cartagena from on top a 130-foot high hill. Walking up the steep hill in the heat and humidity was a modern day triumph for us.  Dency showed us the extensive tunnels (very very dark) and the view from the top was a highlight.

Fortress San Felipe de Barajas

Janie at a lookout, almost the summit of the fort

Another view of Fortress San Felipe de Barajas

The Flag of Colombia

After visiting the fort, we had lunch at La Cocina de Pepina, a small authentic Colombian restaurant just outside the walled city. TK and I both had Gallina Moneriana, a chicken stew, with corn and carrots, and a scoop of rice and plaintain chips as a side. The rice was sweet with coconut milk. All of this was extremely tasty.  The chunks of chicken were good sized and the broth was good, but I could not detect what seasoning was used. It was not spicy.

Exterior of La Cocina de Pepina, where we enjoyed lunch

The menu--a U.S. dollar is worth about 3000 pesos.

The prices were very reasonable

After lunch we headed to the walled city (surrounded by 11 miles of stone) with narrow streets and lots of activity, truly bustling with color and noise!         

Janie, Lee Miles ("Mr. Emerald"), and Donna

at his shop, Mr. Emerald, in the walled city

Women in native dress. They were very animated as they argued.

Narrow street in the vibrant Walled City of Old Cartagena

Another street

The Walled City is a UNESCO World Heritage Site

In one of the parks, Dency bought a special fruit from a vendor for us to experience, one of her favorites, nispeno. It is a tropical fruit with a juicy sweet flavor, something like a cross between a peach or a plum. Dency did not know what it was called in English, but I found that it is a “loquat.” It was evident that Dency loved this fruit and wanted to share it with us. I am so glad that she did!!

Jimmy and Dency dropped us off at the port where there was very nice gift shop if anyone still needed to pick anything up. Lots of tropical birds are kept here and this peacock was showing off for his girlfriend.