South America wrap up

 We were up at 0400 and after a small snack we were on the hotel shuttle at 0530.

Our Air Canada check in went smoothly. We usually use the airport check-in individual screens except this time we chatted with a check-in lady. For us there doesn't seem to be any advantage to checking in any earlier than this (i.e we don't find using 24 hours ahead with the app gets us better seats or anything). We usually use carry on only baggage which means (in most places) we can just check in at the machine, print off paper boarding passes and then going straight to security. I have found that if the machine doesn't want to see ID then the airline will need to verify it. This happened to some people in Bogota ( in the boarding gate area Air Canada called them up to confirm ID)

The immigration check out was an funny experience. We had noticed that there were two lines for immigration with one line not being able to see the other. Naturally we took the shorter line and it wasn't until we had shuffled up to the immigration room entry door that we realized we were in the line for Colombians.  Oops! No one had said anything to us (and we had our Canadian passports clearly visible). It was a lucky break for us as the other line was being held up by some security as our line proceeded into the immigration area.

Immigration and security took only 35 minutes and by 0640 we were at the boarding gate waiting for our 0900 flight.

The flight left a few minutes late.

We had some beautiful views (especially the Bahamas!)

The flight to Montreal was smooth and I saw a lot of the east coast of United States before we landed.

Immigration and customs was very efficient (especially as we used machines to enter the country and declare any purchases). We had a quick couple of questions with an officer and then we were officially home!

Security wasn't perfectly smooth but not too bad.

After a few hours wait we were on the plane and on our way home. Lisa picked us up at 10:30 PM.

Final day in Bogota

 Today we skipped breakfast, caught a taxi and went to the famous Funicular Monserrate here in Bogota. We knew we had to be early because the ride (and view) up the mountain is extremely popular and line-ups of two hours or more happens.

We were there before 10 AM and were riding the Funicular train in a couple of minutes.

The view at the top is wonderful.

The first photo is a panorama photo  of Bogota while the second is a close-up of the downtown area.

While up the mountain we ate a light breakfast at a neat little cafe. We sat outside in the nice crisp mountain air. The view of the city below was obscured by trees however that was very nice too!

The following photo is the opposite direction from the city view.

We went back down the mountain shortly after 11 AM and once down we walked to the Candelaria part of the city. This is the old part and contains the central plaza, government buildings and MANY people going on their daily lives.

We walked for quite a while exploring the old streets, venturing into churches etc.

The high-light of this area is a world class museum, El Museo de Oro ( the Gold Museum). This museum is world class for a reason! It contains a vast selection of gold and other metal ornaments crafted by the indigenous people here over the last 2000-2500 years. There were SO many photos I could have taken. Below is a selection.

We were getting tired after all that walking so we found a restaurant downtown and had a beer while sharing a meal of fried fish ( with rice etc.)

We had a mad man taxi driver getting back. How we didn't get into fender benders or cause an accident is a tribute to how well the driver knows the length of his car ( and how many centimetres he is away from other vehicles) and the fact that it seems everyone is half nuts on the streets. The motorcycles all drive between cars making three lanes of traffic where only two lanes exist.

Tonight at 7 PM we have reserved 2 spots (out of four available ) for an hour long visit to the hot tub. Hopefully we will be alone ( but I doubt it).

Tomorrow we are supposed to be at the airport at 0500. 

Bogota

 Our ride picked us up at 0530, right on schedule. We saw only a couple of taxis and later on in the morning Caro overhead a fellow passenger commenting on how difficult it was to get to the Airport.

Once inside the terminal I grabbed a couple of seats at a coffee bar table while Caro went to get us  something to drink and eat for our breakfast.

We weren't at that table more than a couple of minutes before Caro wanted to move as she could faintly smell vomit there ( I was completely oblivious to the smell).

A short time later we were through security (very fast and efficient) and once we were at the boarding gate we waited three hours for our flight.

We took off on time and once airborne we got a nice view of the city. Unfortunately I didn't get a super photo but in the photo below you can see the tall buildings on the left side.

An hour later we were coming in to Bogota and I got this photo of the MANY greenhouses in the area.

 

Thee were lots of taxis at the airport and we took one to our hotel.

We were three hours early for check-in so we went to the hotel restaurant buffet lunch which was pretty good ( and very popular by the amount of people there).

We checked with the front desk and they said the taxi disruption that we experienced in Cartagena was actually nation wide. The desk people weren't really sure if there continued to be any problems with traffic (or taxi's) in the downtown (there were still lots of traffic police on the main road in front of the hotel) so we decided to stick around here until the morning at which time we will check again.

We walked a couple of kilometres to a new shopping mall where we checked out all three levels of shops. 

We were back at 3 PM for check-in ( and picking up our luggage which was in hotel safe storage).

We didn't do much but relax in our room after that.

Final night in Cartagena

 The hotel provided breakfast was simple but tasty.

We had a 10 AM walking tour so at about 9 AM started meandering our way through the streets in this area. 

After some initial confusion getting together with tour guide we headed out.

Our two hour walk around the old city was super interesting learning many interesting facts and the history of the old city.

There was another tour we could take at 1 PM so we had an hour to eat something. We lucked out and found a nice place that shortly after we got there became completely full (and it was a big place). It was a delicious meal at good prices.

Our 1 PM tour turned out to be one that stopped at numerous hotels to pick up more people. It took a long time to do so but we got to see a lot of the area south of us where all the big buildings are.

We stopped at a photo op location where a couple of large shoes sculptures are. Apparently it is a "must see" spot as there was a line up with everyone taking photos. I took a photo of Caro there.

I wanted to see the fort and was very happy when we spent an hour touring it. There were some great views.

Here is a view of the skyline.

Having major trouble with tablet. This photo is out of order. It is looking up at the fort.

Had a nice meal at a local Italian place near here.

Got back to the hotel and found out that tomorrow there will be NO Taxi service at all. Oh SH_T!!!! It is some kind of demonstration. We explained to the front desk guy our dilemma and asked if he could drive us himself ( and we of course would pay  "whatever"). He couldn't go but he talked to his uncle who will be picking us up at 0530 ( 2 1/2 hours before we were going to get a taxi) . I don't know if we are paying huge money or not, we have to get to the airport!

CARTAGENA

 We said "good riddance" to our apartment this morning and by 0900 we were on an 18 passenger van for the start of our four hour drive to Cartagena.

We first drive to (and through) Barranquilla before carrying on to Cartagena. I really paid attention to the drive and noticed that the road ( and villages on the road) are full of garbage until after Barranquilla whereupon it gets much cleaner.

We arrived at the bus depot here and were soon on our way to the hotel.

Once checked in we walked to the main part of the central historical district. This city is simply awesome.

We had asked the hotel people for a restaurant recommendation and went to it. It was very busy but also very expensive so we just had a basic meal. The food was very tasty.

Later on Caro wanted to buy some fruit from a street vendor. The yellow fruit in the photo below is called Pitaya. It is quite tasty.

The part of the city we are in is wonderful. Our hotel is just inside the old city walls. The streets here are TINY with barely room for one vehicle ( and even then it is slow going). I noticed a lot of electric motorcycles in the area as well.

The following photo is taken from the city walls (note the cannon in the foreground). It shows a sailing ship in the harbour and the skyscrapers just south of us.

Our hotel has a roof terrace with an open air jacuzzi. I took the following photo from the jacuzzi. Note the people walking along the city walls and in the background ( essentially under the umbrella) is the main fort located across a section of the bay. After our city center walking tour tomorrow I want to go there.

Our hotel; photo taken from the top of the city wall. The jacuzzi tub is located on the left side of the roof. 

Our room faces the back and is heavenly. The bed is king-size, the air conditioning is great and the room is QUIET!!

Sunday night.

 Our last full day in Santa Marta.

I was looking for forward to watching the Daytona 500 today so with that in mind we did a nice long walk on the beach in late morning.

When we were back at the section of beach below the hotel Caro went for an ocean swim (and after that a pool swim) while I came back up to our place.

At 2:30 the race was supposed to get started but I couldn't find any TV station carrying it ( even though the satellite TV had many stations including several Fox sports stations ).

I settled in to listen to it on internet radio.

A look at the beach with a photo taken through one of the binocular lenses.

For the first time on this trip I was able to open the balcony door and enjoy the breeze which was wonderful. I laid on the couch with the headphones on and listened and napped at the same time. 

The race was exciting ( I really miss seeing it rather than watching it). While the race was on we ate supper (trying to finish as much of our store bought food as we can).

Caro went out to the pool area to take a sunset photo.

The race was in its last lap after many wrecks and at the worst possible time our internet went down. Aaargghh! I got it back a few minutes later and heard the final results. I will watch the final lap on UTube I guess.

Tonight we will pack up a bit and we will be on the bus at 0900 in the morning.

An interesting day

 I started out this morning by realizing my tablet was screwing up and I couldn't seem to get it back to normal so I had to do a hard reboot to factory settings and then try reset it back to normal....

That was a mistake because I gave myself a lot more grief. I thought I could easily reload and get back into the programs I run on the tablet (Google mail and Blogger among others). Initially I couldn't get any of the programs back because the Google algorithm kept me in a loop not letting me input information. The problem ended up being entirely my fault but not before Vanessa had gone over to our house and sent me more log-in passwords (which in the end I didn't use- sorry 'bout that Vanessa!). After a couple hours of scratching my head, watching some UTube videos etc I have the tablet working again.

Caro went for a walk on the beach and afterwards a swim. As she has done for the past couple of weeks she left her sandals and outer clothing on the beach while in swimming. At one point she looked back at the beach just in time to see she was being robbed!  She yelled at the thiefs just in time to save her stuff as they ran away!

Close call!

After Caro watched a few hours of the "Carnaval" from Barranquilla (on TV) we went to the store. While walking there Caro mentioned that she had learned that "Carnaval" is the top cultural event of the year for the whole country. At the store we picked up food for supper and I withdrew another 900,000 pesos cash from an ATM. That works out to about $C260.  We should be good now for the remainder of the trip as we use credit as much as possible.

Tonight we played crib. We each won a game and I won the rubber match by only five points. Close game!

A great day at another beach.....

 ......thanks to Caro.

Last night was noisy (windy) but we seemed to sleep OK.

We had a lazy morning but Caro was getting ansty to do something (anything!!!).

She went for a nice long walk and came back later with information on a tour that left  from the far side of our bay, around the corner into the next bay where there was a small  "Sea World" type aquarium. 

We got our tickets to the boat and aquarium and were soon on our way. 

The aquarium turned out to be a really neat experience. The dolphins we had seen over a week ago in front of our first place were from this place and we got there just as the 12:30 show started.

After the show was over we spent quite a bit of time looking at the dolphin pen ( and the dolphins playing around). Afterwards we saw neat turtles,some sharks, a lot of fish and sting rays (all these in tanks connected to the ocean).

There were also a few very large glass enclosures with neat fish.

Smiley, happy to see you fish!

Once we were done there we used the same boat  taxi service to take us into the next bay to Playa Blanca (White Beach). Here we got a table in an open air restaurant (but covered with a roof). We had few beers,  and shared a fried fish meal. Caro took the opportunity to have a couple of swims in the ocean while I was happy to stay in the restaurant shade guarding our stuff.

We got the 3:30 ish taxi back to town, whereby we walked the length of the beach bach to our apartment building.

It was a wonderful day and Caro gets all the credit.

And another day draws to a finish!

More things settled

 We decided this morning that we would stay the remaining four nights here and not leave a day or two earlier than originally planned for Cartagena.

Caro took a great photo last night of the beach after the police cleared (which they do every night).

This morning Caro phoned the "shared ride"service to get a ride to Cartagena on Monday but it turned out that there is no service that day so instead we walked a couple of blocks to a bus service and got tickets for Monday at 0900. Two tickets in a mini van were $C36 total for a four hour drive.

We walked down to where we used to stay, stopped in a pastry shop (yummy!) and also  topped up our Colombian phone for more service time. I am hoping it will last for another week and not suddenly stop just when we need it!

Late in the afternoon we went back to a restaurant we had been to before and had a fish supper. It wasn't spectacular but is was still good.

Our building. The first three floors are hidden from this view. We are on the fifth floor a little left of center of the building.

The wind has changed direction slightly tonight. The place has MUCH less noise ( which is very much welcomed!).

Another windy day

 It was very windy last night with our windows rattling.

I received notification this morning that Airbnb will be giving us 50% return of money on our accidental second reservation. A $300 mistake. Oh well.

We also contacted TD insurance and purchased another week of medical insurance (we need to buy extra for anything over 30 days travel). Another use of our Colombia phone number!

Later in the morning we walked to the grocery store and we purchased today's food.

We spent a short while around the pool however we didn't last too long before retreating to our much more comfortable apartment.

In late afternoon Caro walked down the stairs to the beach and did a big walk. I stayed behind and while looking for Caro with my new binoculars I noticed a huge fire on an island just outside the bay here. This island has a big amount of what I thought were abandoned buildings however I notice tonight a couple of lights out there. I wonder how much damage was done.

Tonight Caro warmed up our previously purchased food and we had a great supper.

A new place

 

This morning (after another terrible night of noise) we cleaned up our AirBnB place and then had to deal with a series of e- mails from BMO fraud alerts team. Caro's credit card has been compromised and we spent time confirming who we were etc. and getting  the card cancelled. The card is at home so Vanessa went over to the house to confirm it hadn't been broken in to since Lisa recently checked. All good at home  I am extremely happy we got the Colombia sim card as it has been a very necessary part of this trip!

At  11:30 we got a cab to our new place up on the side of a hill looking down over the bay.

Our old place was just this side of the tall building with red stripes on it.

The new place is MUCH nicer but unfortunately is high enough to be in the hurricane zone. The single pane windows are constantly banging even though I am trying to tighten up with pieces of paper towel and cardboard. LOL. No luck.

Caro was able to read outside for a while.

Shopping is little bit more difficult here but nothing we can't manage.

We spent the afternoon getting our hotels in Cartagena and Bogota and our flight booked from Cartagena to Bogota. Everything is set (except our shared ride to Cartagena next Monday morning).

We are still waiting on Air BnB results of their investigation. The longer it takes the less I feel we will get a result I think we deserve.

A close up photo of the beach area where we used to be.

Barranquilla

 Our shared ride car for our trip to Barranquilla showed up at 9:30 this morning. We shared the ride with British couple who were going all the way to Cartagena.

Our first stop was the Carnaval museum. Barranquilla has the second biggest carnival in the world (after Rio)  and this coming weekend is the carnival so the city is getting ready.

The museum has the history of the carnival ( which I don't really care about) BUT it does have 42 Queen of the "Carnaval" dresses worn by the various queen's over the previous years. Two photos below!

Very elaborate.

We took a Uber (actually a Colombian equivalent) to the malecon where we spent a few hours walking around and having a meal.

Our shared ride back was incredibly interesting. Our driver picked us up first and then we had to go a different part of the city to pick up two more people. We saw many beautiful colonial buildings.

Now the drive back got interesting. We drove through some really sketchy parts of the city in order to reach the highway.After we got going  the driver was  pulled over by corrupt cops and ended up paying a 50,000 peso "fine". This is about $C15 (which I paid as I had the correct change and I just subtracted the amount from our one way charge of about $C35.)

We saw many (MANY) motorbikes on the highway. Most motorbikes use the shoulder (At Highway speed) which is a great idea as the drivers of cars and trucks are crazy and there would be many motorcyclists killed here I think if they stayed in the regular lanes .

A big truck ahead of us snagged some overhead lines in a slow speed area just in front of us. Our driver simply pulled in to the oncoming lane,went underneath the snagged wires  still caught up in the truck, and carried on!

We got back here to the very unwelcome news that Air BnB had not cancelled the second reservation from last week so we have two active reservations for tomorrow. So I have been in contact with Air BnB AGAIN. This is becoming very annoying (and maybe an even more expensive mistake)

Time for a rum!!

Superbowl

 This morning was quiet as we slept in after a very noisy night.

Caro had a long walk. She is having trouble running these days as her hip hurts too much.

I participated in a UTube livestream at noon and we then took a taxi to see Mary and Ceci at their hotel south of us near the airport.

We went out for a bite. I tried a Colombian hamburger. Awesome!

Tonight is the Superbowl. Interestingly I was Facetiming with Lisa and we noted that the Canadian broadcast  is thirty seconds behind the Colombian one.

Tomorrow we have booked a ride in a van to the nearby city of Barranquilla.

Visitors

 Today we had a quiet morning after a noisy Friday night.

Mary and Ceci are in Santa Marta as part of their six weeks trip home.

We met up for lemonade at a nearby restaurant before coming back here to show them our place.

In late afternoon we went to supper together and afterward the ladies went souvenir shopping.

All in all, a very quiet day.

Another Quiet Day

 We started out our day with a nice walk on the beach.  Not too many people and not noisy

Photo taken from the far south of our walk. Our apartment building is to the right of the tall building in the middle of the photo.

The afternoon was quiet with both of us doing our own reading/podcast listening or video watching.

We did manage to get out in mid-afternoon to do some grocery shopping.

Supper was at the restaurant located in the condo building. We went early and had a table inside. The meal was absolutely fabulous and it was happy hour so we had a couple of drinks. I think it was the best restaurant meal we have had here in Santa Marta and it sure was nice to have quiet to eat and talk without all the noise a few meters away from us in the beach front area.

A quiet day

 We didn't do much today as I wasn't feeling that great.

Caro went for swim and then tried to go for a walk however the wind was really strong and whipped up the sand. At one point today a piece of plastic blew up into our balcony. When I put it back over the railing the plastic went straight up to the balcony above us (and maybe even higher!)

We went grocery shopping at couple of different locations. We decided to buy pre-made food for tonight's supper. 

It turned out to be pretty good!

We just lazed around all day having a few Facetime get togethers or calls with several family members.

In Santa Marta

 Today we took a cab over the mountain to the main city in this area (Santa Marta).

We were dropped off at the malacon and proceeded to walk the length of it. It was extremely windy all day which wasn't that great 

Next we went to a "must see" local museum. It was great to go into and was quite interesting.It had great descriptions of both the indigenous and Spanish people's lives and the history of the city. I found some of the pre-Spanish metal work quite interesting.

After a break for coffee (Caro) and hot chocolate (me) we wandered around the old part of town with Caro finding a store where she purchased some new flip flops 

I wanted to find a bank where we could see how expensive it was to withdraw money using our credit card. We were able to get much more money at one time compared to a  withdrawal from my checking account. I will just pay the credit card as soon as the withdrawal is posted to save interest costs..so far the transaction looks much cheaper 

Supper was at a recommended seafood restaurant nearby. We had to listen to a crazy lady with a loudspeaker talking religion and had the usual hassles with salesmen and/or beggars as we were right next to the sidewalk. Food was ,"OK" but not really special.

After supper we walked the beachfront sidewalk and I couldn't resist stopping in to get some icecream.