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!