Melody's Guide to Cartagena de Indias

Ahh... Cartagena. I never properly posted about it after our first trip, and I definitely owe it a better post since our last trip. Cartagena is by far my favorite city in Colombia. I even love it more than Medellin, and I LOVE Medellin. In my opinion, Cartagena is the very best of what Colombia offers in one package. Good (but hot) weather all year, the Caribbean Sea, a beautiful setting, great restaurants, fun things to do, easy access to other places in both the States and South America, tourist activities, and easy reach to other destinations in Colombia. Unlike other places in this country, it also has really great hotels and decent hostels. (Medellin has decent hotels, too, but still not Cartagena quality.)



Here are some important tips:
1. Cartagena is hot. Bring and wear sunscreen, because the sun is bright! Even with SPF 30 you'll get a tan.
2. Try to stay somewhere with a pool and air conditioning so you have a cool place to retreat to in the afternoons.
3. If possible, stay in one of the gorgeous boutique hotels in the Old City or Getsemani.
4. Plan to spend your evenings wandering around the Old City.
5. Know that if you are on a super tight budget, it just isn't as enjoyable.
6. Avoid street hawkers with a simple, "No, gracias."
7. If you are a Colombian or someone living in Colombia, the Hard Rock Cafe is fun. Go during lunch and try to find one of the many 20% off coupons floating around the city. It's super cheap that way.
8. Splurge on a carriage ride through the Old City at night.
9. Take taxis at night if you are staying in Getsemani.
10. Drink a coco-limonada.

First things first... getting to Cartagena. There are three options for tourists: by plane, by bus, and by boat. You can take a boat from Panama (and many cruise ships stop in Cartagena), you can take buses from virtually any major city in Colombia, and you can fly from Miami, Fort Lauderdale, and many other cities within Colombia and the world. I recommend flying when possible. Cartagena's airport is probably the nicest one in Colombia.

When to go? NOT in December, the beginning of January, Easter Week, or the summer. Those are prime tourists times, and the streets will either be crawling with thousands of Colombians (December, January, and Easter) or thousands of Americans (summer). We loved being there in October--it was quiet and even though there were other tourists, we only saw fellow Americans a few times. There was more of a European/South American crowd, and therefore fewer hawkers on the streets. (Hawkers love Americans.)

Once in Cartagena, get ready to take some expensive taxis. Taxi fare starts at 5,000 pesos (roughly $2.50), while in Pereira taxis start at 3,700. It's quite a leap, but not awful because Cartagena isn't that big. Taxi drivers don't know the names of all the hotels or restaurants in the city, and many of the streets in the Old City don't allow taxis. Whenever you are going somewhere, use a map to find a nearby landmark (like a plaza) and just tell the taxi driver to head there. Obvious exceptions would be the entrance to the Old City, most hotels in Bocagrande, the Sofitel or Hotel Charleston in the Old City, the airport, and the Hard Rock Cafe.

Where you should stay in Cartagena really depends on your budget and company. There are many hostels, especially in the Getsemani neighborhood. They tend to be in the seedier section of Getsemani, and they definitely attract a certain type of backpacker (think dreadlocks). If possible, I definitely recommend hotels. There are hundreds of hotels to choose from. The Old City and Getsemani offer a lot of boutique hotels which are very nice, Bocagrande offers more modern and large-scale hotels, and then there are shady hotels in Getsemani and super fancy over-priced hotels in the Old City. I recommended Casa Santa Ana, a boutique hotel in Getsemani, but just do some searching online to find something that fits your needs and budget. (Check out TripAdvisor, and make sure you look at the specialty lodging and B&Bs.) An absolute must is to find a place with air conditioning, because Cartagena is hot and humid. If at all possible, stay somewhere with a rooftop pool, and if it matters to you, try to find a place with hot water. A rooftop pool in the Old City is great because you are close to everything, but still can cool off during the afternoon. Bocagrande offers hotels on the beach, but Cartagena's beaches really aren't that wonderful, so I personally wouldn't stay there. It's better to be within walking distance of the Old City.

What to do...
1. Relax. The first time we went to Cartagena, we made the mistake of being tourists. Cartagena is hot, humid, and dusty in the afternoon. It's not a great place to walk around seeing the sights. Instead, spend your days relaxing, and spend your early mornings and nights/evenings sightseeing. Don't be hard on yourself for taking an afternoon nap in your air-conditioned room or lounging by the pool drinking beer. That's one of the best things you can do in Cartagena.

2. Go to the Castillo de San Felipe. It's an old fort where the Spanish stored their gold, and there's a lot of history behind it. It's a good morning activity, and shouldn't be skipped. (Although we did skip it on our second trip... no need!)


3. Walk the walls around the old city. This is one of the most enjoyable and quintessential experiences in Cartagena. I like walking them at sunset. It's cooler and the walls make a great place to watch the sun set over the Caribbean.


4. Wander through the Old City. It's not that big, but comfortable footwear does make it more enjoyable. The streets are beautiful, and the flower-covered balconies and twisting ivy make great photos. Be sure to see the old cathedrals and Plaza de Bolivar.
5. Eat. I recommend eating at least one meal in Plaza de Santo Domingo, even just for the atmosphere. Torre Luna was also great for a vegetarian meal. San Pedro had veg pad thai, but bad service.
6. Try to visit India Catalina, she's cool.
7. Relax again. For real.

Get out: One of the coolest things about Cartagena is how close it is to the Rosario Islands and Baru Island. If you have time, do your best to go to the Rosarios, which are gorgeous, and definitely to go to Playa Blanca on Baru. I didn't actually go to Playa Blanca, but our boat went past it, and it looked absolutely gorgeous.
(above, Playa Blanca) Apparently it gets packed on the weekends, so I'd recommend paying a taxi driver a lot of money (or taking a bus/renting a car) and going there during the week. We went by it on a Friday and there was literally NO ONE on the beach. Other places you can go are Santa Marta and Baranquilla, which are a few hours away by bus.

I personally wouldn't recommend SportBaru unless you do it as a day trip and everything is included. I think it would be better to pay someone that money to take you to Playa Blanca or the Rosarios.

*side-note* Many of these pictures are from last summer, and two of the pictures (night photo of Cartagena & Playa Blaca are from the interwebs.

***For those of you waiting oh so patiently for the vegan posts, I promise they are coming! This is my last vacation post.***

Review: Casa Santa Ana, Cartagena, Colombia

Above: Limonadas we received when we arrived. Limonadas are my favorite drink in Colombia (in Cartagena they also make coconut limeade!)

I apologize for the pictures, they aren't my best, but hopefully they will demonstrate how awesome this hotel was... and FYI, this is a picture heavy post.

First of all, if you are going to Cartagena, you have a few options when it comes to lodging. You can stay in the modern and generally upscale neighborhood of Bocagrande, you can stay in any array of generally over-priced hotels, B&Bs, and hostels inside the Old Walled City, you can rent a house or apartment, you can stay in a hostel in Getsemani, or you can stay in one of the cities exquisite boutique hotels. Cartagena, for whatever reason, seems to specialize in tiny boutique hotels. Generally, they are built in remodeled houses in the old city, which is great because it means they are usually beautiful and that they help to preserve a lot of the integrity of the old colonial buildings.

I found Casa Santa Ana on TripAdvisor. It was ranked quite highly under "specialty lodging," was more affordable than the other places we were considering, and we decided to go for it. Casa Santa Ana is located in Getsemani, which is actually just outside of the real walled city. We stayed in Getsemani last summer, but it a much noisier and dirtier part of the neighborhood. This time, we were a few steps away from Plaza de la Trinidad, where an old church stands (and I think it is being renovated). Getsemani is a real Colombian neighborhood, and as such it offers salons, grocery stores, street vendors, playing children, and Comcel shops galore. Although the Old City is probably a tad bit safer, I prefer Getsemani because there aren't pushy hawkers trying to get tourists to buy things. The Old Walled City is special because it has been almost completely renovated, and it is very beautiful. It is also where most of the best restaurants are located, so it is convenient. That said, Getsemani is a quick walk (or taxi ride at night) from the Old City, and it's in the process of being renovated. It was a good base for our trip.

Above, street art in Getsemani and La Trinidad Church

Now, for the real review:
When we arrived, we were greeted by Jamie, who was our hostess for our entire stay. She led us to couches and had Gloria (another staff member who rocked) bring us limonadas. She also brought us cold, damp wash clothes, which were definitely appreciated as Cartagena was hot and we had just gotten off a bus. After a tour of their gorgeous hotel, we were taken to our room. Although we had booked a standard room, they gave us the junior suite because we were the only guests. It was awesome.



Above: doors to our room, our room, and Warren with the cold washcloth on his face.

As I said before, the hotel was simply gorgeous. It only opened a year and 4 months ago, so everything is new, but it is also obvious that the staff really cares about the hotel, and they work hard to make it beautiful. Here are some pics:







Top to bottom: bikes for guests to use, sitting area in the massage/hot tub area with views of the San Felipe Fort, view of the San Felipe Fort at night, entrance to the hotel, rooftop pool, massage tables (where we had awesome massages), sitting area with WiFi, rooftop terrace next to the pool, balcony and view of our room, foyer.

Finally, I feel it is necessary to mention these two details:
1. At night, Casa Santa Ana gave us "turn down" service and left a dessert in our room.
2. They had a good breakfast.



Overall, we had a wonderful stay, and I would definitely recommend Casa Santa Ana. It's probably best for individuals or couples (read: not families), but honestly it would be absolutely fabulous for a girls' weekend. Other than one tiny little complaint* we had a perfect stay. It was relaxing and the service was incredible. The staff helped us with everything from directions to restaurant recommendations and reservations to folding our clothes. They also provided an airport transfer, which was greatly appreciated as taxis in Cartagena are expensive, and one night they even brought up an iPod dock to the pool just so we would have music to listen to. Fantastic. They were very attentive. Also, the hotel is gorgeous and it smells REALLY good. That's a weird thing to say about a hotel, but it's true. So, in conclusion, if you are going to Cartagena and you want to splurge a bit on a perfect vacation, stay in Casa Santa Ana.

*My only itty, bitty tiny critique of the hotel is this: it's pricey. The rooms themselves are probably priced correctly as Cartagena is expensive and they were cheaper than most of the other hotels, but the services (non-food-related) they offered were expensive, especially for Colombia. Although our massages were excellent and we were given a glass of wine at the end, they cost around $60 each, which is a lot more than what is normally charged in Colombia. Of course, they were also hour-long aromatherapy massages given by professionals. Also, the pedicure/manicure package they offered started at 40,000 pesos, which is only $20, but I get mine done all the time for 15,000 pesos, so it was a bit high. In the end, though, they did walk me to a salon in Getsemani and made me an appointment to get my nails done, so they weren't really trying to cheat us. If you are coming to Cartagena on an American budget, I'd definitely say the massage and any other services are worth it. On a Colombian teacher's budget, they were a tad over-priced.

The Real Vacation Post.

I'm not normally one for "relaxing" vacations. My most recent trips before last week were to Ecuador and Northern California. On both occasions, I was doing the tourist thing of trying to see too much in too little time and stressing about food, money, and everything else possible. In Ecuador, the weather was freezing and we never had a day "off" to relax. Dumb. In Northern California, I was with my family, and there was always too much to see and we didn't have the time or money to do everything we wanted.

I decided in the middle of term 3 (on one of those days when my students were making me crazy and I had a mountain of work to do) that this vacation was going to be different. I was going to relax, and I wasn't going to be cold, stressed, or worn out. Amazingly, that is exactly what happened. This was one of the best vacations I've ever had. Warren and I were able to spend a lot of quality time together, and we really enjoyed just spending our days lounging around in the warmth of the Caribbean Sun.We spent the first 4 days at a resort called Los Alemendros. We arrived on Saturday afternoon after a long drive from Monteria. During our drive we passed a number of small towns that had been flooded. It was sad but fascinating to watch people trudge through small streams that had once been streets. Once we arrived at Los Alemendros, we were given our cabana and allowed to relax. Alemendros was the only place in Covenas with people, but it still wasn't crowded. I spent a few hours one day slowly swimming laps in a completely empty pool, for example. Warren and I often spent the afternoon or evening on the beach, and we were frequently two of about six people on the beach. Oh, and the beach was literally 100 feet away from our front door. Covenas isn't necessarily beautiful, but it is quiet and peaceful, and we really relaxed. Also, it was free for us, because the school paid for the condo.

On Sunday night there was a really horrible rain, and when we woke up on Monday and put our feet on the floor, we realized there was over an inch of water on the floor of the entire cabana. My suitcase was on the floor, and all my clothes were soaked. My computer cord got wet and didn't work (until Tuesday) and my Kindle cord still doesn't work. (Luckily I have a spare.) Monday morning was rough, but we were moved to a different cabana and after I washed all my clothes by hand (ugh), nothing unpleasant happened until we had to go home.


On Wednesday we took a bus to Cartagena. The rode was bumpy, but it would have been a good trip if there hadn't been a rooster on the bus who thought it was dawn every few minutes. Also, I have never understood why all Colombian buses insist on showing awful horror movies dubbed into Spanish. No matter. There was an adorable little girl (maybe 9 months??) on the bus who kept laughing at me, and she definitely made up for the rooster and the movie.

We arrived in Cartagena around 2 p.m. on Wednesday. Our taxi driver couldn't read (for realz, dudes. Colombia seriously needs to work on education.) and had a lot of trouble finding our hotel. It took him over an hour of driving around one neighborhood twenty times and asking everyone he saw where it was and then ignoring whatever they said. He also insisted on calling it Casa Santana, instead of Casa Santa Ana, which of course confused everyone. Whatev. We did finally make it to Casa Santa Ana, and thank goodness because it was literally paradise. I plan to devote my next post entirely to Casa Santa Ana, but until then, here's a picture that I believe sums up how awesome it is:
That's me in the rooftop pool at night (where we could see the Castillo de San Felipe glowing nearby) after we were just served limonadas. They also brought up an iPod dock and put on music just for us. Awesome. Happily, after we arrived we discovered that two of our good friends had also made a surprise visit to Cartagena. After I got a pedicure, manicure, and eyebrow wax, and after we both had ex foliating and aromatherapy massages, we happily met our friends Luis Mi and Diana in Plaza Santo Domingo for dinner.

The next day we lounged around in our awesome hotel, had a great breakfast, watched TV, swam in the pool, and spent some time catching up with things online. I also accepted a job for Jan-May 2011. Pretty nice morning. : ) That afternoon we had lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe with our friends, and then we wandered around Cartagena, which is GORGEOUS. It's probably the most beautiful Colonial city in all of the Americas. It's also hot. We soon returned to our hotel, where we again swam and watched TV until dinner. For dinner, we went to a place called San Pedro, which had VEGETARIAN PAD THAI... with platanos. Amazing. Warren had salmon.

On Friday we went to the island of Baru. We had arranged the trip through our hotel, and so everything was included. We were taken to a resort called SportBaru on a 45 minute boat ride. After we arrived, we were given a coconut limeade and a room to use for the day. We soon tried snorkeling, but the waves were rough, so instead we went to a private beach with clear gorgeous water and white sand. Also, an Ecuadorian ship was hanging out nearby. We weren't sure why, but they played good music.




After an hour on the beach, we were served lunch, and then I fell asleep in a hammock. That afternoon we returned to our hotel, and later that night we found a vegetarian restaurant with hummus, falafel, and paella with seitan. Who knew such things existed in Colombia!?!

Saturday was our last day, and we spent the morning walking around the old town. It's so beautiful... After a quick swim, we had to head to the airport to come home. Our perfect vacation had come to an end.

This week's been tough. The weather was awful Tuesday and Wednesday, and today is the first sunny day since we've been back. My classes have been good, though, and I've been spending my spare time making hummus and looking at vacation homes in Cartagena. If anyone has 400,000 dollars they don't need, I'd love to use your money to buy myself a vacation home! : )

Vacation Update

We got back from vacation on Saturday evening, spent yesterday doing basically nothing, and had to go to work for planning meetings today. Classes start tomorrow.

We have 60 days left in Colombia, and I'm pretty happy about that.

As far as vacation goes, it was one of the most relaxing trips I've ever taken. Here's a quick summary, but please know that I'll be updating more thoroughly about the places we stayed and what we did. (Also, I still have those vegan posts to write!)

1. We spent 4 blissful days soaking up sun and swimming in both a gorgeous pool and warm ocean water in Covenas. We had a condo all to ourselves that actually slept 8 people.
2. We took a 3 hour SUPER bumpy bus ride to Cartagena from Covenas. The other passengers included a rooster.
3. We stayed in the nicest hotel I've ever stayed in while we were in Cartagena. It was a boutique hotel called Casa Santa Ana. Only 5 rooms. We were the only guests. I've never been so pampered. Also, they upgraded our room.
4. We both got aromatherapy massages.
5. We swam in a rooftop pool while looking out over Cartagena and the famous fort where the Spaniards stored their gold.
6. We went swimming on a private white-sand beach with blue-green crystal clear water.
7. We ate at an awesome vegetarian restaurant.
8. I finished two books and Warren finished one.
9. We both studied for our respective standardized tests.
10. We came home completely relaxed, tanned, rested, and happy.

It was a good vacation.

Fall Break

Okay, kids, here's the deal. Post 100 was a lie, and I haven't updated in a few days because I've been super dedicated to graduate school things. So whatever. Deal... I will finish my vegan-info posts, but right now, it's time for you to be massively jealous of me.

I'm going on vacation. HA! And yes, Post 100 was a lie because I'm not going on the vacation we originally planned. Things fell through, and although we considered about ten thousand other options, we eventually settled on cheap and warm.

We're spending a week on the Caribbean coast of Colombia, first at a condo that our school rents out and lets teachers stay in for free (see beach 100 yards from the condo above) and then 3 nights in Cartagena. It's definitely not my dream vacation, but it is warm and stress-free.
The pool at the condo where we are staying.

We ended up getting lucky--we're the only LPV souls headed to the condo during this break, so we'll have it all to ourselves for four blissful days. Then, we're heading to Cartagena. We've been to Cartagena before, but now, as experienced travelers, we knew where we wanted to stay, what we wanted to do, and how important a roof-top pool was in relation to our personal enjoyment of the city (the answer--VERY important). We're staying somewhere that I hope will be fabulous, but honestly, anything will be better than where we stayed last time. On our last trip to Cartagena (end of our 6 week stint here in 09), we stayed in the school's house. They are currently in the process of renovating it, and well... it still needed some work. I happened to stumble into the kitchen in the wee hours of the morning and caught a glimpse of the largest rat I've ever seen in my entire life... so really, with a roof-top pool and a guarantee that I won't be allowed in the hotel's kitchen, we're doing really well.

We have almost no activities planned. We're taking books to read and study materials and movies and sunscreen. We've planned to spend one day at this resort while we're in Cartagena:


And honestly, Cartagena is probably the most beautiful city in South America, and it's easily one of the most romantic places I've ever been. So... yes. Vacation. Finally.

Ciao! (Below: Cartagena. Imagine it lit up at night, and imagine strolling through little streets with flowered-covered balconies. Didn't I say it was romantic?)