Archive for the 'Colombia 2009' Category

Late breakfast again – Andres took a while to settle down last night and so slept late this morning.

After breakfest we headed back to the room and eventually Andres went back to sleep for his regular morning nap while we got ourselves a bit more organised (and I had a bit of a nap myself). Andres actually slept for nearly 3 hours until after 1pm.

It was a dull and overcast day, so we decided not to go out looking for photo opportunities, instead we decided to go to the beach. It had simply been too hot on previous days – unlike the locals, our lily white skin would have burned too quickly in the scorching sun.

We headed across the road to the hotel’s beach-side restaurant for lunch, but found that most of their dishes were expensive seafood or steak, and so just ordered some empanadas con carne to eat and Colombiana to drink (we’ve become a bit addicted to this local softdrink – has a nice subtle flavour and is not too sugary).

After we’d eaten, we went down to the waters edge where one of the hotel staff set us up with chairs in one of their “cabanas” (tents) where we could sit out of the sun. Within minutes we started getting the local touts come up trying to sell us their wares – the girls offering massages (they actually try and start massaging, we have to shoo them away), guys selling necklaces, watches, sunglasses, cigars. We’ve found the tshirt guys are actually the most persistent – trying to show us every design they have, insisting that they have my size (they don’t really), and then pulling out the kids sizes for Andres (all way too big). There are also the icecream and drink sales people roaming up and down the beach, plus there was an older lady selling fresh fruit from her cart – although she was a bit scary when she headed off down the beach armed with a large knife (and a pineapple). Mostly we just shook our heads and said “no” and that was enough to get rid of them – there was just a constant stream of people coming past our seats offering us stuff.

We did get other attention too – Andres hasn’t lost any of his charm, and is still proving to be a real chick magnet (some guys stop and comment too). Mostly it’s the older ladies (most of whom offer massages on the beach), but some of the younger girls there on holidays stopped to admire him and would ask the standard questions: what is his name, how old is he, (and sometimes: is he yours). We also occasionally had people ask us where we are from, we explain Andres is from Cali and people usually appreciate that – they all know where Cali is.

The hotel staff all love Andres too – the cleaning staff will usually stop and say hello, as do the waiters – and even the maintenance guys smile at Andres. Some of the guests seem a bit unsure, but many of then come up to say hello to Andres (they ignore us mostly, they just want to tell Andres how cute he is). We’re getting used to all the attention – hardly any of it has been bad, mostly because Andres really is so cute!

At the beach, Andres played in the sand quite happily, but after a while he did get a bit grizzly, I think he started getting sand in awkward places, and had been rubbing his face with sandy hands, which was uncomfortable for him. Leanne took him down to the water to see how he liked it. Like the first time we bathed him in the baby bath back in Cali, he was very nervous of the water – and didn’t really like the waves washing over his feet and legs. He didn’t mind us walking through the water with him, but he did complain when we dunked his legs in the water. I think it’s just a bit new and scary for him – he now loves bathtime and splashes around and makes a huge mess – so I’m sure that with a few more visits to the beach, he’ll begin to love it.

Leanne introduces Andres to the beach

While I sat on the beach with Andres, Leanne went out for a swim, enjoying the beautiful warm Caribbean water. Later we swapped and I went out for a swim while Leanne stayed with Andres. It really was a very pleasant afternoon (even with the constant attention from touts).

Simon and Andres at the beach

After a few hours, we walked back across the road and found the outdoor showers the hotel provides for guests and cleaned off all the sand. Then we went upstairs and had showers and gave Andres his bath (making sure we got rid of all the sand!).

We then sat around for a few hours waiting for dinner – we had decided that we would go down for the Friday night buffet, since there was supposed to be a live band and special Colombian food and music. It turned out to be a couple of guys playing CDs, which was disappointing. The buffet was okay, nothing special. After dinner, we sat by the pool for a while enjoying the cooler evening air before heading back to our room to put Andres to bed.

Nice leisurely breakfast again (I could get used to this!), Andres is still sleeping late, not waking up until after 8am for his morning feed. He doesn’t even wake up yelling to be fed, it’s taking him 15 or 20 minutes before he gets cranky.

After breakfast we caught a taxi back to the old town, this time with cameras – although I only took the wide-angle lens on the DSLR and also had the compact digital. This combination is much easier to work with than swapping lenses all day on the DSLR. I did stop to take some photos around the hotel before we left though.

Hotel Caribe - front view of the main building

Hotel Caribe - Torre Lagomar. Our room was on the 4th floor, right at the far end of the building

Leanne and Andres wait for papa to finish taking photos

Leanne and Andres say hello to the resident Iguana

It was a particularly hot day today, and I was sweating profusely quite quickly. We had to stop several times to buy water to ensure that we didn’t dehydrate. We wandered around, looking through small shops, taking photos of the architecture and the local life.

Hotel Santa Teresa - Cartagena Old Town

Looking back towards Bocagrande from the walls of the old town

The guide books recommend not visiting this area with a plan in mind, and I would have to agree – much better to just wander aimlessly and without a timetable, soaking in the atmosphere and the history of the area – getting lost amongst the maze of narrow streets and colonial buildings (with occasional grand cathedral or other official building).

Looking down into the the Old Town from the walls

Cartagena Old Town

Cartagena Old Town

Cartagena Old Town

Cartagena Old Town

We stopped at an airconditioned cafe for lunch and to cool down (one of the few airconditioned places we found). After lunch we wandered some more – making friends everywhere we went as people stopped and smiled, and many of them asked what our baby’s name was and how old he was. One old lady selling fruit on the street was very vocal about how wonderful he was and how beautiful he was – we quickly had a small gathering of women (young and old) fawning over Andres.

Andres makes more new friends

Cartagena Old Town

Cartagena Old Town

Eventually we decided to catch a taxi back to the hotel and cool off. We had showers and then we all snoozed for a while, before getting ready to go out for dinner.

It didn’t rain this evening, so we decided to try the restaurant we were supposed to go to last night but couldn’t because of the downpour. There is an Argentinian restaurant a couple of blocks away from the hotel that looked nice (and air-conditioned!), and we developed a bit of a taste for Argentinian beef on our travels last year, so we thought we would give this place a go. It does seem a little out of place in this area where for some reason every second restaurant seems to be Italian! Perhaps they just love pizza and pasta here? I’m sure there’s something more historical as an explanation though – must research that sometime.

Anyway, the service was typically slow – we are used to that now in Colombia, but it still is a little annoying when we have a young child and just want a fairly quick meal. But the steaks were delicious and Leanne’s beef medallions were especially tender and flavoursome – we enjoyed the meal.

After dinner we continued another couple of blocks to the local supermarket (open 24 hours) for some supplies, and then on the way back to the hotel we stopped at an ice-cream store for some dessert. It was still very hot even this late at night, the average temperature at night here is still around 27 degrees, and I read that the lowest ever recorded temperature in Cartagena was 19 degrees! Being this warm at night is really quite uncomfortable – there is simply no relief from the heat.

The only downside to staying out late was that Andres took ages to get to sleep once we got back to the room. Once we did get him to sleep, we followed not long after, it had been an exhausting day.

Another late breakfast, it has been a nice change having breakfast served until 10am – no need to get up early to get everyone ready for breakfast by 7am or 8am. It seems to be even hotter this morning – walk out of the airconditioned building, and start sweating instantly. Makes breakfast a little less pleasant than one would normally expect.

After we got back to the room and fed Andres again, he slept until 1pm. I needed to get caught up on a bit of work, so Leanne got a few things organised and then relaxed on the bed while Andres slept.

Andres playing on the bed

Andres playing on the bed

We decided to go out and try and find something to eat for lunch, so got dressed and wandered up the street. Not being happy with anything we found, we ended up at the supermarket and bought some sandwiches, fruit and orange juice (plus some other supplies we needed) and then walked back to the hotel, where we sat outside in the shade and ate.

That afternoon, I caught up on some more work while Leanne and Andres napped.

Leanne and Andres cuddle on the bed

Leanne and Andres nap on the bed

We had decided to go out to one of the restaurants up the road for dinner, but when we got downstairs we discovered it had started raining. I went back to get the umbrella and some warmer clothes, but by the time I got back it had turned into a bit of a tropical storm with heavy rain and gusty winds. We decided it was not a good idea to try and walk anywhere in this weather and it didn’t show any signs of easing off in a hurry, so we ended up back upstairs and ordered room service again.

Of course, by the time our food arrived, the rain had eased off to a drizzle, but if we had waited until now to leave, it would have been very late before we got our dinner at a restaurant.

Bath time for Andres

Tweets from today

liking the new @TweetDeck so far – no more 10 column limitations, multiple accounts – yay. Still looking for a way to show ungrouped users.

17th June, 2009 3:24 PM from TweetDeck

trying to find a hotel for our two night stay in Santiago, Chile. Will be visiting Australian Embassy in Las Condes to get a visa for Andres

17th June, 2009 11:38 AM from TweetDeck

Andres slept through the night again – we’ve been waking up before he does. That’s partly because he’s going to bed late, it’s a bit difficult to get him to bed early and then get ourselves fed at a reasonable time.

We got up and dressed and headed down for a leisurely breakfast – the buffet is served in the open air dining area next to the pool, which makes it a nice place to sit, but it is still very hot, even at this hour of the morning. The staff directed us to a table with a fan pointed at it and found us a high-chair for Andres, which made things a little easier. The buffet was okay, certainly not like the 5-star spreads put on by Asian and many Australian hotels, but they did have cereal with fresh cold milk, and that’s generally good enough for me.

After breakfast we headed back upstairs to cool down a bit and get ready to go out. Andres slept for a while and when he finally woke up again we went back downstairs and caught a taxi to the old town.

Cartagena has a long and interesting history – being on the Caribbean coast and quite a successful town after Spanish colonisation, was a ripe target for pirates and corsairs and others who sought to take advantage of the local wealth. After a few such attacks, the Spanish government sponsored the construction of port defences, with forts and barricades and such to help ward of raiders. The city still came under attack, and so more money was spent, eventually leading to the construction of a wall around the city as a key defensive mechanism. It only took 200 years to complete! Wikipedia has more on the history of Cartagena de Indias if you are interested.

This walled city still exists and was declared a world heritage site by UNESCO in 1984 along with other key parts of Cartagena. Now, it is a prime tourist desitination, but still the centre of business and trade in the town. As we wondered through the narrow streets admiring the old colonial architecture and quaint little buildings, we were struck that despite being very old and protected, there are a mixture of very modern businesses and shops running from this area. It’s like development of the buildings was stopped, but life still went on – which gives the area a very ecclectic feeling, a blending of old and new. Many of the buildings have been well maintained, with new rendering on the walls, new paint, and new woodwork – all usually quite sympathetic to the original architecture.

We spent a couple of hours wandering around, trying not to collapse from heat exhaustion – and we eventually decided to stop at a nice little Italian restaurant for some lunch. Key to our decision was it was airconditioned! Lunch was a leisurely affair (things never happen too quickly in this part of the world), but it was delicious and we cooled down nicely.

After lunch, we continued our walk, discovering some of the main commercial areas with street vendors selling all manner of goods – although fruit and vegetables are the most popular, especially avocado (which are huge and smooth), lemons (which are small and green like limes), mangos, coconuts, and such.

Eventually we decided to head back to the hotel and recover from the heat. We decided not to take any photos on this outing – it was a camera-free day.

That evening, Andres was tired and grumpy, so rather than go out and try to find something to eat, we had room service for dinner.

Early start this morning – had to finish packing our bags, our taxi was coming before 10am to take us to the airport for our flight to Cartagena.

We have one night back in Bogota before our flight to Santiago, so we decided it would be easier to stay back at the Hotel Halifax – especially since we could leave some bags here and not have to pay all the excess baggage fees for our domestic flight to Cartagena. We managed to fit everything we needed into our two smallest bags and left the two big ones in the storage room at the Halifax. This had the added benefit of making it much easier to fit things into a taxi and we could easily manage the bags at the airport by ourselves.

We managed to get things organised in plenty of time and our taxi was actually early, so we made it to the airport nice and early – checkin was quick (no excess baggage fees!), and we made it through security to our gate nearly two hours before boarding. The only catch was that we didn’t realise that there were no food and drink facilities on the other side of security – other than a couple of vending machines, none of which had any water available.

The flight was okay, Andres slept for the first part of it and played for the second part – it was a fairly short flight but a bit longer than Cali – Bogota. He grizzled a little bit as we landed, but we found that the dummy seemed to keep him calm. As we got off the plane, the heat hit us – it is very hot and humid here. This is what I had expected Cali to be like, but in reality I found that Cali was nowhere near as hot. We had been warned about how hot Cartagena is.

After checking in, we settled into our room – right down the far end of the hotel with views out over the ocean. We hadn’t eaten yet, so we ordered some food from room service which was a bit of a novelty for us this trip – mostly we’ve been eating in dining rooms. After we’d got ourselves a bit more organised, we went downstairs to explore the hotel grounds a bit.

View from our room at the Hotel Caribe

The Hotel Caribe is centred around an old colonial style building with some more modern structures on the large grounds. Our room is in one of the more modern (and slightly more spacious) buildings. They have deer roaming around the grounds and a mini-zoo with monkeys, macaws and tamarins in cages.

View from our room at the Hotel Caribe

After looking around a bit, we headed out for a walk to find the local supermarket and buy some supplies – an exercise which involved a lot of sweat due to the heat.

Later in the evening we went for a walk along the waterfront – being a public holiday, the beaches had been crowded all day, and there were still plenty of people around at sunset – it was still very warm, and the water was also warm. The beaches here aren’t all that special, dirty sand and breakwaters every 200m or so to stop the sand disappearing. The water isn’t that clear either – apparently you have to go offshore a bit to find the clear, clean water of the caribbean.

For dinner we headed downstairs to one of the open-air restaurants and ordered pizza. Fortunately they had fans blowing which helped to keep things pleasant – it is very hot here even at night. We were the only people at the restaurant and the lady serving us took Andres and walked him around while we ate, which was useful – they didn’t have any highchairs for children at this restaurant, and we don’t have a pram or anything else suitable for holding an infant while we eat, which makes things a bit awkward.

It was a bit of a late night for Andres, but an early night for us, as we were exhausted from the early start and the busy day.

Here’s a link to Google Maps showing the hotel and where our room is: Hotel Caribe

Tweets from today

http://twitpic.com/7imef – psycho squirrel says “watch how I eliminate this piece of mango with extreme prejudice”

15th June, 2009 9:40 PM from txt

http://twitpic.com/7ijs2 – View from our room at the Hotel Caribe in Cartagena, Colombia – looking out over the Caribbean Sea

15th June, 2009 9:09 PM from txt

woohoo – free wifi at Bogota domestic airport

15th June, 2009 10:23 AM from txt

final packing ready to fly to Cartagena on the Caribbean coast this morning. Only taking 2 of our 4 bags – trying to split our gear evenly.

15th June, 2009 7:22 AM from txt