Cartagena

Of all the stops we made, Cartagena was my favorite. Having only previously heard of this city in stories of drug cartels and ne'er-do-wells, I couldn't reason why such a place would be a stop on an Old Folks tour of the Western Caribbean.

But dude, the colors in this place. I know I've said that before but, dude.
I want to move here and live in a yellow house covered in bougainvillea. And eat lots of fruit.

It was a bit of an overcast day when we arrived but the five of us and one other couple took a guided tour through town led by a guy named Caesar. Caesar is from Colombia but he went to college up in New York and therefore speaks perfect English and understood and appreciated all of Dad's cheap shots. We all really liked Caesar. He led us all around town and told us some very interesting fun facts about Cartagena including the fact that it has been cleaned up a good bit since it's prime cartel days. The place really has quite an interesting history which is big of me to say because usually I nod off when people start talking dates. More interesting, I'd say, is it's cultural history. Such a blend -resulting in one of the most colorful places full of lush, vibrant flowers that I've ever seen.

Here's Caesar on the right.

And here is a picture of Ellen in me in front of a fat lady statue. Why the helmets, you ask?

Did I mention Caesar was leading us on a Segway tour?

Nerd Alert!!

Y'all these things are so embarrassing and so much fun. We're now trying to work out how we can justify having one around the house. It's not going so well. 

We zoomed all over town on these things and while Caesar has had this business for some time now, the locals still guffaw and appear disgusted by the fat, lazy tourists that ride them. One woman shouted, "Nerdo!" which is self explanatory but Caesar proudly translated for us anyway. He laughed heartily at himself and our reactions and then led us through a busy town square where an Australian tourist could be heard chastising us for being too lazy to walk through town. 

Dad instantly took to seeing how fast he could go. He and Chris would let the group of us get way ahead and then they would plow forward. "I wanna really open her up." Dad told Caesar, who seemed to understand that urge and nodded sympathetically. The funny thing about these Segways is that you have to lean them against something when you're not on one or else it will just go. It will plow down the street with no driver and no way to stop it. You lean whichever direction you want to go and to turn you tip the handle right or left. Chris was bucked off of his Segway when he tried to turn and go backwards at the same time. "They don't like doing that." Caesar said of the Segways.

This was such a fun way to cover lots of ground really quickly but it also explains why I have so few colorful photos. I was busy driving see, but I beg you to scroll down this page, Cartagena Photos, to see just how lovely it is. It's going to make you have to visit straight away.