Colombia - Catagena de Indias

A fairy-tale city of romance, legends and sheer beauty, Cartagena de Indias was an addictive place that was hard to escape. The last city we visited in our 6 months in South America and definitely one of the highlights. Cartagena's is a maze of cobbled alleys, with enormous balconies shrouded in bougainvilla where massive churches cast their shadows across leafy plazas. 12 hours it took us from our previous stop Palomino (2*Buses and 2*taxis).

Without a doubt, Cartagena's old city is its principle attraction, particulary the inner walled town which is packed with perfectly preserved churches, monasteries, plaza's, palaces and mansions. We spent most of our two days here just wondering around the cobbled streets, soaking up the atmosphere and getting lost in its charm. We visited the castillo de san felipe de Barajas which is the strongest and greatest fortress ever built by the Spaniards.

Our hostel was in the Getsemani district, the outer walled town, just 2 minutes walk from the inner walled town, but packed with budget accomodation and good local bars. A grest area to spend the evenings drinking cheap beer and rum cocktails, listening to local music and trying to hold a conversation with the locals. On the second night we went for the 'Rumba in Chiva'. This is basically a big party bus with no doors or windows with live music and unlimited rum driving around the city picking people up until full. This was great fun we got a tour of the city and danced and sang the whole way through it, all for around $15.

Catagena would be our last stop of any size for 2 weeks before hitting the malaria ridden jungles bordering Colombia and Panama followed by sailing around the San Blas islands where we will be sleeping in hammocks on deserted islands, so stocking up on essential supplies of strong insect repellent, sun screen, new camera and snacks was essential.