Sara | HandelBlog

After enduring what may have been the least comfortable airplane seat I’ve ever sat in, we made it to Cartagena (fortunately it was for less than 2 hours). Warmth at last!

We took an official airport taxi and managed to make it safely to our lodging in Bocagrande – a peninsula of high rises and beaches just outside of central Cartagena. We settled in for a month of new experiences and adventures.

Our apartment for the month was on the 30th floor of the white building in the center of the pic

We’ve spent time almost every day at the pool. It’s on the 6th floor so there are usually nice breezes and views.

The pool is magically kept at a refreshing temperature even though it bakes in the hot sun for much of the day

The historic walled city is about a 30 minute walk from where we’re staying so we’ve ventured down there a few times. It’s really beautiful with tons of colonial character and gorgeous flowers and colors everywhere.

Up on the wall the Spanish finally decided to build after the city was invaded over and over again

A much needed rest stop at Beer Lovers in the Getsemani neighborhood

After refueling with beer and Colombian food, we were able to explore a bit more and walk home

Gimmicky streets abound in the Getsemani neighborhood

Umbrella gimmick (and a welcome one that provided a lot of much needed shade)

On our second adventure downtown we took int the famous clock tower

And the, also, famous fortress Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas

We found a different cool place to refuel in Getsemani called Caffé Lunático.

I ordered a “Tropical Julep” and I am not sure what I got, but it tasted a lot like pure rum

Don’t worry, Jon had a beer with his arepa topped with eggs and avo

And on yet another adventure into town, we watched the sunset from the fabulous rooftop bar of the Hotel Movich. I think we may have been the only non-insta (wanna-be?) famous people there and we certainly took the fewest pics to give all the models their space. lol.

After our fancy cocktails, we headed back to Beer Lovers for what we love most… beer 🙂

Views of Bocagrande on the walk back from Centro

We enjoyed lingering on our balcony and enjoying the views. Unfortunately, it was not as often as we’d hoped due to lots of construction around the area.

We also went out and about in Bocagrande. We tried the local food and beer specialties.

A “small” plate of fish to share at a beach side kiosko

We got back into running after two weeks off due to snow in Maryland and high altitude in Bogota. There is a fantastic trail along the bay just a block from our apartment. While we love the hot weather, it’s not great for running so we had to get up at 6 am to beat some of the heat and I still needed an afternoon nap most running days.

All in all it’s been a great adventure to live in Cartagena for a month and now we look forward to being back in America soon with all our western comforts and lots more English speakers.

Hola from Cartagena Colombia. Jon and I decided to take an international trip this January for a few reasons. We hate the cold and it is so very cold in Maryland in January. We love to travel, obvs, and we currently have health insurance that works like super duper travel insurance so we thought that was helpful for traveling during a pandemic. We settled on Colombia because it’s warm and mostly dry this time of year, I’ve somewhat randomly always wanted to go (Jon has been to Bogotá for work a few times before), and good lodging and decent flight options were available.

We flew from Washington Dulles to Bogotá direct and, while our flight was delayed 8 hours, the delay was posted the night before so we were able to sleep in and not stress about getting to the airport and there were no other dramas.

We spied a plane with this Star Wars livery while waiting for our flight, sadly this was not our plane

Our first airport lounge in a while! It worked out well to keep away from crowds.

We’d decided to spend 5 nights in Bogotá before heading for a big time warm up in Cartagena to get some culture and an extra free night in the hotel using Hilton points.

One of our first stops was for some tasty Colombian coffee

We enjoyed the Museo del Oro and learned a lot about indigenous culture in Colombia – these depict how rulers wore many of the gold items we saw

I, perhaps inappropriately, find these very silly – they were death masks people were buried with and they are just so plain compared to other things I can’t help but wonder why

Barrio La Candelaria, an interesting historic neighborhood

We did A LOT of walking around the city. Here are some random pics from around.

Bogotá endeared itself to me by having female crossing lights on some intersections

We hiked to the top of Monserrate, a mountain that towers over the city and has a church at the top.

Teeny tiny view of Santuario Virgen de Guadalupe behind us at the top of Monserrate

Not the clearest day, but still quite a view

For some reason we look green screened here

Some interesting Christmas decorations were still around

https://www.relive.cc/view/v26Mx1A5r3O

(yes, I know I spelled Monserrate wrong in Relive, but it won’t let me change it!)

As always we attempted to check out the local beer scene. We found a few decent beers at the local grocery store and the old stalwart on nearly every corner in Bogotá is the Bogotá Beer Company (BBC).

At one of the BBCs in the neighborhood we stayed in

At a different BBC after hiking up and down Monserrate, much needed beer!

We spent our last day in the city checking out some green spaces, first up Parque Metropolitano Simón Bolívar. This park was huge and absolutely chockers with people enjoying a Sunday out with the family.

Then we hit the Jardín Botánico de Bogotá José Celestino Mutis (Botanic Gardens) which must have been amazing at Christmas time with tons of lights and decorations including my favorite, the festive crabs below.

I loved Bogotá and I’m so glad I got a chance to see it. While our adventures were somewhat pandemic limited, we were able to eat out outdoors and enjoy lots of outdoor activities. The few indoor things we did weren’t too crowded and everyone in Colombia wears masks everywhere which is very comforting.

We’re in Cartagena for a month now. We have a very hectic schedule involving long walks on the beach and pool time. It’s fantastic.

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