Monthly Archives: February 2022

Caliente Cartagena

Adventures, Travel

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
Views of Cartagena
Views of Bocagrande

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

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

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.

Scenes from Centro
Scenes from Centro
Scenes from Centro
Scenes from Centro
Scenes from Centro
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
Different flag gimmick
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
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.    

Sunset views

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

We love it / We take it
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.

Balcony beer

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
Beach side happy hour
Beach happy hour

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.

Running trail with views

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.