Day 10
After the disappointment of Port Royal we had yet another sea day before we hit Central America. Cruise companies do like sea days because you are trapped and might have to spend money with them so like dutiful sheeple we complied. There's a Pandora shop on board and in the past we have got 'destination charms' from there and like passport stamps they had been nonexistent so far. They still didn't have any but Lyn picked out a nice one as a commemorative charm for the trip. We also spent £150 on perfume and aftershave from a company I've never heard of called Bulgari. It's no Brut but it'll do. I have checked the prices and we weren't ripped off, at least no more then you are normally, which is nice.
One of the big downsides about a Marella cruise is the lack of ‘enrichment activities’. This is something you get on posher cruises, things like lectures or cooking lessons or painting. The closest you get on Marella is some dance lessons and a knit and natter in the coffee port. It does make sea days very long so it's a good job I've cultivated the whole 'sleep while sitting' thing.
It was another dress to impress but this time there were a lot less tuxedoes then the previous week for some reason. The 'Fashion Guru' didn't disappoint and turned up in a very stylish number (see photo). I have to admire the commitment. He's clearly decided that the pinnacle of style was in the late 60's early 70's and sees absolutely no reason to change. Sir I salute you.
Day 11.
Today we arrived in Colombia and more accurately Cartagena. Rather confusingly there's one of those in Spain and now we've been to both. The skyline was not what I was expecting. It's all glass and steal skyscrapers. You could just about make out the old town beyond it. Europe has its history front and centre and tends to be a little embarrassed about its 'modern' developments either trying to blend them in or hide them. The old European 'colonies' for want of a better term, want to show off their modern skyline and good for them.
The port terminal at Cartagena is the best one we've ever been too. Not only does it have tat shops, cafes, duty free, etc but it also has a full on animal park! I have no idea why! In theory you could have spent your entire visit just in the terminal which, if Lyn had seen the sloths that are there, we may well have done. Instead we made our way to the taxi rank.
It was $20 to get a taxi to the old town and then a further $20 to get back. Official taxi drivers all wear a blue shirt with Taxi all over it, I suppose it's the equivalent of a black cab in London and this was where we met Emilio (not his name). He offered to drive us around to the interesting bits and stay with us, initially for $130, he then dropped the price to $100. After um-ing & err-ing we decided to take him up on his offer.
For once I'm really annoyed that I can't remember a name. After 'Emilio' introduced himself I immediately forgot his name. Later he told us that before being a Taxi driver in Cartagena he'd lived in New York for 15 years playing baseball (I assume professionally) and it would have been nice to look him up. Apparently he also has a brother who lives and works in London and who'd told him that the UK isn't doing very well and the economy is in the shitter. It's nice to know that even Colombian Taxi drivers are aware of how crap the UK has become.
Our first stop would have someone with a nervous disposition possibly mess their pants. We pulled off the road at a very dodgy looking location surrounded by all sorts of people just sitting around. It looked a bit like a scrap yard. Turns out that we just needed air in the tires. I personally believe that the 'kidnappers' took one look a us and decided, quite rightly, that we had no money.
Our first stop was a fort 'Castle San Felipe de Barajas' I hadn't noticed this on any of the tours offered by TUI so we were on to a winner already. Emilio parked up and told us he'd wait for us in the car park. There was a cost to get in and we went and had a look. The best bit about this place were the views and the giant Colombian flag which offered a good photo opportunity. We were then taken to a row of tat shops or rather one in particular he recommended. We bought a small painting before moving on to the old town. Emilio parked up right in the centre, told us were various bits were and told us to take our time and he'd wait here.
The old town of Cartagena is very pretty, very touristy and consequently very expensive. Its Spanish heritage is also very evident. They even had a Palace of the Inquisition and nobody expects that! There was a statue of... I want to say Pope John Paul the 2nd... Anyway it's definitely a Pope. It wasn't until I was looking at our photos that I noticed I had one of me with another Pope in Ancona who looked like he was hitting me so I want to start a new thing of people taking photos of themselves being hit by Popes or at least their statues #PopeSlap I thought this would be original but its not because apparently the Pope actually slapped someone. 'F' the internet! Every time I think I've had an original thought along comes Google to tell me to get in line behind the 1 million other people who've already thought of it. Nevertheless if you have a photo of yourself being slapped by a Pope, or any other statue for that matter, please show/share with me as it will make me smile.
Lyn had bought some fruit from the very colourful ladies selling it. They will also take a picture with you for the donation of 1 dollar. I only had $5 so we got all the ladies! Emilio had been spending his time sitting with them and chatting so he took the pictures for us. Another tourist went to take a picture of us with the ladies (very odd! Why would you do that?!) and they got a bit miffed as she hadn't paid.
We got back in the car and because of a miscommunication between Lyn and Emilio he took us back to the ship instead of the last site which was supposed to be ‘very colourful’ and which will now forever be a mystery. Turns out this was probably a good thing as Lyn told me to go and have a shower as I've "Never Smelt that bad before". The way to achieve this odour is to put on a very old T-Shirt, one that's absorbed sweat hundreds of times before but hasn't yet fallen apart. Don't look at me like that you ALL have one of those. You then need to forget to put on any deodorant (to be fair, given the T-shirt I don't think this would have made much of a difference). Lastly you need to wander around in 30+ degree heat with a humidity of 100%. Lyn has now made me throw the T-Shirt away.
A bit of potential excitement as we left Colombia. They kept call for a couple to report to reception as they hadn’t checked back in. We've always wanted to see a 'peer runner' one of those 'A holes' who are late back and desperately run after a departing ship. We sat out on our balcony hoping to see it but they either found them on board or left them behind. The crew were keeping very tight lipped about it.
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