“What you think about going to China in a couple of days?”
“I haven’t been there in a few years….sure, why not!”
We left the hotel at 9:30 this morning to see some things that Alex thought would interest us. The bus took us through the city until we got off to walk through the open produce and meat market. We wound our way through the many displays of fresh local fruit, vegetables, fish, intestines, liver, heart, beef, chicken, and pork. The venders were very friendly. Alex bought some unusual fruit so we could taste several kinds.
Next we went to a youth center that Alex has started building for inner city kids. Soccer and break dancing help to draw the kids to the center. Before he became a Grand Circle guide, he used to teach English in a school, and now he and another adult teach English to the kids in the center. He also teaches them values in hopes that they will stay away from drugs. He showed us a computer that Grand Circle Foundation bought for them. Later several of us contributed some money and some of the group went to a store with Alex to pick out a monitor and a DVD player for the center. He was very appreciative.
We also stopped and spent forty minutes at a market that sells souvenirs. I was tempted to buy a piece if emerald jewelry, but I decided not to buy any. I didn’t see anything else of interest, so I ended up not buying anything.
When the bus dropped us off at our hotel, seven of us decided to go across the street for lunch. Most of us ordered hamburgers and a drink.
At 6:00 this evening five of us went for a special carriage ride and dinner. I loved riding in the horse drawn carriage though the streets at dusk. It was quite a distance from our hotel to Santo Toribio Restaurante. The narrow streets of one section of town seemed to be reserved for carriages and pedestrians. When we arrived, we were escorted to a private dining room. I had fish with a seafood sauce, mashed potatoes, and mixed vegetables. We bought a bottle of Sauvignon Blanc to accompany the meal. Flan with chocolate sauce was the dessert. A van picked us up after dinner and took us back to the hotel. What a lovely way to end our visit in Cartagena!
Huge avocados at the market at about $2 each
We tasted some unusual fruit.
Alex’s youth center
Horse and carriage ride through the city to the restaurant
Dinner at Santo Toribio Restaurante
We rode on the bus for an hour to Galezamba, a town which is at the bottom of the economic level. We stopped at a row of roadside stands where the locals were selling fruits, vegetables, and a few cooked foods. Shortly, we arrived at Totuma Volcano. About six of us were adventurous enough to take a mud bath in the volcano. This is supposed to be very therapeutic.
Wearing my swimming suit, I climbed down a long mud coated ladder to get into the mud. It is very buoyant, so I floated. The man who spread the mud over my body and gave me my massage was very good. The massage lasted about twenty minutes. Then he helped me climb up the slippery ladder. It was very difficult to climb back out because the ladder was tilted to the side and the steps were directly above each other. While I was in there, a local photographer used my camera to take lots and lots of pictures. I think he liked to use the SLR and 18-300 lens. At the top of the volcano Maria met me and helped me safely down the stairs. We walked on the dirt and gravel road to the river where she washed the mud off my body and she washed out my swim suit. Then I walked back up to the tables of a small cafe and changed into dry clothes. The cook at the cafe then gave us a cooking lesson.
We got back into the bus and rode about thirty minutes back toward Cartagena. We stopped at La Boquilla, a fishing village, to eat at an oceanside outdoor restaurant. We ate freshly caught red snapper, coconut rice, and fried plantain. Afterward we rode in dugout canoes through narrow channels for thirty minutes. Then we went back to the hotel.
Later we went to dinner with Jodee and John and Sandi, another couple from our group. We found a restaurant named DKP that was close to the hotel. We all decided that we weren’t going to have the traditional fare of chicken or fish with coconut rice and plantain. I had lasagna.
Floating in a volcano mud bath
Carol relaxing in the mud
Cooking Lesson
Canoe ride
Restaurant in fishing village where we ate lunch
