SUNDAY, JANUARY 16 - Cartagena, Columbia

Dick is up at his usual 6AM after the flush of the vacuum toilet next to the head of the bed. Sort of like a jet taking off! Dressed with computer and coffee mug in hand he heads for the coffee bar and a strong mocha to start the day. The sea is quite rough with long swells topped by white foam. The ship is remarkably stable for the evident sea state. Breakfast is followed by a very nice, short, church service led by the English cruise director. We then go to the talk on the Panama Canal but Dick leaves half way through to go to Trivia where his team wins for the third day in a row. Yeaaah! Then, at 11AM we attend a talk on Quito, Ecuador and are given a description of our side trip to the capitol of Ecuador later this week.

We will not arrive in Cartagena until 3PM this afternoon and will over night in port. One of the reasons this cruise itinerary appealed to us so much was that there are up to three full days and two nights in some ports. This is the first of those ports.  We grab a lite lunch up in La Veranda as the ship is entering the Boca Chica entrance to the harbor of Cartagena.

During the meal, Franco, we think he is head of Dinning Services or something like that, tracks us down to express his concern over the comment card we turned in regarding the dinning room service the previous evening. When he leaves, we are friends and we think our names have been flagged as those of people to serve well. We will see!

As we are approaching our dock, Dick strikes up a conversation with John Moss, a South African. John is somewhat surprised to learn that we have been to South Africa and even more surprised to find that we enjoyed our trip into Kruger National Park. Evidently, the park has a poor reputation with South Africans, or at least John Moss, for the quality of its animal sightings.

Upon docking, we go to meet our 3:15PM tour to the Gold Museum,

Plaza Bolivar,

San Pedro Claver Church

and a short walking tour of some of the wonderfully colorful streets of Old Town.

We get off easily, no sitting around or lines getting off, and board bus number two where we meet our tour guide Maria Roci. Maria is a tiny lady who speaks very good English. She must be at least 60 but is very spry. Cartagena is as hot and humid as we remember and our walk into old town to the museum and then around the area is sweltering. Inside the buildings, it is miserable but there is a breeze outside and it is bearable as the sun is getting low in the sky. It is Sunday evening and the natives are out promenading and the hawkers are not near as obnoxious as we remember from previous visits. Before we boad the bus we walk back to the Clock Tower entrance of the city wall for some photos.

After our walk around Old Town, we drive to La Popa Church and Monestary to see the golden alter

and its view of the area and are serenaded by all the competing boom boxes in the shanty towns spread out below us.

Seventy percent of the population of Cartagena live in this area, Again, it is Sunday and promenade/party time!

Our tour ends with a stop at the huge San Felipe Fortress,

for sunset photos of its facade and the statue of one armed, one legged, one eyed Don Blas de Lezo, also known as "LUCKY," who stopped the British invasion in 1741 at the ripe old age of 52.

We are back at the ship by a little after 7PM where cold showers are most welcome. But, first things first, as we stop in the deserted Horizon Lounge bar for a cocktail before heading to our room. The ship seems deserted as most everyone is up on Deck 11 around the pool for the Grand Deck BBQ and local folkloric show. Why one would sit out in the heat to eat when the dinning room is serving great escargot, fabulous onion soup and wonderful rack of lamb is beyond us but to each his own. Our waiter is Adnan from Croatia and he calls us by name. Franco shows up half way into the meal to check on us and the head waiter for our section is very attentive. Service tonight is first class; proof once again that the squeaky wheel gets the grease. Hope this level of service continues as this is what we expect form a ship of this level. We finish our delighful meal with some rum raisen ice cream and the tasty little sweets that are standard at the end of each dinner. It has been a long and, at times, very hot day. We are bushed. By 9:30PM we are in our room and heading for bed.