Cartagena

• Country: Colombia
• Location: Cartagena
• Date: 04/08/24
• Duration: 5 Days
• Company: Solo
• Rating: ⭐️⭐️

The old town in Cartagena is pretty and quaint with cobblestone streets, designer shops, jewellery shops and houses with fancy door knocker painted brightly and decorated with ivy climbing up the front. It reminded me of walking around the fancy areas of some European cities like Barcelona or Rome. Cartagena has a history derived from Colonisation, being one of the only ports allowed to take slave shipments and therefore has a large afro influence. Although coming from Medellin, by no means cold, the humidity in Cartagena was a shock to system where you walk for 20 minutes and your top is drenched. I was also embraced with a tropical storm on my arrival where the channels that use to be roads turn into rivers. I got chatting to an Australian gay, of all travel on Grindr and ended up going out to a Karaoke bar with him and his two friends, also Australian, singing Shakira and then dancing at a rooftop bar. I didn’t really like Cartagena, it’s cute for a day but otherwise full of American tourists and expensive and the sea isn’t very accessible to escape the heat from the old town. My favourite parts were sitting in cute a library learning Spanish, sipping Limonada de Coco and going out partying. I think that says enough.