Well, I finally found a barber a couple of streets from home. I had asked Laury to recommend one but mistakenly said peluqueria. Which is what barber shops are called in Spain. Here they're just called barbers. Anyway, I located José who runs a shop called Yo Yo Barbers. Apparently, José doesn't have many customers like me. He handed me a catalog showing a bunch of young guys with the sides of their heads shaved and asked me to choose the style I wanted. If I had picked one, I would have walked out with no hair at all. I told him to just cut off three centimeters of what was already there. He nervously did so and did a good job. José is one of those independent barbers who is obviously popular in the community. The other customers in the shop praised him for not making me cry. José charged me $3.50 for the haircut but I left a nice tip. I went to Laury's the next morning to show off my haircut and asked her what she thought. She told me I looked like a monkey. I'm pretty sure she was kidding.
😅😅😅
José in his Yo Yo Barbershop
GOOD NEWS!
You'll be happy to know I've learned how to cross streets like a local. The trick is to cross when oncoming traffic is only motorcycles. Motorcycles are apparently much less likely to run into you for obvious reasons. They always honk as they drive by. It seems like honking your horn is the national sport of Colombia. Anyway, I'm now able to cross a street without requiring a defibrillator on the other side!
MY BUDDIES SHOW UP!
My friends Danny and Rhodney came to visit for a couple of weeks. Rhodney came a few days early and Danny stayed a few days after he left. I wasn't able to be the best host because I'm still trying to figure out Cartagena myself. We ended up learning the city together.
There aren't a lot of tourist attractions in Cartagena. There are a few small museums that could be visited in a day. We went to the Museo de Oro. It was interesting and devoted mostly to the indigenous people of Colombia known as Zenú. There is mostly pre-Columbian information and a few gold artifacts on display. Apparently, the Zenú didn't have a lot of gold or the Spanish carried all of it off. The museum is worth seeing.
A display of Zenú gold earrings. There were a few other small gold pieces there.
Danny and I went to the Cartagena and Inquisition museum. The ground floor is dedicated to the Spanish Inquisition in the Spanish colonies. I had no idea that the Inquisition stretched from Mexico as far south as Ecuador. Pretty brutal stuff went on for centuries although there were only (?) several thousand people officially persecuted. Unless you like descriptions of torture and murder, you don't need to see this. Books were banned by the Inquisition and several (mostly French) were on display. The second floor of the museum is dedicated to a history of Cartagena all in Spanish.
Here's Danny playing on a guillotine outside the Inquisition museum. It's the only one I've ever seen in the western hemisphere. For this kind of work, the guillotine is quick, compassionate and irreversible. I suppose they went out of fashion because they're also kinda messy.
There are numerous plazas throughout Cartagena that are shady and well maintained. They all have nice benches to sit on. Look for the vendors selling fresh lime juice. It's delicious on a warm afternoon. The plazas have some kind of statues or monuments that are tastefully done. You'll see mostly locals in the plazas (Cartageneros). What you won't see are many people sleeping in doorways or sidewalks. True beggars are rare and unaggressive. There are quite a few vendors but a respectful, simple "no, gracias" is enough to get them to move on.
There's the "Walled City" that has a a magnificent 16th century wall completely around it. It's one of the few cities in the world that still has a walkable wall. They say it takes ninety minutes to walk the whole thing with pretty views out over the Caribbean and nice old houses on the inside. We walked part of the wall at sunset one evening.
Another famous tourist area is a beach and neighborhood called Bocagrande. The beach is known for it's white sand. The neighborhood is full of big hotels and condo buildings. The area is expensive and full of tourists. It's known as the Miami of Colombia. Not my cup of tea. Danny and I went over there one afternoon and left unimpressed. It's the only place I've ever been where the police told me to get off the beach at 6pm. There are definitely better beaches in Cartagena.
The official Cartagena sign at Marbella.
This guy built this sand castle himself. Open this photo up and enlarge it.
A walk on the beach at Marbella. Only 15 minutes from the apartment.
ROAD TRIP FOR THE BIRDS!
Nice big flock of flamingos. All the birds get fed with proper food twice a day.
Danny and Rhodney were looking for something to do outside of Cartagena and found the National Bird Aviary on the island of Barú. Barú is well thought of by the locals because of great beaches and few tourists. It's about an hour and twenty minutes by taxi out of Cartagena. A one-way ride is about $30 which is not too bad for that long in a taxi.
Rhodney pulled up his Uber app and located a driver. We were told by a taxi driver later that Uber is illegal in Cartagena and we could be fined $250 each if we were caught in one. This turned out to be total fiction but, again, that's taxi drivers for you. Our driver turned was a sharp young guy named Juan Carlos. His car was in good shape and the air conditioner worked well. We left the apartment and headed for Barú. The roads were in good shape and the traffic wasn't bad.
It took about twenty minutes to get out of Cartagena. Once we were out, we were really out. Like Spain, we rarely saw anyone living out in the country and there were no double-wides. The land was very much like the coastal plains of Texas. There were forests interspersed with lush green pasture. Even though it's the dry time of year, the countryside was verdant. It looked like perfect cattle country and we saw a few Brahmas but not as many as there could be. Colombians don't seem to be big beef eaters. I haven't seen a single burger joint.
We got out to Barú. There's a bridge connecting it to the mainland. Within fifteen minutes we were at the aviary. We paid to get in but Juan Carlos was admitted for free. He seemed to know the place. There was a trail through the various areas of birds. They claim they have over five hundred species in stock. There was a nice shady trail through the various enclosures for the birds. Everything was well kept and the different enclosures were large and full of trees, bushes and feed for the birds. It was certainly the best aviary I've ever seen.
The boys and I got separated because they wanted to spend more time at each enclosure. I moved ahead and ended up meeting up with Juan Carlos. He began explaining the birds. It turned out he was an expert on the place and the birds. He's obviously been there a lot. I ended up with a free guided tour.
We came across a flock of parrots. Juan Carlos started petting them.
As you can see, Juan Carlos made a friend. He told me she was a female. They all looked the same to me. She pecked on his ear and necklace.
Lots of color. Juan Carlos told me there are birds from all over Colombia. Colombia has lots of different ecosystems at a wide variety of altitudes. He told me that many of the birds were native to high altitudes so they acted a little lethargic because of the tropical local climate.
Juan Carlos making another feathered friend. I've decided to call him
"The Bird Whisperer".
😄😄😄
The tour books say it takes two hours to see the aviary completely. Juan Carlos and I got through in about an hour and forty minutes. Danny and Rhodney took the whole two hours. I was really happy that Juan Carlos waited to take us back. It turned out there weren't many taxis showing up from Cartagena in the afternoon. The next time I come I'll spend at least one night on Barú to check out the beaches and revisit the aviary.
DINING OUT!
The neighborhood we stayed in is called Torices. There isn't much fine dining in Torices but it's only a twelve minute cab ride into the fancier parts of Cartagena. There are three neighborhoods where the better restaurants are located. They are called El Centro, San Diego and Getsemani. El Centro is like the same kind of tourist trap found all over the world. The streets are lined with women's clothing. jewelry stores, souvenirs and restaurants. The folks walking the streets speak a lot of English. FYI, I've haven't once heard English in Torices for a month.
There are some nice but relatively expensive restaurants in El Centro. Many are associated with hotels. Although a few cruise ships visit here, the crowds on the street are not oppressive. San Diego is mellower as far as tourists go. There are some restaurants there, too.
Our favorite area became Getsemani for eating out but we only went a few times. Seafood is good everywhere. Almost everywhere offers ceviche. Sea bass is often available and there are (mostly) fried fish we never see at home.
This is called a mojarra roja and it's often available. There are apparently fifty different varieties of mojarra in different colors. They run from eight to ten inches long so they're not too big to finish. They're also delicious! They're supposed to be native to coastal waters all over the Gulf of Mexico but I've never seen them or heard of them at home.
There are all kinds of restaurants in Getsemani. It's an old neighborhood so the streets are narrow with few cars. Some of the streets are blocked off for pedestrians only. That's a treat! We saw fusion style, pizza, seafood and lots of other choices. Many of the streets have decorations over head and quite a range of artwork on the sidewalks.
Lots of paintings and other artsy stuff on the sidewalks.
Rhodney on a typical street in Getsemani.
We had a few interesting meals. Rhodney is a big fan of ceviche and Danny is partial to sea bass. On Rhodney's last night he wanted to go someplace special. The boys had a couple of Colombia guidebooks that recommended restaurants. Rhodney found a place called Pezetarian which was located on the edge of El Centro. It was well rated, affordable and had an interesting menu. We took a taxi over. Rhodney and Danny had seafood while I had an Asian noodle dish I saw a woman eating at the next table. The place seemed to be full of tourists. The couple at the next table turned out to be British-Canadians. They chatted us up and were fun to talk to. They took the picture below.
As usual, the meals were large. I took part of my noodles to go. We were all really full when we left and decided to take a little while to walk it off. We headed down the street and soon started passing groups of young women. There was anything between three and six girls in a group. As we passed them, they responded with smiles, winks and the occasional blown kiss. After this happened four times, the boys and I decided to draw up for a safety meeting.
We couldn't figure out why three seventy year old men tottering down the pavement should receive such a public display of affection. Then, it suddenly dawned on us that we were sharing a neighborhood with streetwalkers. There was one really pretty young woman in a tight white dress that launched a Hollywood kiss at Danny. Unfortunately, he was looking at his phone and missed it. Oh, well. In honesty, I haven't been around that many streetwalkers since the last time I was in the Oakland flats. The good news is that all the ladies in Cartagena seemed to be totally female whereas they say you'll never know what you're gonna find under the stylish outfits in Oakland. I bought a bottle of rum and we taxied home.
On Danny's last night, we went to Getsemani for drinks and dinner. We found a rooftop bar and had a tropical cocktail. It got dark when we were there and the power failed in the neighborhood. A few businesses on the street (mostly liquor stores 😂) fired up some portable generators so at least there was a little light. Danny had made reservations at a restaurant called Casa de Tunel that had good reviews. We made our way down the dark street and found it. Their power was out but they were open. Danny had sea bass and I ordered shrimp tacos. The food was good and they did manage to fire up a generator every now and then.
Another night Danny wanted to check out the Salsa scene. There is a famous bar called La Habana that has a Salsa show on the weekends. We got there a little early and found good seats at the bar. The band started at 9:15 and the place was jumpin'! By 10:00, all the tables were full and even the standing room was packed. All the standing people were dancing their butts off. It was as big a bar party I've seen in a while. There was a fourteen person band that was laying it down. It took us ten minutes just to walk out through the dancers and they were still letting people in when we left.
A big time at La Habana!
EMERALDS
Something like eighty percent of the world's emeralds are mined in Colombia. There are quite a few stores that specialize in emeralds, especially in El Centro. If you're interested in emeralds, you should visit Joyeria Coscuez (https://joyeriacoscuez.com/). They also have a little emerald museum at the back of the store and one of the employees will present it to you. My friend Stephanie works there but we were guided by Yuliana who speaks good English. It's worth checking out. Yuliana explained that all real emeralds have slight imperfections. I remarked that they resembled people in that respect. Yuliana corrected me by saying emeralds are more like women in that each one is different. I'm taking her word for it!😃😃😃
I took Stephanie and her boyfriend Geinner to dinner the night before I left. Geinner is a really good guy and he and Stephanie look so happy together. He speaks English and is also studying language. We had a fun time. I don't get to meet many young couples these days so it was wonderful to see some young folks so deeply in love.
The official Cutest Couple of the Year for 2025! Stephanie and Geinner 💖
Emerald mine display.
Inside the mine with Yuliana and Stephanie.
HASTA LUEGO CARTAGENA!
I'm glad I spent a month in Cartagena and may go back a little longer next year. Aside from the perfect (for me) weather, the people are friendly and helpful. As mentioned, very little English is spoken outside the tourist areas so, if you really want to see Cartagena, you should know some Spanish. As usual, much of what is said about Colombia is exaggerated in the American media. Other than crossing streets, I never once felt uneasy.
😂😂😂
