So many islands, such little time

Cartagena Colombia is overwhelming my senses. The old walled city is a giant maze of churches, plazas, flower covered balconies, Spanish architecture, art, music, fresh fruit, horse drawn carriages, cobblestones, and beautiful women.

From the top of one of the walls you can gaze at the old city, glance to the ocean on the right or across the bay to the skyline of the city. It is spectacular. Surrounded by over 1 million friendly Colombians, I am quickly learning the culture of this Caribbean town and looking forward to exploring the diversity of other parts of the country.

A friend I knew in Honduras was randomly here the first few days, she is fluent in Spanish which has helped, and we had a blast together. It was perfect to have someone for many of the events as they were intense and sometimes intimidating. We went to the parades, and spent the evenings wondering to different plazas, listening to music and drinking rum.

We also made it to a discothèque one night for some dancing, it was quite the place. She has moved on and we may meet each other again in time, but our adventures were pretty fantastic, I hope you enjoy them.

Fiestas all week

I have been very lucky to have arrived on the week of the Independence Festival for Cartagena. During this week of partying they celebrate being the first area to win independence from the Spanish. Also during the festivities they have the National Beauty contest and the winner will go on to represent Colombia in the Miss Universe contest. Each day a variety of events take place in the streets and even one on the water, this lasts over a week and it is a big party every day.

The main event, the parades were spectacularly bizarre, and a blast. Fortunately my friend and I were warned of some of the customs and we able to prepare for the event. Basically wear shitty clothes and bring nothing important. Water, foam, cornstarch, and even oil are all fair game.

The giant cans of foam sold on the streets are a soapy substance that looks like snow when blasted at a distance, or when shot at close range a stream of soapy silly string looking substance, luckily the soap substance smells nice and just brushes off or fades rather quickly.

The other thing that occurs is children cover themselves in black oil and beg for money while threatening to rub it on you. This custom seems to have gotten a bit out of had and got pretty annoying, but I learned to carry small change and just try and avoid them.

The first day of parades was the children’s parade, beautiful costumes, loud music and dancing. The next day November 11 is the actually day of independence. We watched the parade on the street and found ourselves covered in foam and corn starch from head to toe.

It was a blast watching the people on the streets covering each other. Being gringas we were more of a target then others but we found that if you don’t make eye contact you have a better chance of not getting sprayed, but we still were.

Also being fair to the Colombian tradition had our bottle of rum with us to partake in the celebration. This helps a lot when you are being covered with any and everything.

The next parade we decided to watch from a distance as the floats carried the beauty Queens along the road by the water, it was fun to see the event from a safe foam free distance.

The following day the beauty queens were on boats waving happily to the crowd. On final day of events I joined the family I am staying with to the parade on the road near their home.

We were in a great spot and had a chance to see the parade close up. I was lucky to only get a little corn starch and foam thrown on me. I will say I kind of like the foam, but probably wont miss it too much.

Volcan del Totumo, 150 feet of mud

This was one of the most bizarre experiences of my life, I will try and explain with words and pictures but I don’t believe that will do it justice.

We took a tour bus for an hour outside of Cartagena. As we arrived at the volcano I was surprised to see it was a giant mound of dirt 60 feet high with two sets of steps up to the top. It was explained to us that this village lives solely off the tips they receive from tourist that visit. We would have the chance to get a massage, have someone use our camera to capture the experience, and have the women wash us and our clothes. We are asked to provide each with a tip. We were instructed to bring only the bathing suits we were wearing and a camera.

We ventured up the steps while looking out at a gorgeous bay and mountainous area. Once at the top we looked in the 20 feet wide hole of mud to see several people laying on top of/in the mud as the 2 worker men slid them around and into place for their massage. We waited our turn while watching in awe, confusion, and uncertainty. As I climbed down the ladder the cool mud swallowed my body and the man instructed me to lay down with my head in it, he painted my face, all but my eyes and mouth and gave me a massage.

Once he was finished he slid me over to the corner so I could enjoy and soak on my own. The hole was very small and the men just kept letting more people enter and no one was getting out, it was a bit awkward. And the mud is so thick that it is hard to control your movement, you can’t swim and unless they slide you around or you hold onto something it is pretty hard to control your movement.

The heavy mud on my body and in my suit made it difficult to climb the slippery ladder out. Once I made it out one of the men guided me to a platform and he sloshed the mud off of my body for me. Weird.

From there we slowly went down the steps to this area where women were waiting, they walked us through lilly pads and had us sit down, the water came to my neck, and they washed us. She also had me remove my swim suit and she washed it as well.

They guided us back through the lily’s to shore and we were finished. And that was it. Later on as others finished, each of the people that had helped us came for their tip. We were told that fifty cents for each of them was a minimum, I think we gave each person $2.50, it was well worth every cent.

Quinceañera

In Colombia the girls fifteenth birthday is much like sweet 16 in the states but it is a big deal. I have been lucky to be a part of this event for the child in the family I am staying with. My friend Claudia who is also traveling was nice enough to join me to this event, as a guest, and my translator. According to the family their party was very different from a typical Quince Anos party, usually it is a fancy family dinner.

This was very different, a lot of whisky and music. We made the mistake of arriving at the party to early, and this was after a day of parade events and drinking. So we sat in one of the several chairs set in a large square in the driveway. We chatted and drank and as the night wore on we got very hungry. We were then pleased to see them bringing around trays of food, the first one was pork rinds, and we were offered some off the try (to me this is like giving someone one Pringle and walking away) the next tray was tiny strawberries. At this point Claudia and I are tired hungry and drinking whisky as they served it to us, getting drunker. Because my Spanish sucks Claudia gets the opportunity to breach any awkward situation we get ourselves into. So she asked about food and they told us after the Mariachi band.

Of course there is a Mariachi band, can’t have a party without one of those. So the band comes walking up the road and plays several songs. At this time the birthday girl is standing proud with the family, and she is in tears. So dramatic, she must really be a women now. She defiantly looks like one, she is gorgeous and could pass for 25. Anyways by the time this is over there is still no food in sight so we sneak into my room for some trail mix that mom packed for the trip. It sounds silly but we just needed something. As we exit my room we are caught by the oldest son. He questions what we were doing, Claudia tries to explain that we were hungry and their was trail mix, but from his reaction he must have assumed we were doing what most people think you do in Colombia, (sniff). Pretty funny, you probably had to be there.

Anyways we waited about another hour and at this point the mariachi band has gone and a new band is on the way, they are to arrive at midnight and stay till 6. Oh and did I mention the speakers for the music are hanging on my bedroom window, the music is actually louder in my room then at the party. We are both too exhausted to think at this point. Claudia decides to venture home and I am so exhausted and hungry I pass out happily in my bed and sleep thought the blaring music all night. The next morning I wake up early to head to town and I find a big pot that had been full of food. Looks like they finally had dinner sometime after midnight. I guess we should have know.

And that is the story of my first Quince anos party. Muchas Gracias

I hope you enjoy the many random photos.