Checked out my Bogota Airbnb right at 6am, the security guard of the building knew this Chino did not speak much Spanish, so he gave me a hand salute instead. He just seemed like a very kind man. I called an uber for the airport, the skinny driver was very friendly, not an ounce of meat in sight, with the black t-shirt, it submerged with the driver seat. What are we talking about? Oh yes, the airport. I love the uber here. I knew exactly how much I was paying, and there was no bargain, no cash transaction, all done via the apps. I just prefer uber over taxi a gazillion times over. Uber is not officially legal here in Colombia though, so it would be more difficult for me to call an uber from airport. Anyway, I was dropped off at the domestic terminal, it was quite busy actually, many people were flying today evidently, and my flight was completely full. Boarding the flight involved me paying 200% attention for the row number being called out in Spanish. I had the seat 11B, so I was looking for “Once” to be called, my ears were up. I got it right without asking people, yay!
Today is the first day that I am traveling completely solo, without Carlos being my guide and communicator, my normal travel instinct started coming back, I became more observant of what was happening around me, I would be looking at people from some hidden corners with my ninja eyes on, observing what they do. There was this bunch of women all wearing the same straw hats written some words on it, they were taking some group pictures at the gate, making this same pose, covered face and then smile. I was like “oh geez!” Actually I was also thinking, even though we may not speak the same language, they could well be a group of joy luck club women, or some housewives from some small towns in Midwest US. I can see some kind of humanity in all of these, even though we are speaking different languages, growing up a little in different culture, behaving a little differently, but we are still doing all the similar things in our lives. That’s one of the reasons why I love to travel alone, it is the time when I can observe humanity, the good and the bad. To judge and be judged or the god given duty to a gay man.
I was taking the Colombian discounted airline Viva Air today, the big yellow bird, I had to check in my backpack because their carry on allowance is so little. It worked out fine, I just took all my valuables to a smaller day bag for carry on. I arrived Cartagena just before 11am, the suppressive heat hit me immediately as I exited the plane, it was well over 80F (or close to 30C) if not higher and humid, south east asia style, don’t I remember that shit?! I was told that there should be a stand for authorized taxi at the airport, you pay at a fixed price, and of course, life can never be so easy, they were nowhere to be found. Could it be because it is Sunday, everyone went to church or took a day off, tourists fuck that. I am not quite sure. After walking the entire airport front twice, I just ended up talking one of those guys who kept yelling out Taxi, Taxi, Taxi every time I passed by him, maybe the word Taxi should have been my hint. What do you think? I could only guess. I showed him the Airbnb address, and demanded it should only cost 20000 COP, this is what the Airbnb host told me, you can charge me no more than 20000 COP. I was already in my bargain tone before the bargain ever begun. The taxi driver was reading the address and was like, ahh… I know this place, yeah, 20 thousand, and so we went. Just like that, I could have saved my energy for walking the airport front twice. It was really only a 10-12 mins ride.
I was 3 hours earlier before my check-in time. Here is the link to this airbnb room. Daniel, my Airbnb host, received me anyway, he agreed to let me drop off my bag, so I could go out to grab lunch and walk around the streets while the cleaner continued to get my apartment ready. Later in the afternoon, we had another long chat, and he gave me all these suggestions on restaurants and places to see…etc. I am kind of excited to try some of those restaurants actually, some of them looked fancy nancy in an interesting way from the menu, I definitely gonna try these 3 places: (1) Celele, (2) La Cocina de Pepina, (3) La Paletteria. Cartagena is definitely not a cheap city, by any means, it is not as expensive as in US, but for Colombia, it is probably one of the more expensive places, thanks to the tourists. Back to the host, apparently Daniel spent a good amount of times growing up in Montreal, so he spoke fluent English, French, and Spanish. We talked about Boston and compared it to Montreal…etc. The Airbnb apartment itself is very nice. I guess I should call it a studio, the bed was kind of in an attic but is connected with the living space, high ceiling, very nicely decorated throughout, very relaxing and with good conditioning. In this town, you need it. If there is a portable one, bring it along.
I have walked so much again today, all around the old walled city where the Airbnb is located, as well as Getsemani, another part of town that have lots of restaurants and painted walls, small alleys..etc. Watched the sunset over the walls around the old city, witnessed a long line waiting to get in the Café del Mar to watch sunset while technically the sun was already setting, I do not think this Café del Mar is “the” Café del Mar, but it is nonetheless a popular place for sunset in Cartagena. I think I got a bit overheated, and I could barely keep my masks on, it was just too suppressing hot, I could barely breathe behind the masks. There were many street hasslers, working girls at the corners asking for money, providing service, seeking help, giving favor for money, but I don’t feel unsafe, in fact, I felt comfortable enough to walk around with my camera. After all, it is a very touristy place, so there are also many policia around.
Here are first judgement on this town. Cartagena is indeed very charming, a very beautiful city, I have not even been to the new part of town yet and am looking forward to find a place where I can see both the old and new part of town side by side, it can make a good contrast. I could see myself getting lost in these tiny streets, with colorful colonial buildings, have a coffee here, a gelato there, takes thousands of pictures in the next few days. But I must say after walking around town the whole day, and had foods or drinks in 3 different restaurants/cafes. This town is unfortunately a bit too touristy, not only are the prices much higher, which is expected and is fine if the service is good. However, in a touristy place, it tends to mix in with more opportunistic people, they expect to get more rewards or tips from you just because you are tourists. Within the few days you are gonna be here, it seems, they just grab as much out of you as possible (not the good kind). It is not like I have had a bad day at all, quite the contrary. But it was a judgement from my intuition today. I am just the observer of humanity, the good and the bad. Maybe I meant the humidity, which clouded my judgement. I still have 2 more days here to make my final verdict.
All other photos from Day 4 are here.
