So far, it is like I am alternating between a heavy day in term of activities and a light day. Compared to yesterday, today have been much lighter, I am kind of appreciating that. I even have an afternoon nap to stay away from the heat. It is a luxury I can never have in Boston or when I am living in the US lifestyle, not until I am retired anyway.
I woke up pretty early at 6:20am, just brushed my teeth, picked my camera and went out to walk around the hoods to take some pictures when the streets are still kind of quiet. There were still people around, some are just opening stores, or cleaning the streets, or some just sitting around aimlessly. Everyone is still half asleep, myself included, so everyone has absolutely no energy to rise their voice to talk to this Chinese guy with “Amigos, amigos, ba.. ba.. ba..?’ Not even the fruit ladies with colorful dresses, normally they would keep asking me to take a picture or buy something from them, I have no idea. Even they are quiet. Everyone was just chilling, peace, I don’t exist here, and we are just air passing through each other. Wouldn’t it be nice if I could travel like that?! I zipped through the streets of old city Cartagena for about 1.5 hours or so, trying to find the right spot where the sun is hitting the buildings at the right angles. And then I got cansado (tired), so I guess it’s called the breakfast time.
I looked up the Epoca café hours, it is a place where Daniel recommended me to get breakfast and coffee. I went there, they just opened for like 5 mins, I was their second customer of the day. I had yet another Colombian dish - Arepa e ‘Huevo - that is deep fried corn cake thingy with egg in the middle. When I cut it open, there were still some soft yok in the middle oozing out. Totally calling my name. I enjoyed it.
Back to the Airbnb, take shower #1 of the day, worked on my blog and photos a bit. And then I walked back to Getsemani area to try another Daniel’s recommended restaurant called La Cocina de Pepina. Again, I happened to be the 2nd customer, out of the 3 dishes he recommended me to try: Mote de Queso, Copa Si Si Si, and Sopa Caribe. I picked Sopa Caribe, oh that is actually a version of Colombian seafood chowder, without the potato, but with lot of seafood. The broth is total yumo! There is also a side dish with salad, coconut rice and fried plantain. Love the coconut rice. It seems this country also used a lot of coconut in cooking, the ceviche aji coco I had last night was also coconut based. Overall, I love this restaurant, there are quite a few dishes I would have tried on the menu.
From the restaurant, I walked to the Castillo del San Felipe, it is old fortress just outside of the walled city. It was on a little hill, if it was not the sun and humidity, it would have been a very nice walk, let’s leave it at that. After I climbed up to the top of the fortress, there were some tunnels, I hid there for quite a while, because there were some good breezes going on in the tunnels. I needed to completely cool off before I dared walking under the sun again. Good that I got myself a bottle of Gatorade. On the way back to Airbnb, I stopped for another Coffee Frapp, it is a daily must here for me. And I also stopped by La Paletteria, they have all kind of popsicle in different unique flavors. I had the Bailey’s one today. It is a 2 mins of Heaven, I think I will try the grape tomorrow.
It was only 3pm when I got back to the Airbnb, after a quick 2nd shower of the day, for once, I have done something I have not done for a long time, I took a nap, it felt good. My body needed it from all these walking, and it was a sign that my body is allowing my mind to relax and not have to be always go go go. Dinner was at Restaurante Candé, I was told that it was more at the high end side, it is really not that bad at all. I had a Chicharon for appetizer which is very unwise choice for one person, since I was already filled up before my seafood risotto cooked in coconut milk, with a coconut lemonade, the bill comes down to US$30 or so. In US, the same meals easily double that not even including the tips. Cartagena definitely seems more pricey than Bogota, I only gonna be here for 3 nights, so I am going to eat the best I can.
All other photos from Day 5 are here.
