Day 7 (Part 1): Only If Kathy Bates was My Taxi Driver

Departed from Cartagena at 8:17pm. Before I started my date in Guatape, I really should give a shout out to Daniel, my Airbnb host in Cartagena. His hospitality made my stay in Cartagena a lot more enjoyable than I expected. He has gone out of his way to make me feel welcomed and provided assistance where it is needed. The restaurants he recommended I have enjoyed all of them. In return, I would totally recommend anyone who visited Cartagena, they should consider staying at his Airbnbs: Pombo211, Delaiglesia, and Infinitum2907. 

The flight to Medellin international airport from Cartagena took about an hour. The view of Cartagena from above was mesmerizing, the bay, the old city and the new city, I have just walked a ton on those old streets the past few days. In this trip, I was not able to find a view that I can see both the old and new town in the same frame. There is always a next time.  

Here is my fate with taxi drivers. After I got out of the airport, I am supposed to look for a stand for white taxi, and they are the authorized taxi, and will be more reliable and they may be more expensive but should be more reliable. I asked some information desk where I should find this taxi stand. The lady pointed me downstairs to the left. I went and got of the door, there are a bunch white cab and there was a sign saying Medellin, so I talked to one of them, “a Guatape” and showed him the message my Airbnb host in Guatape sent me, it included the address, as well as the rough cost. He seemed to be ok and wanted to take me but he kept trying to explain something else. We tried typing and speaking into the google translate, but it did not sound right to me, something paper needed to be filled, and to avoid that, something private. I did not like the sound of that, so I walked away. 

A few of them all gathered explained to each other, this guy is going to Guatape and he does not understand...ba..ba..ba… (those are just my guess of what they were saying), and they ended up passing  me to this freelance driver I ignored previously, so I showed him the same message where I want to go, he quoted a price way higher than my Airbnb host suggested, so I walked away again, back to looking for that invisible taxi stand. The same guy who had tried to explain me a spaghetti length of Spanish on the google translate, we gave it another try again. He said the exact same thing to my google translate. I still did not understand, but it seemed he really just want to help, so I confirmed him that we are going to Guatape for total of 140000 COP todos. He said Si. I said ok, and then I jumped on his car. 

I am not stupid, so I turned on the google maps and made sure we were heading to the right direction. Though even if we were not, I am not exactly sure what I could do at the point. The initial 5-10 mins were some kind of uneven roads and some narrow streets, it was nonetheless matching with google’s suggested maps route… I started to wonder how rural Guatape is exactly. He tried to talk to me a few times, sometimes I picked up some key words and was able to give him some key word answer back. Otherwise, he said something, I repeated what he said, he thought I understand, and I did not ask him further, there is that. We got in this village kind of place, and he suddenly turned into a dirt road, going up a small hill, I was like ok where we are going. I started talking pictures, just in case, he was going to lock me up like Kathy Bates in Misery, break my legs and start feeding Colombian dumpling or something every day. Inside I was freaking out, and then there was a gate he opened and we entered, he saw I snapped a photo at the corner before we turned up the small hill, so he explain me that was his house. 

Suddenly, I connected the dots, his taxi was registered for Medellin and he is not allowed to drive his cab to Guatape, so he came back to his place to switch a private car, now that makes perfect sense. Nonetheless this whole ordeal is still freaking scary. I got my bag out of his taxi, his black dog was sniffing my bag, and he had a wife too, I gave her a little asian head node bow, and she was like what is this creature doing in my house (that was just my guess too). So, now I felt a lot better, we switched the car and get back on the way to Guatape. This taxi driver I could sense that he was a very gentle man, he kept trying to talk to me, telling how beautiful country is, when we drove by a lake, or mountain, he would be like, this is bonita, that is bonito. He got me to where I needed to be, I gave him a good tip, and I asked: tu número de teléfono por servicio de taxi en Medellin? That is what I said. He gave me his card. So, I thanked him and started my Guatape adventure. 

 

 

After I dropped off my bag at the Airbnb while they cleaned the room, I walked around the town of Guatape. The main commercial area is a quite small, much smaller than Provincetown. The colorful houses, and explicit decoration are everywhere, they are borderline overdone, it kind of reminds of a kindergarden, but actually it is very pretty for pictures, I particularly like the different colorful doors and windows. But Guatape, again, is a very hilly place. I had a soda and a quick use of their baños, cost 1000 pesos. It is common practice to charge for washroom in touristy place. Baños are not where I want to stop my post today but today has been very eventful, so I have to break this into two posts.

Day 6: Quien William?

Today’s plan primarily includes a visit to some hidden beach in a small island, and have a late lunch/early dinner in Celele by Proyecto Caribe Lab at 3pm. My alarm woke me up at 7:30am, I laid there till just after 8am, I could have slept a little more, because I got a heartburn in the middle of the night, and had to get out of bed to find Tum, Tum, Tum, Tum, Tum… I definitely ate more than I should have last night. Lesson learned, don’t let my eyes grown bigger than my stomach. 

I got out of bed, brushed teeth, ventured out to find some coffee and some quick bites. The sky was very overcast, I know it is not really a good beach day, but oh well, it is my last in town, the beach was one of the things I have not done. I can touch the Pacific Ocean for Christ’s Sake. I thought I’d go anyway. Before that, I must have my coffee fix. I got my Flat White (coffee) and some Colombian breakfast - Carimañolas de Queso - it is a fried yucca cakes filled with cheese in Epoca café again. It is really good I like it. The external appearance looked very much like a Chinese dim sum to me, but tasted definitely very different.  

Daniel sent me off on a cab to the other end of Bocagrande (the newer part of Cartagena I supposed), where there would be a line of water taxi waiting, I would take them to an offshore small island where I would find a beach. The beach belonged to Amare Beach Club, they have a whole page on Instagram showing pictures, how much the water taxi should cost, and which water taxi driver in specific I should look for: William, Orley, Anderson, Eduardo or Joandi… and so on. This Chinese guy who had absolutely no clue what these guys look like. I approached the water taxis, people were all busy talking to each other, bargaining or whatever they were talking about… Omicron? Anyway, I found a chance to talk to someone, I was like ‘Quien William?’ I think I was missing an ‘es’ in the middle. I was too nervous, I swallowed that word. So, I kept asking one guy after another, ‘Quien William?’, ‘Quien William?’. Finally, someone pointed me to who this big William of Cartagena is. I asked him, ‘a Amare en Playa Linda?’, I showed the Instagram, he said something, a word I definitely heard before, but I had absolutely no idea what he was saying, but by his gesture, I think he meant the Amare is closed right now, maybe he said come back another day, or another time. But it really doesn’t matter, because I have absolutely no idea what he was saying. So, I was ‘oh, ok, ok’ and walked off. 

 

I was already at a beach, just not the one I was planned to go. Another beach, Playa de Bocagrande, supposed to be bigger is just 10 mins walk away, so I started heading that direction. Playa de Bocagrande is right next to some huge mall, and had a lot more umbrella and people, and the beach was very long, it almost went all the way back to the old walled city. I found a spot and started sitting down putting sunscreen on. What I noticed was that the men in the beach were very conservative, wearing mostly those knee length beach shorts, basically what American would wear at beach, no speedo, no Brazilian type of short short or bikini... a big fat yawn, if I may say so. I did have a speedo on underneath my shorts, but then I was intimidated and I just laid there with my shorts on. We were really cloud bathing anyway. I stayed for about an hour. It was ok, there were too many people trying to sell you stuff that it was not really peaceful beach experience I was envisioning. I’ll go back to Carson Beach in Boston next summer. After I left the beach, I walked all the way back to my Airbnb, which was probably about 1.5 miles or so of walking. Took a quick shower, and then I went back to Epoca for a 2nd flat white and another Colombian snack thing – Arepitas de Queso Fundido – corn cakes filled with melted cheese and fine herbs butter. Yum!   

I only had a very very light lunch because my Airbnb host Daniel managed to squeeze me in for a reservation at Celele at 3pm. There were absolutely no availability I could find on their website until after I leave on Wednesday. But Daniel’s friend worked as a chef there so he must have twisted his arms. Celele was said to have been picked as one of the top 50 restaurants in Latin America in 2020. So, even though eating at the odd hour, I want to experience that. And I was not disappointed. For starter, I had a Prawn Tartare with coconut mayonnaise, mamey's chutney, green papaya pickles, chives, flowers, cilantro oil, and fried breadfruit on the side. For main course, I originally order the Mompox Style Duck Stew - sour orange juice and coconut milk based, sauté green beans, babaganoush (eggplants puree), yam soup and homemade cured duck breast over cassava bread. But that was out, so they recommended me to try the Celele Style Pork with pork confit terrine, dried bananas puree, roasted sweet peppers, Caribbean beans medley topped with chives and kale salad, over pork consommé. This pork dish totally blew my mind. The presentation was totally misleading, the pork was completed covered by the green, it did not even look like a pork dish, but when you dig in, the pork fell apart immediately, so tender, and there were at least 8 or 9 type of beans with all kind of textures, some soft, some more al dente. It is just a flavor and texture explosion in the month, one after another bite. Very very interesting dish. For dessert, I had Celele Style Merengón with crispy vanilla and bougainvillea wafer, creamy sour guava and rosewater ice-cream. Beautifully presented, unique, refreshing. Now my heart is full after this meal.    

 

 

 

 

I better start packing here, need to get up at 5am-ish for an 8:17am flight, airport is only 12 mins away, but I need to find a taxi. Better start early. 

All other photos from Day 6 are here. 

Day 5: Estoy Muy Lleno, Pero Esta Bien

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.