Today I went to visit the beach in Cartagena. But first, I passed by Las Bovedas - a series of dungeons in the city wall that are used as souvenir shops today. I really liked the arches and the bright colors.
This is another beautiful bright building I found on my way to the beach:
The weather was glorious, overcast and very windy, so that the heat and humidity were less noticeable. Perfect for the long walk to and along the beach!
The beach itself was a rather sad affair, dominated by high-rise hotels and full of vendors. The weather, building up to a heavy rain, didn't help to improve the somewhat gloomy mood ;-)
And then, of course, the inevitable happened: rain set in. I headed away from the beach to try and find a dry place to stick it out - and there it was, in the first street I checked: a store of my favorite Colombian coffee chain Juan Valdez.
I love coffee houses; they are perfect places to sit for a while and read quietly. Plus, the coffee is nice, too. While the world coffee house market seems to be dominated by Starbucks, Colombia is an exception. With Juan Valdez, Colombia has its own chain of coffee houses, selling - what else - Colombian coffee. As a result, the money stays in Colombia and local coffee farmers actually get to profit from tourists sipping lattes and cappuccinos all day long.
When the rain stopped, I walked back into the center. When I got there, I was so annoyed by vendors approaching me and taxi drivers honking to get my attention that I felt ready to punch somebody. Then I got back to the hostel and discovered that somebody had taken one of my remaining two eggs - which brought on a whole new wave of annoyance. With the supermarket one block away, an egg costing maybe 15 euro cents, and my food bag clearly labeled, I really don't understand why people do something like that. Luckily, with the contentment of fatty food in my mouth and my nose in a book, my annoyance didn't last long :-)
Later I went out again to look at Cartagena at night. Cartagena - at least the historical center - is one of the few cities in South America where I felt completely safe walking around at night. Not many buildings were specially illuminated, but the orange glow of the street lamps created a nice atmosphere nevertheless.
This is another beautiful bright building I found on my way to the beach:
The weather was glorious, overcast and very windy, so that the heat and humidity were less noticeable. Perfect for the long walk to and along the beach!
The beach itself was a rather sad affair, dominated by high-rise hotels and full of vendors. The weather, building up to a heavy rain, didn't help to improve the somewhat gloomy mood ;-)
And then, of course, the inevitable happened: rain set in. I headed away from the beach to try and find a dry place to stick it out - and there it was, in the first street I checked: a store of my favorite Colombian coffee chain Juan Valdez.
I love coffee houses; they are perfect places to sit for a while and read quietly. Plus, the coffee is nice, too. While the world coffee house market seems to be dominated by Starbucks, Colombia is an exception. With Juan Valdez, Colombia has its own chain of coffee houses, selling - what else - Colombian coffee. As a result, the money stays in Colombia and local coffee farmers actually get to profit from tourists sipping lattes and cappuccinos all day long.
When the rain stopped, I walked back into the center. When I got there, I was so annoyed by vendors approaching me and taxi drivers honking to get my attention that I felt ready to punch somebody. Then I got back to the hostel and discovered that somebody had taken one of my remaining two eggs - which brought on a whole new wave of annoyance. With the supermarket one block away, an egg costing maybe 15 euro cents, and my food bag clearly labeled, I really don't understand why people do something like that. Luckily, with the contentment of fatty food in my mouth and my nose in a book, my annoyance didn't last long :-)
Later I went out again to look at Cartagena at night. Cartagena - at least the historical center - is one of the few cities in South America where I felt completely safe walking around at night. Not many buildings were specially illuminated, but the orange glow of the street lamps created a nice atmosphere nevertheless.
