Pushing Pesos: The real Pirates of the Caribean

There is something mythical about pirates stories and Cartagena may well have been the inspiration for Walts Disneys famous triology. I am sure the real Caribean pirates where not as charming as Jack Sparrow but I wouldnt want to the diminish the idea of him walking merrily along the ports of Cartagena. Far from the glitz and glamour of Hollywood, Cartagena has a long history of blood shed caused from the pilaging and attacks. Cartagena was flowing with wealth and everyone wanted a taste.

Nestled on the Caribean Coast adjacent to Panama, its position made Cartagena the perfect port to pass for world trade. Founded by Spaniards in 1533, Cartagena played a key role in the expansion of the Spanish empire. Due to its position this also made Cartagena vulnerable to attacks, city walls and castle where put in place for its defense. Long after the pìrates and the Spanish left these walls still stand making Cartagena a beautiful colonial city to walk around. The city is so robust with colour and architecture that its a delight to stroll along its cobbled streets day or night.

We stayed in the walled city in a hostel call Media Luna, its was a tad on the pricier side but it was very nice. We spent the day walking around the city, stopping by to buy street food from ladies dressed in African head dress. Much like Salvador there is a large African influence, especially in the cuisine. Cartegna has many pretty squares, laid with restaurant tables and people relaxing eating and drinking. The warm night air and the buzz reminds you of holidaying in Europe. Near our hostel there was a square where they sold meat sticks and cold beers. We sat in a group chatting and drinking and spoke of how there is no place like this in England. If there was it would be full of tramps and drug addicts. We even saw a group of youths set up in the middle of the square and did a break dance piece for 15 minutes, the music being cranked up by one of the boys scooter engine. They would have got 3 yes´s on Britains Got Talent for sure.

We met a few locals on the square who we had a few drinks with. He then invited us to go to a hotel that his cousin managed to carry on drinking our discount booze from the corner shop. The hotel turned out to have a roof top pool with a lovely view of the city. We drunkenly spent the night taking away in broken Spanish, overlooking the views of Cartagena.

The next day were spent being hungover in the TV room in the hostel which was the only room air conditioned. You would often find our group huddled there as early as 6 in the morning just to escape the heat from our rooms. Cartagena must be one of the hottest places in the world. Huddled around the plasma we watched the tennis with two boys from London, watching the spectators sunbathing in near London bridge not quite believing it was actually hot in England. We gave a victory dance when Murray won.

On the Monday we left Cartagena to catch a sailing boat to Panama. We were finally leaving South America after 6 wonderful months! Here are some pics