Colourful Cartagena
First stop in Colombia - Cartegena. A beautiful city. The streets are filled with bright colours and flowers cascading all around. Spending a day getting lost wandering through the streets, hopping in and out of coffee spots is a must. In fact, there is enough to see to spend two days doing this.
Favourite spot = San Diego area. Cool bars, beautiful to walk around the square (Plaza Fernandez de Madrid) veggie restaurant near by.
Overview and D.T tips:
Sleep:
Royal Inn Hotel - perfect after 3 weeks sleeping in the jungle and in need of a good nights sleep. Clean hotel with a little rooftop, breakfast included, good wifi, aircon and a jacuzzi on the roof. Staff also really friendly. This hotel is in a great location, in the old town, but kept away so stays quiet. Exito (big supermarket) 100m away. Double = $141,000 pesos per night / £39, $59
Other options: Republica - quick stopped here to check it out. Definitely recommend if travelling in a group or alone as a good meet up spot. Had a good vibe, pool, wifi, beautiful decor. Not super cheap. Double = $158,000 pesos / £43, $69
Eat:
El Bistro - located near Parque Bolivar. Friendly staff and wifi if needed. Stopped here for a juice. ££
Maharaja - located in La Matuna area. Very different feel to San Diego and the old town. Average atmosphere. Naan bread and samosa not your traditional Indian style but delicious, main dishes (curries) I wouldn't recommend. ££ 6/10
Girasoles - vegetarian restaurant located in San Diego. Cute little place serving one option for lunch a day but with a lot of variety in that option. Green bean salad, lemon and pepper rice, grain broth, carrots and cucumber salad and lots more. £ 8/10
Ábaco - library and coffee house. Very quaint and secluded, awesome coffee and great place to relax. I grabbed some children's Books to try and learn Spanish.
Espiritu Santo - the locals spot. Good and cheap food. Not great for vegetarians though. £ 6/10
La Cevicheria - didn't get a chance to go here as was always packed with a big queue. Clearly a top choice, therefore would definitely recommend trying it out.
Moving (transport):
Taxis - everywhere, super easy to get around and to the airport. They're all public taxis bright yellow,
To Santa Marta:
Option 1: get a bus from terminal berlinastur, just outside town. Costs $36,000pesos, goes via Barranquila and says takes 4 hours.
Option 2: Marsol bus company picks you up from your hotel/hostel in Cartegena, drops you off at your next hostel in Santa Marta and doesn't go via Barranquila - says 3 hours. $48,000pesos. We chose this option, but wish we hadn't. We may have had bad luck, but from our experience would not recommend. They stopped at the bus station for 45mins waiting for bus to fill up, ended up going via Barranquilla to change buses, and the driver! Didn't drop us at hostel, instead in the centre where we had to pay for a taxi to our hostel. Also ended up taking 5.5 hours,
Money: $115,000 / £30, $48 per day, per person food and accommodation
Yoga:
I used the rooftop of Hotel Royal Inn, rolled out my matt and did a Hatha Flow at sunset. One of my first personal practices since completing my 200hr certification. I made a commitment to myself to hold onto 3 things from teacher training: plus everything else....
1. Dedication to your personal yoga practice
2. Self study of the sacred texts - already read the Sutras twice, onto round three!
3. Self love. I felt secure and happy within myself at training. It is very difficult to forget to love yourself in our everyday, busy lives. I'm going to try and maintain a strong self-awareness and be positive.
*i'll let you know how these go!
D.T Rating for Cartegena = 8.5/10
In general Cartegena had a very safe feel with lots of policia on the streets, beautiful, friendly people, clean and easy to navigate around.
