Cartagena, Columbia 92F Sunny
Columbia has a very long history of wars, external and internal, since the Spanish colonization in the early 1500's. Columbia is rich in natural resources including vast amounts of gold and silver. That alone made it a target for pirates and Cartagena was repeatedly ransacked, burned down, put under siege for ransom or otherwise pillaged throughout its history.
Cartagena has 2 ports on the Atlantic side- Bocagrande (big mouth) and Bocachica (small mouth) and it was difficult to successfully defend both ports. Spain employed various people to create defense plans for all of their port cities. For Cartagena it was determined that the city should have a stone wall completely encasing the original town. Additionally, an undersea wall was constructed across the opening of Bocagrande so ships of a certain draft were unable to breach the wall and had to sail to Bocachica to attack the city which was heavily fortified at that location.
Under Spanish reign, Cartagena was affected by the Spanish inquisition and was heavily involved in the West African slave trafficking.
Today Cartagena's old town remains intact with the walls still surrounding the perimeter. It is a busy residential, business and tourist area. The Bocagrande area has become the new hip part of Cartagena with high rises, resorts and a huge tourist destination. Industry, commerce and tourism are the main economic activities.
My time was spent again in the downtown area or the walled old town. The architecture remains Spanish colonialism with large wooden balconies covered in multiple colors of bougainvillea, large doors, and narrow streets.
We arrived in Cartagena fairly early - the moon was still visible over the high rises of Bocagrande.
We docked next to a freighter that was actively being loaded. It was very interesting to watch all the loading arms placing containers in some pattern known only to them.
The tour started in San Pedro Claver square with a church named after him as well. Saint Peter was the patron saint of slaves, working to convert them to Catholicism and giving them European names.
The inside of the church
Why yes, those are the actual remains of St. Peter Claver, under the altar of Italian marble in a glass fronted 24k gold coffin. Thanks for asking!
Some of the architecture - the Cartagena Cathedral at the end of a street showing the colonial balconies. Side street with balconies covered in bougainvillea.
'Past and present' with a picture of the old town facades, the end of the street you can see the old city wall and past the wall, the skyscrapers of Bocagrande.
Finally, my growing obsession with doors has a legitimate comment. Doors were a sign of wealth. Very large with a smaller portion that was the actual door (lower left corner) and the number of metal knobs inserted in the door indicated one's status/wealth.
Every town has a Simon Bolivar Plaza, in honor of the liberator from Spain and the first president of Columbia.
The Inquisition Palace now houses a museum that tells the story of the Spanish Inquisition in Cartagena which strove to eliminate anyone accused of a variety of sins including heresy, blasphemy, bigamy and witchcraft. Looking at the authentic torture devices used to obtain confessions - they were pretty successful - in obtaining confessions - true or not.
When I returned to the ship, I discovered the freighter had been completely loaded. The arms transferring containers to the ship were up and the tugs were helping to position the freighter to leave.
We left shortly after, as the sun was setting.
On to Colon, Panama which is the staging stop for the Panama Canal!!
Adios!
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