Cartegena

How else can I describe Cartegena expect that it has more character than I could have ever imagined a city. As I would walk out on the street in the morning my senses would be overwhelmed. I would first pick up a huge slice of watermellon from the guy on the corner. There is music playing from every house and every business. The plaza down the block is filled with people yelling and dancing and making whatever comotion they can.

A few highlights of the city-

• Buying three Mangos for $0.50 cents and devouring each juicy one at a time.

• The smell of every possible fried little snack you could think of that filled your nostrils in the streets.

• The beautiful streets of the historic neighborhood where I could have gotten lost for hours through the maze and never felt at all in need of finding my way back.

• Drinking a glass of wine in the Plaza de San Felipe surrounded by street performers eager to play thier music. All of which were extremely talented.

• Scaling the wall around the historic center and getting a beautiful view of the intricate workings of the buildings.
  

• Getting asked for the 100th time if I wanted to buy a plastic bowl or a crazy hat or a pack of gum.

• Walking into the plaza at the corner of our street and seeing people dancing to the blaring music while street vendors work hard at their little stoves to send wafts of street meet through the air as enticing bait.

• The store at the corner that closes its doors at night but allows locals to stand around the corner and buy beer through the bars.

• Walking through the choas of the local day market full of fish, any kind of meat, spices, fruits, plastic nick nacks and not a single foreigner in sight.

• Getting woken up in the morning by our german friend Thomas with a bucket of water.
  

Of course as you could guess there are many many more that I could note. Just like every stop on this trip I need to just find a stopping point and move on.