We left Brannanquilla early in the morning bound for one of the most influential port cities in the formation of the Americas, Cartagena. The drive was mostly painless despite running into droves of kids playing on the highway.
A land bridge connects Brannanquilla to Cartagena with heartbreaking slums to the south of the road. The kids used the highway to escape the hoards of filth an trash they called home. Our greeting from them surprised us because some set up "blockades" to get money from passing motorists. Some dressed as the mascot of carnaval, others crossdressed, and others dressed as ware wolves while they manned there lines.
Cartagena was hot, almost unbearably, but the temperature failed to keep us from walking nearly twenty miles per day throughout the walled city. The city was founded in the 1500s as a trading post which allowed the Spanish better access to the gold and slave trade. The city's fortress you've seen in countless movies about pirates and buccaneers. The city has walls twenty feet high and forty feet thick in places to withstand the onslaught of the French and famed pirates such as Francis Drake.
In the center of the bay lies an impressive fort called Castillo San Felipe de Barajas. The fortress took over an hour to explore due to its size and fun passageways. We found the first coffee shop with air conditioning and slumped into their chairs for recovery. Frozen limeade did the trick to get us going back two miles home.
Our hostel, ill admit, was not in the most desirable locations. We were initially confused as the taxi left the historic part of the city into the outskirts. We were fifteen minutes walk from the walls, with five of those min on high alert. The hostel was an oasis in this rough area that we would not dare venture into at night. There were signs on the doors explaining how the locals will beat you up for your cellphone or because you have a nice backpack.
The first night as we were sprinting home to beat the approaching night we forgot about dinner. Luckily, the hostel owner knew of a delivery service for food. When the delivery was made we were staggered by the quantity of food they brought. We made five meals out of the food.
In the end, it was Chinese food we found in Cartagena, not pirates.
