Tuesday. We checked out of Mamallena and made our way to El Hotel Veleros in the Bocagrande area of Cartagena, a 10 minute taxi from the old town. It was nice to stay somewhere by the beach!
After checking in we explored the area and walked back to the Old Town to see all the NYE preparations. We then relaxed on the beach to top up our tans.
For NYE we arranged to meet up with the friends we made during the boat trip from Panama to Colombia, at Mamallena. The night was full of rum, laughter, amusing the locals with our 'wierd dancing' and watching fireworks welcome in 2014 in the Old town. Fun was had by all!
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| Our Captain!! |
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| Dancing in the streets |
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| Getting friendly with the locals |
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| Happy NYE!!!! |
Thursday. Our final day in Cartegena. We decided to spend our time exploring the Castillo San Felipe de Barajas, an old fortress built to protect the town from pirates.
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| Colombia!!!!! |
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| View from the top of the Fortress |
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| Exploring the tunnels |
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| Bang! |
Since coming to Colombia I have fallen in love with paintings of the large lady sculpted below. You can see various paintings of her all over Cartegena. No doubt I shall buy one! Research has told me that this is the creation of the artist Fernando Botero Angulo.
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| Filled with butter - Yummy!! |
Friday.We made our way to Santa Marta the stop off point before the 5 day trek to the Lost City. We decided to take a collective arranged by Marsol. 5 hour trip costing 42,000 COP each.
After staying at the beautiful Cartegena, Santa Marta seemed to be the 'ugly sister'. There really was not much to see here and we were both pleased that we were only here for 1 night. Especially as we were staying in a horrible hotel on the outskirts of the city.
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| Santa Marta Cathedral |
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| Not sure about this restaurant?!!! |
Saturday to Wednesday. One of the main reasons we both came to Colombia was to do the 5 day trek to Ciudad Perdida - a 'lost city' in amongst the Tayrona National Park.
This was a really impressive adventure and well worth the huge amounts of sweat, aching muscles, stinky clothes (really should have packed more than 1 set of underwear!) and sleeping in smelly beds which we experienced along the way. We were lucky enough to share the experience with 8 other lovely people from USA, Australia and UK.
We booked the trip through Magic Tours for 600,000 COP.
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| Morning coffee waiting for the bus outside Magic Tours |
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| Lunch with our fellow trekkers before starting the 5 day trek |
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| Mules being loaded with our food - we had to carry our own bags! |
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| Return trip 29 miles! |
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| Start of day 1 hike |
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| Beautiful jungle scenes made this a stunning trek |
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| Fancy a dip? |
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| Pit stop before climbing an hour long uphill |
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| Looking sweaty!! |
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| Rewarded with watermelon .... |
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| ... and fantastic views |
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| What goes up, must come down |
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| Sleeping quarters - for about 40 trekkers |
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| Kitchen |
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| Good night! |
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| Who´s a pretty boy then!! |
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| Hmmmmm .... wonder who will win the game of 'chicken' |
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| Sarah and Katy from USA |
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| Day 2 |
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| Little paddle to cool off |
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| Poser ;-) |
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| So much better than a smelly shower! This was a very cold bath!! |
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| I will always hate crossing this kind of bridge! |
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| We made it!! Day 3 welcomed with a straight 1 hour uphill climb |
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| Tarzan? - I think not... |
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| The gang |
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| 1 of many rivers we had to cross |
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| Dinner time - joined by lots of other groups! |
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| Day 4 - 1200 steps to reach the lost city |
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| Reenacting history - this is where people were sacrificed! |
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| Having fun with security |
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| King and Queen Downes |
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| Our guide enjoyed this moment, I am sure ;-) |
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| Classic picture from the top of the city |
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| We made it! |
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| Well earned lunch! |
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| Final dinner with the gang |
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| Indigenous homes |
Beautiful Photos. You are sharing all the moment, which you enjoyed lot. Everybody knows Cartagena is the Southern party capital of the world. its special for bachelor parties. We are four friends and Last year we had gone and enjoyed lot. And also enjoyed the Best Bachelor Party in Cartagena. All the credit goes to our travel adviser they arranged all for us. Thanks lot.
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