Post 67: Sun, street food & hidden tunnels

F.A.,

The sun in Cartegena.  I don't think ever in my life have I felt it beat upon me as it did yesterday.  Combined with the humid air, I welcomed the passing clouds and showers.  I've enjoyed bathing in cold water each day during our stay, as warm water is not available.  I can't remember the last time my face and body has produced this much sweat.  Maybe during my dancing days of outdoor rehearsals under the summer shade, or while cutting the grass as a teenager. Yesterday I felt as though I had just finished a hard days labor, when in actuality I was only standing or walking around the city.  Luckily, you can purchase ice cold coconuts with a machete hacked hole in the middle to sip the water inside to help keep you cool, or limonada along with other fresh, cool juices streetside.

On our walk to Castillio de San Felipe de Barajas, we stopped to enjoy some traditional ceviche from a line of red tents lined along a main avenue.  We had the shrimp, which was served with an abundance of diced red onions, freshly squeezed lime juice, garlic, horseradish and a ketchup like tomato sauce; with saltines along side.  It was quite delicious and cheap!  Street food surrounds you here.  Fresh exotic fruits, cheesy arepas, empanadas, plaintain crisps, tamales, bread, donuts, locally made sweets etc!  We are willing to give whatever we find a try.  I very much enjoyed the empanadas, which are fried and filled typically with shredded chicken and potato or pork.  Gavin liked his shredded coconut & burnt sugar cookie, which was too sweet for my taste.  We also tried a a sponge like cake, topped with preserves of some kind.  It didn't suit our tastes, but it's good to try everything once.  Today we plan on having more ceviche, as well as searching for other street foods and drinks we know of but have missed such as churros, which are apparently different than those of Mexico; and salphicon, a blended fruit drink.

The fortress we visited is the worlds largest colonial Spanish fort, built in 1657 to protect against pirates while shipping gold to Spain.  Exploring the walls, we had an aerial view of the city.  It's 4 stories of walls with additional slanted walls built up into them to further protect the outside from cannon fire.  Navigating through the many narrow, small tunnels inside the fort, I could only imagine the gun powder and cannon balls stored in its storage holds.  Some tunnels steeply went down many feet, and we had to be careful with our steps.  Although it was really interesting and a very neat place to visit, being inside the mazes of tunnels made me feel a little claustrophobic, and a bit paranoid.  When  I'd stare down one, I felt as though I was entering a time warp.  Not a good feeling at all for me.  Gavin thoroughly enjoyed our visit, despite the heat.  We were able sip some naturally sweet tamarillo fruit juice (tomato fruit) on our visit there.

We rested afterwards for awhile, then had dinner and more gelato.  Today we bought some groceries at the Exito to make dinner the next 2 days, to save some money.  This is a very beautiful, yet expensive city. We decided against taking some day trips outside the city to various places, as it is very hot outside and most ventures are similar to what we have seen or may see further along our trip.  We'd rather save the money because who knows what excursions we may come across the duration of our trip.  It cools later in the day, so then we will visit The Gold Museum, and pick up some street snacks.

June

More photos after the break: