Stetson Family: Colombia

Clock Tower in the "Walled City"

Colombia was my favorite stop. It was old world, not so Americanized (at least were I was at), and a exciting culture. I know it's easy for someone to think of Colombia as a dangerous, drug-filled place (and I'm sure it has it's moments) but I refuse to let that fear stop me from exploring. For the most part the all of the Latin cultures that I have explored have been very aggressive in there attempts to sell tourists souvenirs, tours, or cab rides. This can be a little scary for us Americans especially since we don't like anyone in our personal bubble.

How to cope with these "expert" sales people:

Don't make eye contact
say "no thank you" and keep walking
If you are interested: haggle, they expect it, get prices up front for tours and cab rides
Most places took American dollars which is convenient but you could get a much better deal if you use the local currency. At the very least do some research on the exchange rate. In Colombia, my lunch bill came out to $35,000, which was shocking to see. It ended up being about $20 American.

View of the ship from the front.

Luke smelling the flowers

Colombian beer, definitely a step up from most Mexican-type beers... yumm

Fruit lady (mostly a tourist attraction)

Venus-esq. type statue

BTW, I had to *try* and buy diapers while here. I didn't pack 2 weeks worth because I figured I could get them on the ship... WRONG! They only had tiny baby diapers available to purchase. I didn't see any walmarts or albertsons while I was there either. This was a little tricky. Here's what I learned....

How to buy Diapers in a foreign country were you don't speak the language:

Find a woman (in my case our waitress)

Smile and look pathetic

Baby is a very universal world , like "no"

In my poor Spanish I said "Donde esta pantelones de bebe?" and pointed to Luke's butt.

We succeeded but it didn't occur to me until later that most people in this country(and most of the countries we visited) used cloth diapers. For the most part people were more then happy to help me and Luke out.

The area that we went to is called the "Walled City" in Cartagena because it is surrounded by an old wall (duh!). We walked along the top of the wall which was equipped with old cannons, look out posts, and an occasional bar (of coarse). It was the safest place for Luke to run around since there weren't may people near by.

It was very very hot here. Colombia crosses the Equator. My pasty skin does not do well in extreme heat. I had layers and layers of sunscreen on. No burns, and also no tans :(