The first week of June I traveled to Cartagena with a friend to explore Cartagena and meet a few new friends. Prior to my trip I contacted Amor De Cartagena for a few contacts in the city. Of the first seven girls I selected, only three were still associated with the site. The others were engaged. I provided a list of alternates and eventually got an e-mail address or phone number for seven women.
I was able to make contact via the internet with one woman and by phone with two others. The rest were a mix of no response, fax machines numbers or obsolete e-mail addresses. Despite my low success rate with the seven contacts, I was satisfied I had contacted a few for possible meetings. I did not pay for the guide package because I do OK with Spanish and am comfortable with the city.
My friend arrived in Cartagena two days before me on a similar mission. He elected to purchase the package that included the guide service. On Tuesday when I arrived, my friend, his guide Jovany and the brother of the guide Luis met me at the airport. I learned this was the same Luis that provided the contact information. Despite the fact I had not paid for the guided package, Luis was eager to help me.
The four of us rode in a small taxi from the airport to my rented apartment in Laguito in the Marinare building. I found the apartment on the internet my previous trip and was very satisfied with the accommodations. The manager of the apartment is Juan Ventura of Venpro.net. I recommend him as a good contact for upscale accommodations in Cartagena. As requested, he had purchased some beer, water and munchies for my first night so that I would not have to run to the store right away.
One of the other reasons I rented this apartment was I knew it was located directly across the hall from an American named Mike Crawford who runs a legitimate tour agency in Cartagena,
dalupus@gmail.net. I had contacted Mike prior to my trip to rent a private boat for a trip to Playa Blanca with my friend. As we got off the elevator, some people were going into Mike’s apartment so I stopped to make sure all the arrangements were made for the boat rental and provisions we wanted.
It looked like we woke him up, but Mike told us to go to the port the next day and look for Captain Lorenzo. Luis talked to Mike a little in Spanish and I relaxed assuming all of the details were taken care of. We then went into my apartment where we discussed plans for that evening and the next day. I was interested in having one of the girls I contacted join us on the boat ride to the beach, so Luis tried to contact her while I unpacked. My friend had a girl coming down from Baranquilla to meet him in the morning.
Luis was unable to contact her so I showed him a list of alternate girls I would be interested in meeting. He suggested one of the other girls from the site, and after failing to contact any of the girls I had spoken to; I agreed to meet her in the morning. I then began to unpack while my friend, Luis and his brother watched a DVD I had brought on the trip.
Despite the fact Juan had done some shopping for me we decided to go to a local supermarket to get some supplies. All four of us got in a cab and rode a few minutes to a nice store in the Bocagrande area. I stocked up on some essentials and then returned to the apartment with my friend, Luis and his brother Jovany. My friend and I split the cab fares the entire trip.
That night we went to a bar in the old city and had a few drinks. There were a lot of pretty girls in the bar and I had the opportunity to dance with several of them. After about an hour my friend and I split the bar bill and decided to call it a night. My friend had rented a nice apartment from Juan Ventura in the building right next to mine, so a single taxi was sufficient for the two of us. Luis and Jovany told us they would meet us in the morning for the boat trip to the beach.
The next morning I woke early and made a small breakfast. My friend was expecting one of his other friends and his girl to join us on the boat ride to the beach, so we set our departure time for late morning at about 10am. The boat Mike described to us had the capacity for 27 people, so two more people would still have left us with plenty of space on the boat.
As it turned out, the other friend could not make it. At about 9am my friend called me to tell me Luis and Jovany had arrived and so had his girl from Baranquilla. He also told me Luis had not one, but two girls in his apartment for me to meet. I walked next door to meet the three girls. They knew each other from working at the same place. It turned out the girl Luis had contacted was not comfortable going on the boat ride alone and wanted to bring a friend. That was OK with me.
I then learned that she had not thought to bring a bathing suit! I wanted to get some beach towels, so I walked across the street with her where I bought two towels and a bikini. The seven of us then met as a group on the street for the taxi rides to the port.
It was then that Luis told us the boat would be picking us up on the beach behind the apartment building. This sounded good to us, so we walked up the street towards the Hilton and down a small road to the beach. There was a small boat on the beach, but it was obviously not the one I had rented. We waited for a few minutes and then another small boat rounded the point and approached the beach.
Luis declared that this was our boat. I was not very happy with Mike as this boat only had seating for about eight people. It was not the large boat for 27 he had promised. I told Luis this could not be the right boat and he told me he had gone to the port earlier that morning to work out the details and this was the size boat they sent for our size group. Luis introduced the captain as Lorenzo and told us this was Mike’s boat.
So here we were on the beach with our supplies and high expectations for a day of fun at the beach with three lovely young girls. My friend and I discussed the situation for a few minutes and gave in to the idea of using this smaller boat. I told Luis I would discuss the misunderstanding with Mike when we returned.
My next surprise came when I learned the Luis and Jovany were going along with us to the beach. I did not want guide on this trip, nor expect to feed and entertain one. But my friend appreciated the translation assistance so we all waded through the water and climbed in the boat. My friend and his girl sat in the rear seat behind the captain, Luis in a single seat next to the captain, me and the two girls in a seat in front of the captain and Jovany and a pilot on the bow of the boat.
I had been in Cartagena less than 18 hours and day #2 was not starting out as I had expected.
More to come . . . .
