Day 8, Saturday March 8th.
I had invited E.R. to join me for breakfast at the hotel in that morning. The Almirante has an excellent breakfast buffet. The restaurant faces the ocean and we grabbed a table by the window to enjoy the view while we ate. Afterward we caught a taxi back over towards the Old City to a department store so I could buy a swimsuit, sandals for the beach, etc. The streets surrounding the store were lined with merchants in booths selling everything imaginable and we strolled around for a while, taking it all in. I don’t know if this day was special or if they do this every Saturday, but if you like that sort of thing it’s definitely worth checking out while you’re there. We walked back towards Boca Grande and up onto the old wall facing the ocean. We hung out up there for a while, talking and enjoying the breeze. I don’t know if it was the view, the breeze or just being in that romantic city, but at this point I am really getting the warm fuzzies for this woman. I play it cool, though, because I know it’s early and I don’t want to make a bad impression. (Although, I think that at this point that might have been difficult to do. And of course, it wasn’t just the view, etc. She had more to do with it than all that stuff.) After a bit we walked down from the wall and strolled through a little boulevard lined with shops. I wish I could remember where exactly this was because it’s a great place for souvenirs, etc. I’m sure those of you who have been to Cartagena know this place. We wanted to take one of the guided tours of the city that day and get back in enough time to enjoy the beach that afternoon, so we decided to go back over to the hotel and see if we could catch the tour that morning. However, when we arrived and checked into it, we found that we’d have to wait until later that afternoon and the tour would probably return around 6P. So we decided to go ahead and hit the beach then. She went home to change and came back in about a half hour looking mighty fine in shorts and a bikini top. The beach there is fine, though the winds were pretty strong because they are approaching the rainy season. I liked it because it helped with the heat and also the waves were pretty big. The drawback to the public hotel beaches are the vendors. They will drive you nuts. We still had a large time, played in the surf for a while. At around 1:30 we left for the hotel, went up to the room and showered the sand off and cleaned up then went down to catch the chiva for the tour. You definitely want to do a tour if it’s your first time in Cartagena, but booking it through the hotel is probably your safest bet. There are unscrupulous vendors who will try to sell you one on the street, but I understand you have to be very careful when dealing with them. Just book through the hotel and you’ll be fine. Our guide spoke Spanish and English and was quite an entertainer. We hit most of the spots in Cartagena you’d expect, although the tour didn’t do la Popa, the old convent on the hill overlooking the city. That was a little disappointing but the rest of the tour made up for it. We started out at the Fuerte de San Sebastián del Pastelillo, la Estatua de los Zapatos, la Iglesia de San Pedro Claver, Iglesia de Santo Domingo, la Catedral de Cartagena, and of course, Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas. We also hit the Plaza de Bolivar. San Pedro Claver was the last stop and we got so involved in admiring the sanctuary that we were left behind!!! No problem, we caught a taxi back to the hotel, she continued on to her place after we agreed to meet again in about an hour to go eat and find a place to dance. During the tour we walked past a very hip looking Argentinean restaurant that I wanted to check out that night. Quebracho is the name of the place and it’s located on Calle Boloco. It was fabulous. If you are in Cartagena you have to check this place out. After having a great time at dinner we walked around the Old City looking for a club that played salsa. The town was hopping and we stopped for a short time at a couple of places but couldn’t find anything suitable. We finally ended up at Mr. Babillas over on Avenida de Arsenal. The place was hopping, though they weren’t playing much salsa. E.R. liked the music they were playing, though, and we had a great time dancing and enjoying our time together. As a matter of fact, we were having so much fun that before we realized it they were closing the place. It was around 2 AM, I think. I did not want to leave this woman but we had made plans to go out to the Rosarios the next day and the chiva would be at the hotel early in the morning to pick us up. So we hopped a taxi back to the hotel and said our goodbyes for the night. That warm, fuzzy feeling is really getting the best of me by now, but somehow I managed to play it cool and hold my fire. “Not just yet”, I thought as I looked up at the starry night sky. Then I stopped for moment to enjoy the cool sea breeze. I am in paradise; and it is only a plane ride away.
JR
