Feb. 2 2020 - Flight to Cartagena - The walled city.

We left from IAH airport, so we took an Uber to the airport early in the morning. We had a layover in Miami and took the opportunity to buy a cuban sandwich at the airport which did not taste all that great.

Immigration in Cartagena was extremely slow and not all berths were open.  Getting off the plane was a new experience as it was not connected to the main terminal.  We had to use the air-stairs to deplane, with the wind blowing pretty strong.  Carmen said it reminded her of the 50's movies.  

The children and seniors were moved to the front of the line, from every flight as they entered the immigration area.  This made us wait over 2 hours to get our entry passport stamp.

We walked past the taxi drivers and tried to take a shuttle, there the driver said he was full but his friend was a driver and would take us....not an official Uber driver since they are outlawed in Colombia.  

We arrived at the AirBnB and after some help from the driver and the building attendant we got the code to the lock and entered the room.  The small apartment was clean and furnished.  It had a window that opened to the street and very high ceilings.  It appeared to be around 100 years old and maybe used as a living area.  They divided the living area to make these efficiency apartments.  There was a kitchen, bedroom and a small restroom.  The water did not get real hot, just warm.  The outside temperatures were in the mid 80s so it was a refreshing and cool shower.  After resting a bit we went out and walked the city.  There were many shops, pharmacy's and restaurants of many kinds.  Just walking around to see the beautiful colonial buildings with the beach colors was an experience!

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​The colors were lively and beautiful.  Cartagena de Indias is inside the Wall and is considered an UNESCO site.  We ended up eating at a small restaurant.  The food was outstanding....I had the fish and Carmen had an asian rice.  There was so much food, Carmen took half of hers to go.  As we were walking the streets a guy asked her for the bag of food for a trade of a bracelet.  She gave him the food and did not take a bracelet. 

​We kept walking and I bought a metal wire sun for our sun wall collection.  I was able to get him to lower the price and paid 25,000 Colombian pesos, over 7 dollars in US.   We then walked back to the airbnb tired from all the walking.  All night there was singing, music and party noises coming in from the window.