Cartagena

Cartagena old town is just lovely. It isn't nearly as impressive as the walled city of Debrovnik, but it is very livable and remarkably modern. By that I mean that the spanish colonial architecture has been well maintained but also turned into modern comfortable living. The old town is expensive, but well worth staying in that part of town. We arrived mid afternoon in town, got ourselves comfortable in our charming little hostel before exploring some of the town for dinner. We paid over the odds prices but had a wonderful meal and coctails. The next day we headed off to the port to try and find a boat to sail to Panama.

The only boat leaving during the next week that wasn't full was small and operated by guys who didn't give the appearance or behaviour of professional captains – more like guys who just want to have fun sailing around on their boat and took backpackers with them to make some cash. Not what we were wanting for 2 days crossing the open seas. Other boats were being cancelled here and there, so it all seemd easier and more reliable to arrange boats to San Blas from Panama (which thankfully we managed to). We booked (expensive) last minute flights to Panama City and onward flights to Costa Rica.

We drank beer on the city walls whislt the sun set, and cooked ourselves up storm in the best hostel kitchen we've ever experienced – Risotto one night, fajitas the next night – I tell you we felt so at home in Cartagena – we would have loved to have stayed longer except it was prohibitively expensive to do so. Did we do anything in particular in Cartagena – well no. Its just a great place to wonder aimlessly for a few days.