Columbia and the Three C's

 

We arrived in Cartagena at the agreed upon time. Nothing out of the ordinary for docking. Tugs a pushing, ship rumbling and shaking and then total calm. We had arrived. I waited a moment before leaving the ship. Four thousand people jammed into a narrow hallway is not exactly for me, but it was a little after 10am and my experience in hot places is that it doesn’t get cooler as the day goes on. I had set aside my Indiana Jones knockoff hat in a special spot in the house and there it still remains. I was sure that today was going to be a day I was going to miss it.

The day started off on a foot, not sure if it was the right or wrong foot. I was halfway down to the junction where I turn to find the stairs. I hear my name called from behind me. It was one of the women from the stitching, knitting group. I had met her numerous times, but always face to face, getting recognized from the rear I found unsettling. I’m being paranoid.

Walking off the ship as soon as I cleared the pier and the wall of tour busses and through some palm trees Nirvana. A canopy of palm fronds opened up and parrots !! Real parrots, not of these little green ones, real Blue and Golds, Scarlets. Yes among them there were Amazons as well. The non parrot tourists all were going crazy for one of them. A damned Cockatoo. The came all this way to Central America to see a flipping Australian bird? Oh, well. At least the Macaw on the perch taught them to offer a forearm, not a hand with tasty fingers on it. Some old people can be pretty quick when it come to a hooked beak aiming for their pointers.

Of course you had to exit through the gift shop, where a very narrow chokepoint (one Rascal scooter wide) and the clueless people stood and negotiated taxi prices and the rest of us piled up like dominos behind them. I touched and ‘pardoned’ my way through the scrum of people into the scrum of taxi touts. “Madame, taxi?”, ‘How much?’, “Twenty dollars!”. ‘No way $10!” (The five year old wiki page said $5, but inflation ya know?) This went back and forth down to 15, I stayed at 10 and we finally agreed on $10. Traffic n Cartagena s like Seattle at rush hour if you erased the lane markings, except no bicycles. The thing that was most surprising was the lack of honking. That is not how things work in foreign countries, Yellow light? Stomp on the gas padal. Red light? Slolom course time! Green light? Honk your horn!, except in Japan.

After twice as long as it should have taken, we arrived at the old walled city. I slipped the driver and extra $2, he made sure to give me his taxi number for the ride back.

Stepping from the taxi I was surrounded by a phalanx of new found friends who would love to sell me cigars at less than wholesale. The friendly guy who just liked my looks and wanted to show me around his town for free. Hats and maps. Purses and bags. This was the way the remainder of the city visit would be, and I am not exaggerating. I thought the Souk in Marikesh (sp?) or Fez was high pressure street sales, this was Instant Pot pressure and unrelenting.

I wandered around and took a couple snapshots, nothing that well make the cut for enlargement and a frame. Good enough for his blog, but nothing I am really proud of. Before leaving home I polled friends if there was anything they wanted from Columbia. ‘M’ asked for a city mug from Starbucks, if they even has Starbucks, in the land known for three things known worldwide that start with the letter ‘C’. I pulled out my phone and opened the Starbucks App and tapped ‘stores’. There was one within 100 feet. If I had looked up I would have seen it. Welcome to civilization.

Inside I found the wall of mugs for sale. Bogota, Columbia, Cartagena!! I snatched it and proudly marched my quarry to the register. Pushed a button on the app and the transaction QR code appeared I turned the phone to the clerk and received a shake of the head. Nope, US Starbucks doesn’t work in Columbia Starbucks. I knew that was going too easy. I unzipped the correct pocket and pulled of some U.S. treasury backed Greenbacks. Same shake of his head and a finger pointed at the ‘No U.S. currency accepted’ sign next to the register. Am I back at the bike rental kiosk in Los Angeles? I am about to leave with my ceramic pelt laying on the counter for the buzzards to pick clean, and the man says ‘Credit card?’ YES !! Not all is lost. A tap and a bag and I am back on the street.

It is hot at high noon in Cartagena, I needed water. I was losing moisture faster than a fish in a sauna. Water for a $1. Knowing there was a large tourist markup, but he was handy. The only problem, the smallest bill I had was a $20. He assured me in sign language that he could get change. He took my $20 and returned in a couple minutes with a Twenty in his hand with a rip in it. I am certain the bill I handed his was perfect. I had watched the cashier on the ship count it out, one by one. The weasel had switched my bill with a torn one, that for some reason is often rejected in foreign countries. And no water.

“M”’s boyfriend ‘M’ wanted some coffee beans. I decided to choose some items also in the ‘C’ list for other friends but realized that I needed local currency to buy that and keep from becoming a prune. I saw a currency exchange sign. The exchange was located at the far back of the store. Not only did you exit through the gift shop, you entered through the gift shop . I handed the man my 2 twenty’s he stopped and flicked the torn one and I waited for him to reject it, but he took it! Probably thought he could foist on the next traveler who was leaving and wanted to get rid of their pesos. I took my wad of various sized and colored bills and turned to leave. What should I see? Coffee and chocolate bars. The coffee was clearly marketed for the tourist trade. Juan Valdez and Pablo Escobar coffee. ‘M’ is getting Juan Valdez.

Water was next. Stepping outside I was accosted (no that is too strong a word, approached? huh.. Not strong enough. You get out the Thesaurus) by two or three street vendors. I was startled and I guess it showed on my face. One of the men took pity on me and asked what I needed. I told him a grocery store (Mercado). He pointed down the street and said the yellow building. I passed it twice it was dark inside and looked like a derelict building. I found the water case and took a huge water bottle to the cashier. I had no idea what the cost would be, so held out maybe $3 to her. She took a bill that was the equivalent of a dollar and handed me change. Take that Mr. $20 reject !

The taxi driver said that Cartagena had a population of a million people, much smaller than the than the capital, Bogata. Which had eight million. I was getting the feeling that everyone from Bogata was in this town today trying to sell me something. It was time to call it a day, after 2 hours. It probably is a very interesting city, when a 4000 person and another 2000 person person cruise ship don’t disgorge their load on the city at once. Today was not that day.

Back out of the walled city onto the mean streets of taxi land I hear “Taxi lady? $10”. He heard ‘Let’s go’. His taxi must have been one of those stealth taxis you have never heard of. It looked like a family car. Good condition, but a family car regardless. Just roll with it, Theresa. What do you have to lose, a 1/2 pound of probably crappy coffee and a couple bars of overpriced chocolate? He might get my iPhone and all I’d ask is to leave it on long enough to get the photos uploaded to the cloud. My worry was totally unnecessary. We swapped pictures of home, and that sort of stuff. In Seattle when I mention I live with a parrot, people act impressed. Here when I show them a picture of Dorothy the Wonder Bird, I get a stifled yawn.

The got me back to the cruise ships in record time and at the agreed price.

Back at the ship it was still a little too early for day drinking. There was a piece I liked the looks of and suddenly at my side was one of the salesmen. What size art would I be interested in. I had no idea. Later in my cabin I started thinking if the price was right, where would I hang a semi xeroxed numbered frame? I mentally inventoried each wall in my house and only found one suitable wall in the house. It was in my bedroom. What surprised me in that wall inventory is how many windows there are in my house! There are more windows than walls. I did buy the piece, but have since then decided on a different, and I think better location. I’ll see when it arrives in 8 to 12 weeks.

After a quick dinner I walked through the atrium and stopped to listen to the Asian quartet but he’d western songs. I listenened until my ears bled listening to the lead try and sing The Bee Gees in falsetto. I think my hearing aids cracked listening to him.

Safely back to room, bed beckoned and the next thing was sun rise beginning at 5:30 today. Since it was so early I made two cups of coffee before the shower, etc routine. Breakfast at the usual place with a different cast of characters around me. The current self important couple next to e ordered the American breakfast, with …. Eggs well done. Potatoes well done. Bagel Well done. He sent the bagel back because it wasn’t well done enough, then required another tub of cream cheese. Never a thank you or a please.

Up to 15 for the ladies who stitch. I made a mistake in my cross stitch and had to rip out an hours worth of work. Having a nice flow of conversation around me. Then came a Scottish woman with her fabric work in hand. She sat down and started talking at ‘S’. Not ‘to S’, but ‘at S’. She talked non stop for 40 minutes and poor ‘S’ was only able to say, Uh huh, and nod the entire time. At long last she left. I looked at ‘S’ and said “Well, it’s been great visiting with you”, she laughed smiled and said “Her accent is so strong I have no idea what she was talking about”. Oh, did I mention that the Scottish woman didn’t do a single stitch the entire time?

I left at a time when my work had a good place to stop and start tomorrow and went down to watch the final auction of the ship. Wow, the big guns were out today. One guy bought an item for $69K and then he also bought the next lot for $149K. I must be missing something big here. I have to admit I did find a piece I liked and made and had my bid accepted, of around $650. It will look nice in my Outhouse.

The auction was packed, not a seat to be had. I was standing at the rear of the room next to a ball cap and blue Jeaned man. He said he had his eye on a piece of of art, but it was too expensive for him to buy. He had won a raffle and had a $500 coupon that he wasn’t going to use and he told me to wait to pay for my purchase until tomorrow when he would give it to me. That is a gift horse who’s mouth I have no interest in looking into. We shall see if it comes through. That would be sweet.

I watched the world float by after that, before dinner. At dinner the couple at the next table wanted to talk. I wanted to write this blog. We talked. Instead of finishing it over the meal, I had to find a quiet corner of the ship to finish this, for the day.

Tomorrow, last full day on the ship. Stitching in the morning and see about the $500 coupon in the afternoon.

One hour time change tonight, so time to close and start to settle in for the night.