Amazon dim3 direction series#

Before we departed, another street event occurred, blocking multiple cars and a horse-drawn carriage for 10 minutes, as 6 young men (Mo Kidz Flavor) performed some outstanding break dancing. Dessert you asked? Slowly cooked and sweet gooseberries coupled with French Vanilla ice cream, rum and mint. This dinner was a wonderful introduction to Cartagena, whose food was some of the best in all our travels: De Camaron ceviche (mandarin and lemon juice, mint, coriander, garlic & olive oil, shrimp) and De Calamar ceviche (fish of the day, squid, conch, mint, coconut milk, coriander, lemon juice, garlic, coconut flakes, olive oil and pepper). We were serenaded by a young female songstress on the sidewalk opposite the eatery, her sweet voice plying us with her gift. From this vantage point we also had some interesting views of the city. We accessed our room walking over a 2 foot wide wooden planked bridge spanning a one foot wide aqueduct-like system with water from a waterfall in the outdoor dining area, providing a soothing environment to offset the heat and humidity.Īfter settling in to our smallish room, we took Fabio’s map and directions to arrive at La Cevicheria, an Anthony Bourdain recommended restaurant, sitting at the only empty table, off the sidewalk and in this narrow cobblestoned street, which was just wide enough for one Kia-sized vehicle at a time to pass by us. Our time here was quite lovely, with a jungle-like outdoor dining area and a giant Nispero tree (aka Loquat) bearing its brown sweet fruit used for jams, jellies and chutney a 3rd story pool open to the skies and some avian friends dropping in on us, watching us lounge in the heat and humidity. We were greeted at the small, 14 unit Casa Lola, our new home for the next 4 days, by the handsome, suave, 30-something, English-speaking manager, Fabio, wearing a fashionable white custom-made tunic. This district was brimming with 2-wheeled carts laden with produce, lining the sidewalks, hundreds of motor bikes parked everywhere. We had a good piece of the 25 foot high wall of the “Walled City” portion of old Cartagena on our right as we made our way into the Getsemani district and our hotel near Plaza Trinidad, an artistically appointed hangout allowing beautiful street art.

Only two blocks away we were amidst sidewalk cafes, food vendors and their carts on either side of our very narrow (12 feet wide) cobblestoned street, veering onto the Carretera bordering the Caribbean Sea on our right, looking at kite surfers, a number of breakwaters and horse-drawn carriages crossing in front of us in our 5 p.m.

The airport for this 5th largest city in Colombia, located on its NW coast, was extremely small, with no ATM and hardly any buffer between baggage claim and the neighborhood sidewalk, where we picked up the next small cab in line. We connected through Bogota, flying on to Cartagena. We had planned for 17 days in Colombia, sandwiched between 4 days in Oceanside with Jordan and his family and 10 days in Costa Rica with them as well, celebrating Maggie’s “Welcome to Medicare” birthday on May 13. What folks are not aware of are the changes that have been made and any dangerous areas are relegated to a couple of regions, none of which we were targeting. I nearly doubled over with laughter at some of the responses. I went on to tell them that this safeguarded us, our signing a non-disclosure agreement and being blind-folded at key points to preserve anonymity. For some of those people I replied that we were going to be totally safe as we had signed up for a newly created tour, bringing tourists directly in contact with Cocaine processing, with protection provided by the BACRIM (emerging criminal organizations that have replaced the old cartels of Medellin and Cali). They asked why we would put ourselves in such dangerous environs. When we shared with others our plans, there were those who must have just finished watching the Netflix original, Narcos, featuring Pablo Escobar and the attendant Colombian violence.

Amazon dim3 direction series#

This series of dispatches represents our second foray into South America: Colombia.