Cartagena

Yesterday was our adventure to Cartagena. It ended up being four nuns and me. The sisters rented a van and driver for the day. I have never seen anything quite like it. The driver was a man in his 20s who took part in most of our activities. He had never met the sisters before, but since he was the driver he was part of the adventure. Our first stop was at a place called Crespo, which seemed to be some sort of retreat house for sisters. The first few pictures are from Crespo. It is right on the beach. We walked through a gate and we were on the sand. The water was amazing. I thought I loved the temperature of the water in Hawaii. The water here was even warmer, but not too warm. Srs. Ana Elisa and Maria Victoria kept saying it was delicioso. I couldn't agree more. As you can see, I finally took some pictures of the sisters. The first one is of Ana Rosa. She can be no taller than 4'8". The next is of Aucilia. She posed like that purposely for the picture. The next is of Maria Victoria. She had breast cancer and had a radical mastectomy. The cancer metastasized and has moved into her eye, which is scary. She has had several doctor's appointments just since I got here. Although she has cancer, one would never guess it. She is very upbeat and positive.








A few words about yesterday's lunch: a fish in its entirety. I had to take a picture of my plate of food because most would never believe what I ate. I've been trying to act like I'm all brave and I'll eat anything they put in front of me, but I was not prepared for yesterday's lunch. When the woman brought out a platter with six, whole, deep-fried fish, I searched my brain frantically for Spanish words to politely decline. All I could come up with was, "No me gusta," and, "No gracias." Since neither one explained politely that I might throw up if I had to eat a fish with its head still on, I took a deep breath and let her put one on my plate. When I got my camera out, everyone thought I was taking a picture because I wanted a record of a traditional Cartagenan meal. No one imagined I needed proof of what I was about to experience. I really thought I would have to do the take-a-bite-then-take-a-drink-right-after method of eating, but I didn't. I turned over the fish so I didn't have to look it in the eye and I dug right in, just like everyone else. It was delicious! Shocking, I know.

















I probably don't need many words to describe Cartagena. What a beautiful city. The old town is surrounded by a wall and contains the cutest buildings with fabulous balconies. Srs. Ana Elisa and Maria Victoria and I took a carriage ride around the old city. It was a great way to see the city and take pictures in a short amount of time. Because we spent so long at Crespo, we only had an hour in the old city. We also visited the church of San Pedro Claver, the priest who took care of the Africans when they got off the ships from Africa.


After the old city, we went to pick up Sr. Olga. She has been in Cartagena with her family since I got here, so it was the first time I met her. I actually think she is the youngest sister here. She seems to be between 55-60. She is very nice, but she hasn't yet realized she has to speak extremely slowly in Spanish for me to understand. I'm sure it won't take her long.








On our way out of the city, we stopped to see the old castle. We didn't have time to go in, so my pictures are of the outside.















The trip from Barranquilla to Cartagena takes almost two hours because the maximum speed is only 49 mph and there are tolls and bridges along the road to slow down the trip. Additionally, there are people along the road selling food - most of them just standing there holding the food they want to sell. We stopped yesterday on our way home three times to buy food. We bought a large guanabana, queso fresco, yucca, and a sweet corncake thing like they have at El Torito Grill. We also stopped for a minute to take a picture of the cool sombrero-style tourism building.




I'm sorry I have to include the last picture, but I can't resist. Everyone warned me about the mosquitoes, but because I take vitamin B daily I was sure I had nothing to worry about. Indeed that was true until night before last. In the six days I had been here, I had only gotten 2-3 mosquito bites. Somehow Monday night I must have let several mosquitoes into my room and they all decided to feast on my foot during the night. I woke up with over 40 bites just on one side of my left foot. Nice! Last night I slept in socks (keep in mind how hot it is) just to keep my feet safe.