Tuesday was the day I finally got to meet my tour group, although with a 6 pm meeting time I had a whole day to myself round Cartagena once again. Breakfast was once again fruits and scrambled eggs, and after packing my bags I made the short walk to the hotel which is being used by my dragoman group. After checking in I went out and further explored the old town where I looked round the many markets and shops. All in all I had a very relaxing day Tuesday, even taking time to sit on the beach which was packed full of people.
Come 6pm I got to meet my group, meeting on the rooftop balcony of the hotel as the sun was setting. We all introduced each other to group and said a little fact about ourselves, before our guides (who are from NZ and Scotland) went through all the niggle little things like kitty payments, insurance, and everything else health and safety. We did get to listen to this while drinking endless cups of rum and coke though! My group is a good mix of males and females ranging from people as young as 18 right up to 64! There are people from the UK, NZ, Australia, South Africa, Austria, Switzerland, and Japan, including the person who founded dragoman in 1981, and who met his wife on a 1984 trip, who is also on the trip. Ipswich and Burnley are among the football teams supported, although only 7 people are going all the way to Rio so I will lose and gain people throughout.
After getting to know everyone a bit we went out to this restaurant for dinner where I had this massive lump of sirloin steak which was amazing. It was nice to further chat to people even if I couldn't speak to everyone as there are 22 people in the group, but I'm sure I will. After the meal some of us sat in this square where we had a few beers which was very chilled, although the police were very strict about where we could drink. Most people eventually went to bed but I continued with a couple of others to some salsa bar which was a right laugh. I don't even know what time we got back.
After limited sleep I was woken up at 7am for breakfast by the Japanese man I was sharing a room with (he speaks little English but is really funny). I was glad though as I could have sleep right through and missed breakfast, and also our guided tour of Cartagena which was at 8. The guided tour was very interesting learning about the various street art and Spanish history. There was a lot to take in as the tour lasted over 2 hours, finishing at some square where we were given the option to do what we wanted.
Everyone went in different directions, but I went with someone from Australia who lives in the outback. We ended up going to the gold museum and the Spanish museum of inquisition. They were both very interesting as they gave a real insight into Cartagena and South America before Europeans invaded, and what happened after. We ended up getting street food after, although she said that in the outback she eats things like snake meat so I was probably the only one being adventurous!
Our group leader gave us the option of meeting back at the hotel at 2 for a trip to the Castillo San Felipe de Barajas which is a massive fort built by the Spaniards to prevent attacks from people like the British. In the end 7 of us turned up and we got another guided tour which lasted about 2 hours and was very interesting. The fort is strategically placed to prevent attacks from both land and sea. We even got to explore some of the tunnels, one of which defended 120m underground used back then as an escape route. It was very slippery going down though.
After the tour we headed back to the hotel, although I headed to the shops and bought some flip flops as we are staying by the beach for the next two nights. It's annoying because I won't know the Inter Saints score until Saturday though. There wasn't an organised meal tonight, although a few of us went out for a meal at some lovely restaurant, where I had a beef crepe with all sorts inside it, and a strawberry waffle after. Afterwards most people headed to bed although I sat outside with a couple of people before heading to bed to ourselves as we have an early start in the morning. I will be off the radar for the next couple of days.
No comments:
Post a Comment