Captivating Words

"La musica es un viento que se lleva los años, los recuerdos y el temor, ese animal agazapado que tengo adentro"

--Isabel Allende, La Isla Bajo el Mar 

Shakira Has a House Here!

We never found it, but there were plenty of other things to explore in Cartagena. The old city is absolutely breathtaking. kind of like Quito, every single building in the old town was colonial style and built on cobble stoned streets. There were even horse and buggy tours you could take around the city, super touristy, but it still kinda added to the atmosphere. The old city is completely enclosed, the moment you step outside the walls, there is a noticeable difference, and not in a good way. We spent most of our time within the walls.

My first view of the Caribbean

Searching for a hostel

On the plane ride over, we met Lucas, a Buenos Aires native, and his two traveling buddies Guido (no he is not italian) and Martin. We parted ways at the airport, but soon found them roaming the streets of old town Cartagena, looking for a hostel. We ended up joining forces and all looking for a hostel together, but it was basically impossible. Everywhere was full. We walked around for I think an hour and a half before we finally found a place. Oh, and it was HOT and humid and we were lugging our huge backpacks (significantly larger since our shopping in Otavalo...). Ten o'clock at night and I was sweating bullets, knocking on door after door only to be turned down. At one point, we found a queen size mattress and decided that it was warm enough outside to just spend the night there on that mattress. We didn't actually end up doing that, but the thought definitely crossed our minds. The hostel we ended up at was a total dive, one night there and then we relocated in the morning to a more prime location.

Flower vendors

The next day we were on foot exploring the streets of Cartegena. Briana and I ran into the Argentinians again in the morning and decided to hang out with them. They study architecture in Buenos Aires so I was suuuuper excited to see what they wanted to see. We wandered old town, all the while sweating like crazy because of the heat, and eventually made our way past the city walls and down to the original military fortress that protected the city. Under the fortress was a labyrinth of alleyways and small rooms lit by torches (well now they were lit by wall sconces with light bulbs, we we can pretend) and I was transported straight to a scene in Game of Thrones, geeeeek, I know.  We made several stops for fresh fruit juice, obviously. It is just so amazing that it's worth buying allll the time. That is one thing I definitely miss from the trip, Santiago is lacking in the department of delicious fresh fruit (apples and bananas are everywhere, but I'm talking mango, passion fruit, pineapple. orange, YUM!).

Looking of the city with our new friends

That night we cooked dinner in our new hostel, so much nicer, and hung out drinking beers before we went out dancing. Well, I was told there would be dancing, but there really wasn't. It was still really fun though. The nightlife in Cartagena is definitely crazy, there is always something going on. Just standing at the bar, while I was ordering a drink, someone came up to me and offered me coke. Like, what?! They are definitely not discrete about that stuff, I politely turned it down and was perfectly content with my beer. It was a really fun night, I talked to so many foreigners, basically no one at that club was Colombian, so touristy.

Perfection

Playa Blanca

In the morning we hopped on a boat and headed out to Playa Blanca. The boat ride seemed to take forever and we were just sitting on top of the boat roasting. I think I turned several shades darker just from that hour trip. At one point Briana looked at me and was like "ooo, you're pretty red" hahah. Thankfully I was just red because my body was overheating and not because I was super sunburnt. I have finally gotten in the habit of putting sunscreen on every morning, just as part of my getting ready routine, it's really effective. Regardless, that day I reapplied about 6 times. The rest of the day was just beach hopping and swimming in some gorgeous water, laying on some white sand, enjoying life. We had to head back to mainland Cartagena in the afternoon, but the Argentinian boys were staying overnight on the island. I was so jealous! If we had more time, we totally would have done that. We said our goodbyes and boarded for what would be the craziest boat ride of my life. A storm was coming in so the water was CRAZY rough and choppy. We were navigating through some HUGE waves, no joke I felt like we were in the perfect storm. For about 30 minutes, it was that constant feeling of your stomach falling up into your throat, like when you are on a roller coaster. I think 90% of the boat was barfing, thank god Briana does not get sea sick, I don't do very well with throw up. The captain did a really good job navigating the waves and I never felt in danger. Actually, that's a lie, there were points where I looked at the wave coming up and got really scared. Who knew the Caribbean Sea was so violent? I definitely did not.

Our time in Cartagena was too short, I could have stayed for so much longer. My first introduction to the Caribbean was absolutely incredible. Take me backkkkk. But we eventually did have to board a bus and head north along the coast. I knew there was even more beauty awaiting us further north, so that made having to leave Cartagena a little easier.

Living the life, vending ceviche straight from the water

Drinking straight from the coconut

Rain and Flip Flops

Ecuador, you have a cool flag and a room
in your government palace covered by yellow
fabric, bonus points.

Once in Quito, we headed for La Mariscal, the neighborhood that our friend Edgar recommended. The bus terminal was super far out of town so, when our bus arrived from Otavalo we split a cab with a Swiss couple that we met. We were all about trying to save money. La Mariscal was really cool and reminded me a lot of Bellavista in Santiago, just a tad bit more sketchy, but basically it's where all the young people hang out. We hadn't been making reservations for the hostels we were staying at, and we never ran into any problems, until Quito. The first like 5 hostels we tried had 0 available rooms. One had a private room available for $40/night, like I was gonna pay a whole $20 to spend the night somewhere, please. So we continued the search and eventually found a place (For $8/night), good thing all the hostels were so close together, we literally just walked two streets bouncing from one hostel to another. For dinner we heard about this delicious thai restaurant and Briana and I were craving ethnic food. Well it ended up being a sushi restaurant, but still delicious, and was pretty expensive. I was really annoyed about how expensive until Briana pointed out that it was all o.k. because we only spent $1.50 on a three-course lunch. That right there is legit justification.

Really pumped about my maple doughnut

Just like in all the other big cities that we had traveled to, it was cold and rainy in Quito. I ,however, only had flip flops to explore in. My hiking boots were still soaked from getting thrown in the river, and since it was so cold and wet in Quito, it would take our entire 3 day stay for them to dry. So I just got really used to my toes being cold and slipping and sliding all over the place. After we bundled up we headed out to explore some museums and the huge park in Miraflores. Seeing all the families in the park made me really happy. It was just full of people taking advantage of time off work or school or whatever for Carnaval and just having a grand old time in the park. There was a band playing some cover music, lots of artists selling their crafts, and delicious street food for sale. I was extremely pumped when I found doughnuts!! I hadn't had a doughnut in sooooo long, and boy was it delicious! 

Old Town Quito

My favorite part of Quito was the old town. The buildings are just incredible! To get there we took the trole, which is like a bus system, but it has it's own lane on the street so it avoids traffic. Pretty neat, provides modern public transportation without having to deconstruct the entire city to build a metro. Anyway, we missed our stop the first time and had to backtrack, but we made it, just in time for the torrential downpour to stop, score! Flip flops-Rain- Wet Cobblestones... not the greatest combination. I think I bruised Briana's arm from the amount of times I had to grab onto her to keep from falling. Anyway, Old Town, so pretty! The main square was just gorgeous, all the buildings in/around the main plaza are super colonial and painted really pretty colors. We got a free tour of the government palace too! Why is it that all other countries have all these regal names for their main government buildings and ours is a white house? That's not nearly as cool sounding. It was super awkward though because, when we entered, they asked us to salute the flag, Briana and I looked at each other then just kind of speed walked past the flag and into a group that was awaiting the tour. The weather really dictated what we did and when we did it, so when it was raining when we emerged from the tour, we just headed back to the hostel. 

Congresional building

I really liked the contrast

A little color to spice up the gray sky

A little cathedral we happened to stumble upon

Being in two places at once

Another Quito highlight, was our journey to Mitad del Mundo (The Middle of the World), as in the equator! I have lived that scene from A Walk to Remember, I have been in two places at once, except instead of straddling state lines, I was straddling two HEMISPHERES. It was really cool. The monument is actually huge and awkwardly bulky, but whatever, I've been to the equator! There were some other random museums and displays around the monument but they were all really lame, just being there though, there was a  When I get to see things like this, I can't help but think how lucky I am to be having this whole experience. I wish everyone could have one, equally as life changing, because it's just the shit. 

I wish I had more time in Quito because I feel like there were so many things that I missed. I never even got to see the Volcano Cotopaxi because the weather was so bad and overcast. That is just one of the many reasons why I feel like, of all the places that I have traveled to on this dream vacation, I need to return to Ecuador. There is just so much to explore in that tiny little country! We did however, have to leave after only 10 days in Ecuador, but this time we got to take  a PLANE to our next destination: Cartagena, COLOMBIA!