Colombia

13 February 2008
Cartagena, Colombia
                We got off the plane and were directed to customs and immigration.  We gave our passports over and when they were handed back we didn’t see any stamps we thought maybe the lady we had just talked to wasn’t the person that does the stamping.  Then when they showed us the door outside we knew something was wrong.  We told the security guard we hadn’t been stamped, so he directed us back to the lady that helped us.  She opened our passports and pointed at big black stamp on Doug’s passport and said, “There it is.”  When we looked at it again the black stamp said “2004.”  Confused, we asked again.  Then she showed us it was a very faint blue stamp that she had put directly on top of the big black stamp.  Satisfied we left.
                On the way outside we were borderline attacked by cab drivers.  Generally most cab drivers follow a line method.  The first in line gets the fare.  These guys did not subscribe to that theory, nor did they subscribe to any theory that said they shouldn’t attempt to grab and pull a potential passenger towards their car.  We finally settled on one guy that hadn’t actually grabbed and pulled us and seemed to speak a little English.
                We went through the city and saw some of the fortified walls around the city and then the driver took us down a small street that resembled an alley.  We had the driver wait until we were sure there was room for us in the hotel (because this alley/street felt sketchy).  There was room so we paid the driver in USD because we didn’t have any local currency yet.  Then it was upstairs to our room for the night.

14 February 2008
Cartagena, Colombia
                The day began around 10:30 in the morning.  This was by far the latest we had started a day since the trip began.  Our room was without windows, and without any sense of time.  This made us sleep in; also checking in around 12:00am probably had something to do with it.
                We found an internet café, checked email, and sent a couple messages off.  Then it was off to explore the city.  Cartagena was supposed to be one of the most beautiful cities in South America.  Walking down into the historical district there were a lot of old buildings with a lot of history.  Looking around some more, we came across the Santa Domingo church.  We were able to go inside the church with little handsets that told us history about each portion of the church. It was very interesting to hear the different things about the city, and the church.  After the tour, we decided to eat lunch in the square just outside the church.  We each had a sandwich, and water.  Being Cartagena is right on the water, it was very warm and humid outside.
                After lunch we wanted to book a boat tour of the islands for the next day.  Walking down by the water, sure enough we were approached by a guy selling boat tours.  The tour was supposed to be all day, going to an aquarium, including lunch, and going to Playa Blanca (white beach).  The fee seemed reasonable enough, we gave our deposit.  Then we went on with our exploration of the city. 
                Walking aimlessly most people learn a lot about a city.  Cartagena was very clean, but the people we found were different then the other cities.  (Most likely due to limited exposure to tourists) 
                We needed showers after walking for a couple of hours.  To our surprise our hotel did not have hot water.  The cold shower surprisingly didn’t feel too bad.  After getting cleaned up we wanted to have a nice dinner for Valentine’s Day.  We went back down to the historical district, and found a nice little restaurant held inside a small square.  The menu looked good, and Anna wanted the mushrooms stuffed with crab.  Ordering we found out they were out of the mushrooms stuffed with crab. We just ordered, our meals, and enjoyed the rest of the evening.
                After dinner we walked around the area, enjoying the evening.  We came across a small park where we watched some local teenagers do some authentic dancing.  Then we headed back to the room for some rest.    

15 February 2008
Cartagena, Colombia
                The alarm went off at 7:00.  We were supposed to be at the boat dock around 8:00.  Arriving at the boat dock we realized we could have arrived at 9:00.  We ended up leaving for the boat tour around 9:30.  The boat was full of tourists, and we were the only English speaking tourists around.
                The first place we pulled into was the island that had the aquarium.  The cost for the aquarium was $3000 pesos (about $15 USD) each.  The other option was to rent snorkel gear and go look at fish on our own.  Snorkel gear cost $2000 peso (about $10 USD) each.  Unfortunately we didn’t stop at the ATM and we only had a couple pesos handy.  At the last minute we pulled out a $20 dollar bill and asked if we could use that to go snorkeling.  Not surprisingly, $20 dollar bills are accepted more places than American Express.
                We loaded back up on to our boat with about 6 other people and they dropped off us off shore from another nearby island.  The water was warm and the coral was beautiful.  We saw a couple porcupine fish and when Doug saw an eel and tried to get Anna’s attention, the eel had disappeared.
                Our boat picked up the rest of the tourists after snorkeling and headed to Playa Blanca.  We were greeted by all the local vendors trying to sell jewelry, food, massages and who knows what else.  We went over to a hut for our included lunch.  We had two options for lunch, fish or chicken.  Fish seemed to be the popular choice because when we ordered chicken, it took about 20 minutes for it to arrive.  We were waiting so long another lady at our table felt bad and asked the server where our food was.  The rational for choosing chicken was the fish was served whole (meaning they caught it and then cooked it, with the head and tail still intact).
                After lunch we wandered down to the water and claimed some real estate and relaxed while we read, rested and fought off the occasional sales person.  A few hours later it was back on the boat and back to Cartagena. 
                Back on shore we went back to the room to change and then out on town before it got too dark.  We came across a bar that was set up on one of the fortified walls that used to protect the city.  Anna ordered a $2000 peso ($1 USD) Coca Cola and instead received$10,000 peso ($5 USD) lemonade with coconut in it.
                After our drinks we went back to the room for a shower and then went next door for dinner.  Doug ordered a chicken and rice dish and Anna had a fried chicken dish.  After about minute or two of eating our meals we switched and were happier for it.  On the way back to the hotel we stopped at a store and got a couple ice creams to eat when we got back to our hotel.
                When we arrived back we decided to eat the ice cream in the little patio that was in the center of the hotel.  While enjoying our ice cream, we met a Swedish couple that was also traveling around South America.  We talked with them for a couple hours and even subjected them to a few rounds of cards before retiring for the evening.

16 February 2008
Cartagena, Colombia
                The alarm went off at 6:00.  The night before the hotel attendant said they would contact the bus station to possibly make a reservation for us.  It turns out the bus companies don’t open until 7:00.  Again we went down for the attendant to give the company a call.  The one company he was able to get a hold of didn’t have a bus out until 4:30 that afternoon.  This was the only company he could get a hold of.  We decided to chance it, and go to the bus station without a reservation.  We caught a bus a few blocks away, and got a hour tour of the city on the way to the bus station.
                Arriving at the station we were directed to a company with a bus leaving Medellin at 8:30, it was now 8:15, Perfect!  We bought some snacks, and got on the bus.
                The bus arrived in Medellin about 11 hours later at 9:30pm.  It turned out the same bus company we were using was going to Cali.  (We were headed towards the boarder, and there were no direct buses, so we had to go from city to city.)  Since we didn’t have enough cash to buy the ticket we went running to the ATM, then back to buy our tickets. 

17 February 2008
Cali, Colombia
                9 hours later we arrived in Cali, around 6:30am.  Arriving in Cali, we were directed to a bus company that would take us to the border.  We then bought a ticket to Ipiales.
                The bus arrived in Ipiales about 11 hours later, around 7:30pm.  Thankfully there were a couple of travelers on our bus going across to Ecuador.  The four of us shared a taxi to the River Rumichaca.  This is where we were to get our immigration stamps.  This process didn’t take too long. One of the travelers (who turned out to be from Columbia), walked us through the immigration stations. 
                After getting our stamps, the three of us shared another taxi across the border to Tulcan, Ecuador.  In Tulcan we were going to take a bus to Quito (the capital of Ecuador). 
                Arriving at the Tulcan bus station around 8:30 pm, we found a bus to Quito.  The bus loaded up our bags, and we hopped on.  The price to Quito was only $9, for the 5 hour bus ride. 

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