{"id":1478,"date":"2015-08-30T07:10:41","date_gmt":"2015-08-30T13:10:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/triciakarsay.com\/guatemala\/?p=1478"},"modified":"2016-05-21T12:37:45","modified_gmt":"2016-05-21T18:37:45","slug":"ahhhh-cartagena","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/triciakarsay.com\/guatemala\/ahhhh-cartagena\/","title":{"rendered":"Ahhhhrepa I’m in Cartagena"},"content":{"rendered":"

Wow it’s freakin hot here. Like Singapore in July hot. Like Taormina in August hot. And now I guess I can add “like anytime in Cartagena” to my list of comparative freakin hot places. \u00a0It’s my first time in Colombia and I am so psyched. Up at 4am walking around the Bronx with Stanley on my back on my way to catch a direct flight to Cartagena from Jfk. \u00a0I have just a short time so I’m just going to explore the Caribbean coast of this fascinating country and try to blog a bit.<\/p>\n

Glad to be getting away, it’s been a strange, sad month and this is probably the first, and hopefully last, time I think of travel as taking a break.<\/p>\n

Flight was smooth and sat next to a sweet Colombian woman and her husband. She left when she was a kid and was returning for the first time in 16 years to surprise her family, which has grown and grown. And, she works in Morristown! Not too far from my office.<\/p>\n

My recent airbnb obsession led me to book an apartment instead of a hotel. I like feeling like I moved someplace new, even if it’s only for two days. So I booked the Hindu apartment at\u00a0Casa C\u00f3rdoba Roman<\/a>\u00a0and after\u00a0a short cheap taxi ride from the airport, found the adorable duplex apartment that I might be sharing with tres chicos<\/i>…not really sure what Bernardo was saying to me as he unlocked the door to my room but it sounded like “are you with the three guys” and I said “not yet”. Dumped Stanley and headed out to find some coffee. I know there’s a Juan Valdez cafe here but within two minutes, down the first flower-covered street was San Alberto, bautizo<\/i> cafetero<\/i>, coffee Baptism, where I dunked myself in two tasas de cafe intenso<\/i> processed the sif\u00f3n de vacio <\/i>way. \u00a0The cafedora <\/i>explained what the coffee would be like and the chalk drawing of the machine it would be brewed in looked downright diabolical. Like something someone named Igor would use in his dungeon coffee lab. I have never seen a contraption like this.<\/p>\n

So I would like to see Juan Valdez and San Alberto duke it out in a celebrity death match because that was some good-ass coffee! After yapping with another couple from NJ, from Paramus this time, I went out to get lost. I made note of what was around my apartment, a square, near the back of the cathedral, the street behind the bishop, and then just started walking. The centro historico<\/i> of Cartagena is beautiful…colorful and bustling, with flowers everywhere and even though tourism is big here it still feels like a real city.<\/p>\n

I think I got my bearings pretty quickly, which is highly unusual. It must have been my recent caffeine baptism. \u00a0I didn’t have a map yet so I just winged it. \u00a0Despite the heat I was getting pretty hungry and saw a cevicheria\u00a0called, well, La Cevicheria, <\/i>that made me want an ice cold beer and some parasites. Had an awesome ceviche with lots of mixed seafood, mango and salsa picante. <\/i>Walked around the walls a bit and saw an arepa <\/i>cart and just had to have one. I was a little tired and it was only like 7pm so I thought I’d grab one and a few cans of Aguila<\/i> and head back to my apartment to plan my week in Colombia but ended up eating half of it before I got even close to the bishop. Man I love me some street food.<\/p>\n

Arepas <\/i>look like\u00a0pancakes but are made from corn and stuffed with cheese or meat or other yummy things. Apparently there are many varieties of Colombians arepas<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/i>this one was a cheese stuffed type and was incredible.<\/p>\n

I only have my iPad \u00a0with me so not sure how pics will post here, but snapping some with my phone now just to add some images to offset my yammering. Thanks for reading!<\/p>\n