Last Day in Colombia

Today was planned to be our do-nothing day. I headed straight to the pool after breakfast while Amanda stopped over at the Gold Museum. In the meantime, Noelle arrived in Cartagena from Medellín, and dropped off her luggage at her hotel and met at our pool. Amanda took a photo of us:



At the hotel, we met several Americans, including two very friendly girls, Lisa and Elizabeth. They invited us to lunch at La Cevicheria where we had eaten two nights ago, but Noelle had wanted to try it as it was recommended by a friend. So we agreed to join them, but as we waited for the group to get ready, we decided to check out the crypt that is underneath the bar in the hotel. As you know, the Sofitel Santa Clara is a converted convent and the crypt was deconsecrated.



We decided to do a selfie and they also decided to make “Cynthia faces”.

We then headed over to the house, now a hotel, where Gabriel Garcia Márquez lived and was inspired by the crypt to write a book. He is Colombia’s most well known writer and famous for “Love in the Time of Cholera” and “100 Years of Solitude”.  

While we waited, Amanda and Noelle took a fun selfie off the side of an Argentine restaurant who professed they didn’t have WiFi, because they want people to talk to each other.



More streets of Cartagena:

Finally the group of 9 Americans enjoyed wine, ceviche, and paella! The restaurant struggled a bit as part of their electricity was out due to some transformer blow up, but we were able to coordinate the bill well. A collage of our meal:



Amanda, Noelle, and I then returned to the hotel for my last drink in Colombia at the pool bar for which I picked a mojito with lulo, a local fruit. Due to the presidential election tomorrow, businesses are not allowed to sell alcohol from 6 pm to Monday 6 am for fear of riots and protests.

We then enjoyed trying to see the sunset after a short rain shower. You can see the ladies with fruits on their heads walking along the fortified walls.

We had reservations at Candé that was recommended by hotel staff the other night. The concierge even tried to see if the restaurant could make an exception and sell us alcohol as we were clearly not going to vote or protest. At Candé, they did indeed serve us alcohol - I told the waiter it was a secret!

The restaurant is known for being authentically Cartegenian and their slogan is, “culture, magic, and tradition”.  We were entertained by dancers with many costume changes and enjoyed the traditional posta negra which is a steak that has been cooked in a dark sauce which includes cola. Here’s a collage of our meal which included fried yucca with sugar and a coconut pie. In the collage, you can even see the dancers masterfully circumventing a bathroom goer!:

When we finished our meal, it was pouring rain, so we waited in the bar area. At this point, the dancers were using swords and one came up to Noelle and posed for this fun photo:

What a fun last day in Colombia with these two! We laughed and shared stories all day and I got even more burnt trying to even out my tan lines. I hope these two citizens of the world have an awesome boat ride to Panama - I’ll miss you, but can’t wait to hear all about it!