Rest and Meetings on the Caribbean Sea

On our schedule for this past Sunday said, “Break.” After a nice breakfast in the courtyard of our hotel, we bid good-bye to Bonnie who was flying back to Bogota to be with her family for Mother’s Day. The rest of us did a walk about the old city to see what we could see. We were street vendor magnets. People offered to sell us shirts, sunglasses, watches, jewellery, hats, cigars and many other things. We bought some things, mostly in the craft market in a row of shops along one of the outside walls.

Cartagena is a UNESCO World Heritage city that is almost 500 years old. The old city wall is surrounds the centre and there is an old fort on the hill. It seems like it is almost always intolerably hot and humid here. There does seem to be a nice breeze in the evening that makes it more bearable.

These days in Cartagena are meant to be for us to meet as coordinators to talk about the refugee programs in our various provinces, the review of the program that was just completed and how this learning tour will impact our trip. We have spent much of the time in a dull meeting air conditioned meeting with trip out to eat meals either the restaurant here in the hotel, which servers excellent meals, or somewhere in the old city.

It has been a relaxing time. Cartagena’s old city with its narrow cobblestone streets, balconies and old churches and buildings is a pleasant place to walk around. I have begun to feel at ease here. Two of the mornings I have struck out early to go for a run in the hot humid weather. I never found the nice beach I have heard about, but I did find a park along the water where a lot of other people were walking or running.

We can tell that we are back where the money is. The stores have different quality of goods and the vehicles on the streets are more expensive. This is the place where the wealthy of Latin America go to play.

Tomorrow we fly back to Bogota to embark on the fourth and final part of our time Colombia. This last two days here will be taken up mostly with meeting with the NGOs and the Canadian visa office.