NB Cocaine offered, not consumed, but it starts with a C so it gets a title mention.
Waking on our first morning in Colombia after a 26 hour journey with a high temperature and cough was not an ideal start to the trip but he was a brave soldier, so out we went.
Cartagena, on the Caribbean coast of Colombia was everything the guide books and blogs had promised. Beautiful, riotously coloured, narrow streets in the old walled town. Friendly extrovert people who can't seem to help but move to music, and of course heat.
The coffee was well needed and of a different level altogether to what we are used to, although we later discovered this was a lucky first hit. Many of the other places we drank the coffee was nothing special. Apparently most of the good stuff is exported.

We retreated when the cruise ships off loaded, Rich back to bed and me to the rooftop of our small hotel where I found a refreshingly cool sitting pool complete with a Costa Rican digital nomad. Well, what's a girl gonna do? A fascinating hour discussing travel and hearing how that digital nomad life works. I know what I am going to be when I grow up now.

A few paracetamol and a good sleep later the brave soldier was ready to go and find food. After consulting two young women, one British, one Colombian at a street food stall we dived in - well young people are always to be trusted to make sensible, careful decisions right? These two were definitely "making good choices".

We bought two heart attacks in a bag, a Colombian staple known as arepos, basically cheesy corn cakes stuffed with an egg, Rich had the carne version with added meat, then deep fried. Quite delicious and they are gluten free, according to Google, so by definition surely must be healthy I'm thinking.
The young Colombian woman told us we must try a red juice. She showed us pictures of the fruit, which looked more like a nut, and explained how as a child she had to bash them open to get the seeds out. For the sake of clarity here, don't be fooled into thinking this was an "up close with a local" moment, she was definitely a tourist. Anyway, having read that Colombia has fruit not found anywhere else, we asked to try one. The stall holder pulled a bag out of his coolbox, reminiscent of those bags with a goldfish that you could win at a fair in the 1970s, but filled with red fluid. He stuck in a straw and we sucked. The British young woman and I looked at each other and agreed.....Ribena.
Our wanderings took us on through a party land that makes Newcastle on a Friday night, well Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday night look almost tame. I said almost.
We stopped at a fruit stall as I insisted we have something healthy for dessert. Bananas, tangerines and lulo fruit (see what I mean) in a bag; on we went until happening upon an ice cream store. A zapote and a maracuya frozen yoghurt on a stick were purchased, the fruit stayed in the bag. Having since googled them I can confirm that zapote is rich in tanninn and so anti inflammatory and antiviral. Unfortunately the ill one had the Maracuya.
The street entertainment was impressive as was the array of things for sale

....big ass ants aphrodisiac anyone?
And we think this could be a potential new idea for a Saturday night in the Bistronome.
The rest of our time in Cartagena Part One continued with wandering and watching, interspersed with eating and drinking and discovering that thankfully, antibiotics can be bought over the counter. He wasn't getting any better without.

One particularly pleasant hour was spent on Sunday morning sitting in a square, people watching and listening to a guy with a saxophone who was successfuly managing to drown out the slightly dreary evangelical guitar playing and singing coming from a nearby church. We discussed which famous Colombians we knew of and other than footballers could only come up with Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Shakira. I resolved to finish 100 Years of Solitude; which as a literary light weight a challenge for me. I think Richad's resolutions were more Shakira based.

Enough words, the photosin this slideshow speak for themseves......

































