Cartagena, Colombia - 30 Jan

I was not certain what to expect when visiting Cartagena for the first time. For some reason I thought the place was a dump. Unfortunately, we did not have a lot of time, so Brenda and I decided just to go for stroll through the old town.

And what a pleasant surprise! Not only was the city a lot bigger than I thought, but it is actually a beautiful place with an interesting mix of modern and old Spanish colonial type (?) architecture.

Following below are some of the pics which snapped while walking around in the old town

And what is all of this about, Mia? I did not see any P&L stuff in the store though ;-)

Right outside the cruise ship terminal is a sad little 'sanctuary' where they keep some beautiful birds. It is sad because you can just see these poor creatures longing for the wild . .

Some strikingly beautiful Mccaw's

a very sad Toucan living in captivity

silly billy's!

 Back on board for yet another festive sail away - as they normally are.

the new part of Cartagena

A quick Google search indicated this as a statue of the virgin Mary - catholic country!

Peninsula next to the large natural harbour mouth, with the presidents homestead very well situated. I wonder if this was also done in Nkandla style 

Nkandla

I was wondering if this little drone was military or civilian - amazing what you can do with these things, especially from a photography point of view. This one was curiously circling the ship, quite far offshore.

Each sail away is normally very fun, especially in the Caribbean. I enjoyed the current band onboard, playing very good reggae cover songs. They really were a chilled and friendly lot. I especially liked the drummer - a very friendly guy.

Proper bass player - nothing can upset the man

ya mon!

this looks like some kind of service island with a Pilot's boat moored alongside, although the place seems to be in ruins. The little island seems well situated for that in the middle of the mouth to this large natural harbour