Saturday 3 May 2008

Shakira Shakira


Well, after 7 weeks I finally managed to leave Panama. An overnight bus from David and a short prop plane flight later I´m in Cartagena, Colombia. I'm pretty excited to be on the move again.


Cartagena is a beautiful city. It's possibly the best preserved Spanish city in Latin America, with lovely old buildings both restored and slightly crumbling, complete with abundant colourful plants and equally colourful locals. The streets were pretty quiet when I arrived as it was a holiday, but today there packed with people, as they were last night. Dining out al fresco in the lovely Spanish square of Santa Domingo with great food and a background of local performers was a great experience.


Before leaving Panama, I made a couple of visits. I felt bad having been in the center of Panama´s coffee production and never having seen a plantation, so Neimis took me along to one of the local fincas to see the scenery and sample the produce, which is very good. Its nice to get into the hills around boquete, it still feels like it must have before it became a Mecca for gringo retirees.


We also visited Boca brava, as yet a relatively un-touristed spot on the pacific coast. There´s only one hotel on the island, and you wake up to the sound of waves and wild howler monkeys in the forest. On the way back we called into some friends of Paradise Garden to check out their place, the views are almost reminiscent of Africa, especially as sun sets and the howlers start.

4 comments:

seanmullins said...

I thought cinco de mayo was a mexican holiday? Anyways, Im going to be out of email contact for a few days so will post when i get back. Just in case anyone is reading!

Anonymous said...

Cartagena looks lovely.
Have fun!
Mandy

Unknown said...

Have you visited the Palace of the Spanish Inquisition yet? there is an enormous weighing scales there where they would weigh people and you pay a fine if too fat or too thin!!!!!!!!!!

seanmullins said...

no, never got round to that, could have been costly:)