Tuesday, 20th and Wednesday, 21st August. In Cartagena.

Tuesday, 20th

Yesterday was a day with little to report. I had extended our stay at our AirBnB and our host was coming to collect payment. At first he said it would be in the morning so we hung around waiting, then he said it wouldn’t be until afternoon. 

It was late afternoon before we eventually went out. We needed more provisions. The weather was looking ominous, but we thought we would beat the rain. No such luck. It started raining before we reached the supermarket. After doing our shopping we waited a while. It seemed to be easing off, so grabbing a couple of cardboard boxes, as we had noticed the locals doing, as head covering, we hot footed it back to our accommodation. Even so, we were soaked.

Wednesday, 21st

After a lazy morning, it was time for some activity. A walk to the other side of the old walled city to visit the home of Rafael Nunez, the four time president of Colombia. It’s now a museum.

Crossing a bridge over a lagoon, we stopped to watch a pelican diving to catch fish. Our attention was then taken by an iguana climbing a small tree, then another larger one camouflaged among the flotsam. It walked to the water and swam away. 

Perfect camouflage.

As we reached the end of the bridge, a man pulled down his pants, defecated on the roadside, pulled up his pants and just walked on, as if it was perfectly normal. (No photo) We are seeing all sorts!

?…:)

We came to a small, tree filled park and stopped to sit in the shade. A drink seller came over and pointed out a sloth high up in a tree. Well, he said it was a sloth, but it was indistinguishable. It looked like a bird’s nest to me. Of course, he was expecting payment for showing us, so we bought a beer. While sipping in the shade, we saw a group of small monkeys playing in the trees. We went over to take a photo and found we were nearly treading on another large iguana.  The park was a veritable zoo.

Carrying on to the museum, we could see the building, but the road divided and we weren’t sure which one to take for the entrance. It soon became obvious we’d taken the wrong one. There was a hole in the surrounding fence, so we popped through. There was no entry charge, so this wasn’t an issue.

Sadly, the house was mostly being renovated. Only the garden and the library were open. The security guard at the entrance was very amusing. He spoke a few words of English. In the lobby were 2 statues. One of Nunez and one of his second wife. Dennis asked if there was a third. No he said. I asked what had happened to the first wife, did she die? The surprising answer, was, no, he was a bigamist!

Thunder was rumbling around and the sky was very black. Rain was definitely coming again. According to everything we read, this is supposed to be the dry season. We are getting a thunderstorm with heavy rain virtually everyday. I hope this doesn’t continue when we have Poki back.

We headed into the old city and found a smart restaurant. Somewhere to shelter from the rain and as I didn’t feel like cooking, somewhere to have a early dinner. We had two local dishes. Mince with rice, veggies, prawns and chicken and Dennis’s a complete mixture. Rice, beans, avocado, a fried egg, chunks of mutton and mince meat. Sounds a bit iffy, but tasted nice.

When the rain stopped we wandered home. I spent a large chunk of the evening paying our shipping agent here, by bank transfer. From previous experience, I knew it would be a hassle. UK banks are so suspicious of fraud. I suppose it’s a good thing. The payment was disallowed and my internet banking cancelled, until I called the U.K. I spent over half an hour answering all sorts of questions, before the bank was convinced it was a genuine payment and would let the transaction proceed.

Fingers crossed Poki will leave Manzanillo tomorrow.

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