3/3/2015 Cartagena, Colombia 

we found our way to the airport in Panama at 5 AM. I wanted to go back to bed. Our plane was with Copa Airline.  Our flight was an hour yet we got beverage service, a meal, and the smoothest descent I can remember. Jill took a Dramamine and wished she hadn’t. When we arrived in Cartagena I saw a couple white sand islands on the way down and we passed some high rises on the Boca Grande peninsula. Walking into the air felt heavy and warm it was exquisite like a hug. Arriving in the Centro Historico via taxi was quick and easy. Finding our AirBNB apartment was a little harder but we eventually found the correct block. Our host is a kind Spaniard who has lived here for 4 years. He told us all about the different parts of the old town. Jill’s cousin Coralie and her husband, Mikhail, met us in the evening. Jill had slept off the majority of her Dramamine and we had a wonderful reunion. We ate supper at a place called Zebra, there was a lot of Ceviche on our table. It was an early night for the lot of us.

This morning Jill and Coralie went for a run, then we all met for coffee later. Mikhail and I went into the Naval Museum. It was excellent, except that it was mostly only in Spanish. We tried to decipher some of the text but it was much to difficult to learn the intricacies surrounding Sir Francis Drake’s invasion of the city. There are many detailed models of the fortifications in and around Cartagena. I would like to go back some time. Jill went to the Gold Museum and said that it was mostly about the Natives that lived here before the Spaniards took over. We went to a wonderful vegetarian restaurant for lunch called Vegetariano los Girasoles. I cleaned my plate. After our siesta we looked at some pictures and then went to watch the sunset from the wall around the city. The wind picked up and threatened to blow the crowd away. Several kitesurfers cruised by flying dozens of feet over the water. Our supper found us wandering the streets looking for first, second, and third choices. I finally settled on the excellent Ooh La La Cafe. It surprised all of us with delicious dishes. After we went for Gelato and found the flavor Zapote which tasted like Papaya. Now we are all hitting beds with full stomachs. Tomorrow we will have a coffee baptism at a cafe which means we will get lectured about the finer points of coffee growth, brewing, and tasting. So far Cartagena is treating us like we should stay.