Cartagena

Cartagena! Wow how lucky we are to have seen this beautiful place. So clean and the very friendly people were so happy to have our cruise ship stop here. This is the first time in 7 years that Royal Caribbean has had a ship dock here. We were treated very royally! When we entered the port, we were greeted with fire boats spraying water and as we got closer to the dock, there was a 3 masted schooner with uniformed crew all the way up the rigging and standing at attention on deck.

Eileen and I had our picture taken with Juan Valdez and his donkey. As we were standing waiting, the donkey decided to shift and nearly knocked us over. What an ass.

They had an area set aside for the ceremony that would involve el presidente and our captain….and later, el presidente shook hands with several of the passengers and each lady was presented with a rose (their national flower) as we made our way back on board. We felt very welcome and very special here! There certainly was a military presence – probably more to do with the president being on the dock.

Once again we hired a taxi and we were able to see the new town, the old town and the forts that were most picturesque. The buildings in the old town were very colourful - lots of balconies with beautiful flowers hanging down. We went to Les Bovadas - a handicraft market - and were inundated with peddlers selling necklaces, sunglasses, Tshirts, tablecloths and drawings. Don’t they know that No means NO! I can’t tell you how many times we said “No, thank you” today – we are practically hoarse from it. If Eileen and I hear another “hey lady!”, we are going to start punching!

Even though we had to be back on board by 1:00, we had a full day and we were pooped! A lot to do with the heat and humidity. Glad I had sunscreen, hat and sunglasses. Brian and Joan, you are in for a treat!

Now if you are still reading….you can go to http://www.pancanal.com/ and click on the live web cam for Gatun Locks at approximately 7:00 CST (you figure it out) and Miraflores Locks approximately 3:00 pm CST. The times are subject to change due to traffic in the canal!

Talk to you tomorrow from the canal!