Cartagena, Colombia

This may well be our last communication for several months as we’re off to the San Blas Islands on the Caribbean coast of Panama where, I think, even basic electricity may be a rarity. We’re told that there are over 340 islands in the vast archipelago and we intend to visit as many of them as possible.

We’d planned to pull up anchor on Wednesday, however, Mother’s Day brought along a squall, the likes of which we’ve never experienced before and, sadly, Calypso was side swiped by a runaway Swedish boat causing a fair bit of damage to our stanchions, pulpit and lifelines. The chap had neglected to secure the bitter end which, due to the force of the winds (40 – 50 knots), threaded its way through the gypsy and dropped to the bottom of the sea leaving his vessel to run around the anchorage like a bull in a china shop. For those of you who don’t speak ‘boat’, suffice it to say that the anchor and chain were no longer attached to the boat. Unfortunately, there was no one aboard and we were first in line when she broke free hurdling towards us so fast we couldn’t stave her off before she’d ripped through our lifelines and dislodged the pulpit.

Paul had also just acquired a 2^nd hand windsurfer which somewhat resembled crumbled feta cheese at the end – it now rests in the marina rubbish dump! Too sad!

On the positive side, Paul has managed to make temporary repairs until we can find new replacement parts, probably not until we get to Panama City, and the Swedish chap is promising to pay us out by tomorrow.

In our previous newsletter, I mentioned that I hoped to write about a little of the history of Cartagena as it really is an incredible city.

It was founded in 1533 by the Spaniard, Pedro de Heredia, and the native population was part of a tribe called the Mocanáes. Spanish accounts describe them as fierce and warlike, and point out that even women fought on a par with men.

A few years after it had been founded, the Spaniards designed a defense plan in which the main strategy was the construction of a walled military fortress to protect the city against the plundering of the English, Dutch and French pirates. However, despite these precautions, the city was attacked and plundered many times.

During the 17th century, in order to resist these attacks, the Spanish Crown hired the services of prominent European military engineers to carry out the construction of fortresses, which are nowadays one of Cartagena's clearest signs of identity. These fortresses were so well designed and so effective that neither they nor the city were ever taken again.

A case in point was an attempt in 1741, when the city was surrounded by the troops of the English admiral Edward Vernon who arrived at Cartagena with an enormous fleet of 186 ships and 23,600 men (the biggest fleet assembled up to that time) against only 6 ships and 3,000 men. He was forced to retire after the siege was repelled by the commander and expelled by the colonel of engineers and his men.

Cartagena was also a slave port with the first slaves arriving with Heredia. They worked as cane cutters to open roads, in the desecration of tombs of the aboriginal population, and in the construction of buildings and fortresses. In 1610, the Catholic Monarchs established the Inquisition Holy Office Court and the Palace of the Inquisition remains today with its original features of colonial times.

When Cartagena declared its complete independence from Spain in 1811, the inquisitors were urged to leave the city. The Inquisition operated briefly again in 1815, but disappeared finally when Spain surrendered six years later before the patriotic troops led by Simon Bolivar. During its two centuries of existence, 767 defendants were punished and six of them were burned at the stake. The museum houses many of the instruments used for torture – too horrific to contemplate!

In colonial times, the Spaniards also built a series of constructions and fortresses to defend the city, such as San Sebastián de Pastelillo Fort, in the neighborhood of Manga where we are currently anchored, and the Castillo de San Felipe, a large fortress named in honor of Spain's King Philip IV. Outside the city, the forts of San Fernando and San José were located strategically at the entrance of the bay to entrench the pirate vessels that attacked the city.

We spent many hours reliving the history of Cartagena, by wandering around the Ciudad Amurallada (Walled City), or Centro Histórico. Downtown is undoubtedly the heart of the city and the most evident testimony of its history.

It has a varied architecture, mainly of a colonial style, but there are also republican and Italian styled buildings, such as the Cathedral's bell tower.

The official entrance to downtown is through Puerta del Reloj (Clock Portal), which comes out onto Plaza de los Coches (Carriages Square).

The streets of the old city are lined with magnificent old balconied buildings, some very rundown but others have been beautifully restored. Shops, restaurants and private homes all mingle to create a wonderful vibe and atmosphere. During the evenings, horse-drawn carriages clip clop their way through the narrow streets and melancholy donkeys pull heavily laden carts.

We were constantly approached to buy emeralds and molas (the Kuna Indian cloths made by sewing multiple layers of colourful cloth) but this is all part of the fun.

During our stay here, our anchorage was visited by a beautiful Spanish 4 masted schooner, the JS de Elcano, used for naval training. We were invited to tour this amazing vessel and were guided around by one of the trainee mid-shipmen who spoke incredibly good English. Compared to our little boat, this would definitely be an exercise in hard work – I think we’ll stick with Calypso!

My recent birthday did not go by without notice. I started the day by visiting a dentist who replaced a broken filling, what fun! We then traipsed around town with a few of our fellow cruisers trying to find cold drinks in cans (no luck) so lugged several dozen crates of heavy glass bottles back to the marina, and then proceeded to clamber around in the bilges looking for space to put them all - in this heat and humidity, I should be reed thin! Then later on, a whole group of us enjoyed a great meal at one of the local restaurants, a real treat as we rarely eat out at anything other than the local street vendors. What did I get for my birthday? Emeralds from Colombia? No! Well, I guess I’ll have to go with the new wind charger Paul’s just installed which he tells me is for my benefit i.e. I can play my music more often (actually, it’s really so that he can have colder beers! But who’s complaining?! Not everyone gets to spend their ?? birthday in Colombia!)

My less than a year old camera died and is on its way back to the US so we are going to have to rely on others for our photos for a while. I’m already having withdrawal symptoms – I’ll be a photophobic wreck in a couple of months!

Well, cheers from us for a while and please remember, this doesn’t stop you from writing to us, we look forward to hearing from you when we get to our next internet port of call further down the line.

Love Paul & Maureen