Off to Cartagena!

Wow, I've been away from this blog for a long time - two years! The last entry was from just before Darrel proposed and now here we are in Cartagena, Colombia, celebrating our first wedding anniversary!

In a wild display of extravagance, we've gotten into the minibar in our room and are drinking cold cervezas and eating Pringles out on our balcony after our first day of exploring! Darrel's lounging in the hammock and we're listening to Steely Dan on his iPhone. He just enlightened me that their reference to "fine Colombian" is about coke, not cigars. Ha! Who knew? I had always pictured them sitting around with glasses of top-shelf tequila, blowing smoke rings! Anyway, let me catch you up on the first day of our journey.

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When we left Detroit, !!Snowtastrophe 2010!! was under way and we worried our flight would be canceled. But, to our great joy, it wasn't and we even left on time! Before we got on the plane at 6:35 a.m., I drank a bottle of water and a coffee. About an hour into the trip to Fort Lauderdale, where we had a layover, I really had to go to the bathroom. But, I didn't want to bother the guy next to me who, heading to Cancun, had been ordering double rum and cokes since we boarded. His tray was littered with bottles and cans, so I figured I'd wait until he got up. When he finally did, I made a beeline to the least busy bathroom. A boy, about 10, went in in front of me. After he was finished and I went in, I discovered he'd left the seat up. "What a savage," I thought. "Didn't his mother teach him to put the seat down?" When I was finished, I headed back to my seat and, just before I got there, a woman reached out in front of me and handed her earbud to a friend across the aisle so she could listen to a song, effectively blocking my path. One of her traveling companions admonished her but she shrugged him off. Finally she took her earbud back and I was free to get into my seat. I figured Big Drinker, who had already returned, would stand up and let me in. Instead, I stood, staring at him, as he adjusted his jacket, pulled out his glasses, generally made himself comfortable, etc. The same considerate traveling companion who'd admonished the earbud girl now pointed out to Big Drinker that I was waiting to get back into my seat. Big Drinker looked up at me in a somewhat annoyed fashion and said, "Oh, I wondered why you were standing there." Savages.

Luckily, our next flight, from Fort Lauderdale to Cartagena (about 2 1/2 hours), was much better. We sat next to this great guy named Edgar. He was about 45, but you'd never guess it from his boyish, mischeivious face. He was born in Colombia but moved to the United States as a baby. He lives in New York now and was going to Colombia for the Carnival celebration in Baranquilla (the second-largest such event outside Rio! Baranquilla is also where Shakira's from!). Anyway, Edgar was a total New Yorker -- all smiles but with watchful eyes, a total character full of witty remarks and ready to party! He told us about the first time he'd come back to Colombia: After he enrolled in the Marines as a twenty-something, he said, his father wanted to show him what it really meant to be tough, so brought him back to experience their homeland. One night, after going out drinking with his extended family, he awoke crying. The sound, in turn, awakened his father, who asked what was wrong. Edgar said he was overwhelmed with the feeling of fitting in for the first time in his life. "You can take a child away from where they were meant to be," he said, "but that place will always be in their heart."

Once we were on the ground, a driver from our hotel picked us up. On the way to the Charleston Santa Teresa, we passed along the seashore and saw a man driving a donkey cart down the side of the divided highway where cars, buses and scooters zipped past. There were skyscrapers and cranes, but also chipping paint and stumpy little shops along the road. The closest thing in my experience to compare it to is Puerto Rico. Once we got checked in to our hotel, a former convent, we went up to the rooftop pool/restaurant, where we had views of yachts out on the water and a beautiful old church roof. It was gorgeous - high 80s, mostly sunny, with a nice breeze - and we were just in time to watch the sun set! We ordered ceviche, empanadas and plantains with avocado sauce. I had a beer and Darrel had a Mojito. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.