A couple shots from the highest point in Cartagena. This is a working monastery, and also was a canon emplacement meant to launch canonballs into the bay to help defend the city.

The peninsula in the distance is the main hotel section where we were staying.

These "old shoes" as they're titled are a small sculpture dedicated to a local poet who wrote a poem and dedicated it to Cartagena
Sitting in the shoe. Castillo San Felipe in the background.
The Colombian version of Pocahontas....this is the statue dedicated to Catalina, the Indian Princess. She was instrumental in helping tenuous relations between the Spanish and local Natives. She went to Europe and learned to speak 5 different languages, and continued to assist the crown in communications. And yes, the statue seems to be very form fitting and realistic. I can see why the Spanish took a liking to her and a lot of the locals.
The statue is near the Castillo San Felipe, near to the markets.
Along the wall of the old city, overlooking the Caribbean ocean. Unfortunately, with the high winds and break waters along the coast here, the clear blue colors of the Caribbean are not well noted around the shores here.
Canon emplacement with the castle in the background.
Just some horses wandering their way through the city streets. hahaha
This is the security section of one of the local banks. You push the button and the door closes while you are within this booth, you can be checked for weapons, and there is a camera. There is also a security guard on the outside portion of the bank. That's Alan trying to change money at the bank.
Wesley, Alan's kid, playing with the ipod.
Just some shots as the sun was going down on the beach.
So we went out to the beach, got some beers, purchased some Cuban cigars, and basically just hung out catching up, drinking beer. The vendors are relentless....and they come out of nowhere and seem to just cycle through non-stop. Finally got to the point that we started a game to see how fast we could get rid of the vendors as they came up to us. Alan started by pretending he was going to throw up, when they started talking to us. The more he interacted with them, the more vomiting motions he made. hahahaha they wouldn't stick around for very long. I took a different approach and started using the "force" to wave them off. :D It was hilarious to see their confused faces as I waved my hand and said "these aren't the tourists you're looking for" and "move along". It would take them a second or two, and then I would just keep repeating it, and finally they would move along, confused. hahahahaha
we were laughing so hard about it, cause we'd done it a couple times, that I told Alan to go and take a picture with the next guy. So here is a quick sequence of our attempts.

These two black ladies walk along the beach and try to get you to let them give you a foot massage. They are very persistent and after you've told them no for the 47th time, they then start to try and massage your feet, to show you how good a foot massage feels. how about "NO, YOU FUCKING ANNOYING BROAD" just go away. sheesh. then they acted all indignant when they realized that Alan really meant it, that he didn't want a foot massage. fucking hilarious.
Some guys cart...making sno-cones.
Some more late evening shots of the lifeguard station.
Waterfront.
When the red-flags were out, the beach was closed due to high winds and bad shoreline conditions.
Chillin', drinking beer, and smoking a cigar.
That is the old city off in the distance.

Saw these two fellas roll up the beach, just patrolling. I didn't want to be the one to tell them that in America it is socially unacceptable these days for two guys to be riding on a motorcycle. hahahaha I think it's ridiculous, but it's generally all the homophobes that go on about this. Hell, no one used to care. Either way, I wasn't going to tell them. :D I don't see it as a problem really, especially when the guy on the back is packing a machine gun, as the military motorcycles were.
Romantic evening riding off into the sunset. :D
Lifeguards going after some swimmers who are ignoring the red flags.
The swimmers. :D
From our balcony at the hotel, we could look down on the Naval base, that is 2 blocks away. They had a few ships in port, and these two subs. At the end of the week, there was a lot of commotion and movement of the local military and security forces, as we found out that there was a large economic summit being held in Cartagena between the leaders of South America, and many prominent businessmen of Colombia. Lots of money and lots of security.
Here is Emily's family, celebrating their mom's (in yellow) birthday.
hahahaha and one of their nephews who, when the music was flipped on, was doing all kinds of crazy hand stands and jumping. It looks better than what it is, cause he would just jump up on one hand and then fall over. It was hilarious to watch.
Here's Wesley taking a break.
An old galleon down by the civic center and main harbor.
Late evening in the walled city, as we were wrapping up some shopping and headed to get some dinner and a beer.
One of the main churches in the old city squares.
From our dinner spot, I shot a couple photos up the street.
These "statues" were everywhere. That lady had just tipped the guy, so he was changing his position in a robot like fashion. Note the ball and chain on his ankle.
Old city.
The horse carriages will take you around the city and give you a brief tour...but you have to haggle the prices down. Cartagena is probably the most expensive city in Colombia, and even more so for tourists. Luckily we had Alan's wife with us most of the time, so they would bend on the prices. Even though we could talk them down quite a bit, they would still give us tourist prices, until she came in to the picture. Was funny to watch.
Some local dance troupe performing at a square. They played for quite a while, as the hat was passed around for donations.

This photo is right next to the statue of the "reclining woman", by Botero. They were filming what seemed like a music video. It took them about 11 takes to get this one scene down. We just drank beer in the background. :D
Apparently it's very popular to cover the seats of your motorcyles with these covers of hot women. Saw them on almost every motorcycle here.


I'll post more soon. I'm off to San Luis Obispo for their 5th Analversary hash event. on on