Category: Colombia

Crazy Cartagena

My goal after volunteer duty today was to go to the gym and do laundry. The plan was to take the bus to the mall with the gym and then walk or taxi to a place I found online called Beer and Laundry. I know I am from New Jersey and I wanted to do 2 of the 3 Jersey Shore things minus tanning. Lol I get the irony. But crazy Cartagena had other plans for this Jersey girl today.

Getting Laundry Done

I did some extra research this morning and discovered Beer and Laundry closes at 6pm so I wouldn’t have time for the gym and clean clothes. Priorities of not smelling won out.

So then the plan became to take an uber from near the foundation  (I just started uber here yesterday and it’s ok) and go straight to the laundry place. I leave the foundation at 330pm so should have lots of time!

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Spanish Lessons in Cartagena

Part of the reason I came here was to improve my Spanish. With the volunteer program, I signed up for a week of lessons. That week is still not complete but I am getting Spanish lessons in Cartagena.

Not What I Expected

I have now been here for 2 weeks + 2 days. I honestly thought I would have Spanish lessons each day after volunteering for the first week. Why did I think that? Because that was what was promised in my volunteer plan.  Things don’t work the way they’re supposed to – I have definitely learned that.

First off, the person who was supposed to be teaching me Spanish (or helping me to improve my Spanish, I like to think :)) declined the job the day before my arrival. Too busy or something. Then Libary, the volunteer coordinator, had to find someone to replace her. Who did she find? Herself. Yes, this is not a big operation!

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Last Day in Cali

The weekend flew by and now I am sad. I know I’ve only been here 3 days, but I preferred this city to Cartagena in many ways. Here are my takeaways on my last day in Cali.

  • The weather is much easier to deal with! More temperate and way less humidity than humid Cartagena
  • Easier to get around: considering Cali is bigger with 2.5 million people to Cartagena’s 900,000, I can only guess this is because I stayed in a more convenient location to all the attractions as a tourist as compared to living in the barrio in Cartagena. I don’t think that’s totally it though
  • The sights are in residential neighborhoods: In Cartagena, you only go to one area as a tourist, The Old City and adjacent Boca Grande. In Cali, sights were spread out a little bit more, and were in areas where people live so it felt like I was seeing “the real Cali” while also sightseeing
  • Cheaper: apparently Cartagena is the most expensive Colombian city, and while still cheap to a Torontonian like me, I noticed that Cali was even more affordable
  • Cleaner and prettier: Aside from the ocean and the old city, Cartagena is not that pretty. And there is trash everywhere. In Cali, the river doesn’t smell so great, but the streets and paths were very tidy and well kept. The overall impression was it’s cleaner than Cartagena.

I don’t want to make it seem like I am sorry to go back to Cartagena, because I am not. I am really glad I visited Cali though! What a great weekend!

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