MUNGO EATS Latin America

I am sorry that I didn’t post yesterday, I was exhausted!!!  We are in Cartagena at the moment and we will be here for at least the next 5 or 6 days while we wait for our van.  It is supposed to leave Panama tomorrow and requires a day to reach this city.  I don’t know how long it will take for the ship to be unloaded, and that is why I am unsure how long we will be here. 

Let me tell you about yesterday.  I barely slept thinking about all the things that could go wrong;  Mungo would have no papers, our taxi would not arrive, the folks in Cartagena would find something wrong with Mungo’s papers, etc.  Also, I HATE flying.  I am not afraid of flying, I just HATE it.  I hate being crammed into a plane with a bunch of strangers, I hate the smell of the jet fuel, really, if I did not have to fly (or if 6 days on a boat was the only other option), I  would not fly.  In the morning though, everything went quite well.  Mungo got a nice walk along the seawall for the last time, our cab driver  was actually early and he got us to the vet clinic via some shortcut way that saved us a lot of time.  The clinic had Mungo’s papers ready in a folder and handed them to me as I walked in the door (THANK GOD), and we were at the airport just a bit before noon, which was when they  asked us to be there with Mungo.  Our plane was on time.  We got to Colombia without too much turbulence.  Mungo was waiting in the baggage claim, a little freaked out, but otherwise unharmed.  He did pee in his crate which was unfortunate, so his bed was a bit wet and stinky, and I don’t think he will let us out of his sight for a few days, but otherwise he is just fine.  We found a cab the moment we stepped out of the airport and even though it was only a sedan, he insisted that we would all fit, plus the dog crate, plus 4 backpacks.  The kennel took up all the truck space plus more, it had to be tied into the trunk.  The two large backpacks took up the front seat, which meant that 4 people, two kids backpacks and a large, rather freaked out dog had to cram into the back seat!!!  Wow!  Our cab driver knew where our hostel was and he agreed to stop at an ATM on the way so we could gather some pesos.  The hostel is a little shabbier than the last place, and the “kitchen” is just a little corner with a sink and a two burner stove, but we can handle this for a few days.  We don’t really have a lot of options with regards to lodging.  It is “festival week” and there are various events going on daily in celebration of Independence, so we will tough it out here for the week. 

So why Crazy Cartagena?  Well, a few hours after we arrived there was a big commotion on the street and we realized a parade was going by.  What is it with Latinos and parades??  Anyway, this was a much different parade than we have become accustom to, no marching bands at ALL.  There were some drummers, but they were just keeping the beat for the Caribbean style dancers.  The parade was actually in celebration of Sexual Diversity, so in addition to folk dancing groups, there were a lot of very flamboyant characters, and  a fair share of drag queens.   There was one group where the members seemed to be wearing KKK outfits and hoods, although they were red, blue, yellow and green instead of the traditional white and they were running around with lit torches.   Yes, this was a different parade than we are used to. 

Today we decided to do a little looking around in the old city.  The old part of the city is mostly surrounded by fortress walls, which the Spanish built in an attempt to protect themselves from pirate attacks.

Of course the kids could not resist climbing the walls.  

Lots of cannons too! 

The town has colonial architecture and is quite picturesque.

   It reminds me a lot of Italy.  It is a very vibrant town, with street performers, horse drawn carriages, street cafes, etc.  Very nice.  Oh, by the way, I was interviewed, in Spanish, for TV, regarding what I thought of Cartagena and what I thought of the Independence “Day” festivities.  I think I will mostly be cut in editing!!

Crazy!!