A selfie of Tamia Boyd in Cartegena
We began paddling in the ocean and my partner and I thought “hey this will be a leisure activity.” Wrong.
We were paddling frantically for an hour straight in the middle of the Caribbean Sea, as if we were auditioning to be on the Colombian Olympic team.
The air was solid as if you were drinking thick water.
My partner wondered if we could try to stand up. Of course he decides to try and as he stands, his eyeglasses fall in the water so at this point, he’s blind as a bat. I attempted to stand too, but fell in, which made me feel even more exhausted than I was.
I told our instructor I couldn’t do it anymore. Who cares if I failed, get me to land! Our instructor hooks me onto his board and tells me to lie down. Cool. He gets an idea to hook us onto a speed boat, but I flip over — into the water. Mind you, I’m not wearing life jacket. Literally my flight or fight response kicked in because I thought I was going to drown.
Since my partner lost his glasses at sea, we had to find an eye doctor. He knows no Spanish, so I was his eyes and ears. Thanks to the eye doctor at Optica Visonarios, he was able to get an eye exam and glasses for $150. I should’ve got one, my eye exam and glasses were $600 in American dollars in Charlotte.
One of the items on our to-do list was to visit Rosario Islands, a national park with a stunning coral reef. We started our morning at 8 a.m., sailing over an hour to the island. The pier was loaded with other boats doing the same, exploring other islands around Cartagena.
After a while we docked midway in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean and the boat crew announced that we could snorkel and swim. I opted out of snorkeling, but I did jump into the water and swam for a while. The waves were calmer this day and the sun was beaming. I definitely was getting a tan. If anyone tells you to not wear sunscreen, don’t listen, always wear it!
But after sailing for about four hours, we realized we were not going to Rosario Islands. We were just sailing by it, and if you wanted, while we docked close-by, you could swim towards it! Still, it was nice just laying on their catamaran, catching some sun. But the other boat excursions do take you to the island. We just booked the wrong one.
Monument of India Catalina, who was abducted at 14-years-old by a Spanish conquistador.
One of my favorite activities was visiting the salt mines and doing a mud bath in Galerazamba, a community about 45 minutes outside of Cartagena. During our tour, we learned about a monument dedicated to an indigenous woman, India Catalina, who was abducted at 14-years-old by a Spanish conquistador. She was returned some years later with and served as an interpreter and peacemaker with Pedro de Heredia, who founded the city of Cartagena.
But back to the mud baths, I highly recommend this activity. It’s very slimy but there’s health benefits like drawing toxins and impurities out of the body.
Another fun activity is learning how to salsa dance, which is a lot harder than I thought. My partner and I went to a local studio that was teaching one-hour beginner classes. Since then, for weeks I’ve had a seven count dance step stuck in my head. During the night we put our skills to the test and went to Donde Fidel and Café Havana, two popular bars where many go to dance. At Café Havana, they have multiple local bands come and play and sing popular songs. Caution, you will dance all night and have the best time ever.
The only hiccup I faced was traveling during a tropical storm. Our flight was canceled from Cartagena to Miami for one day and then our return flight from Miami to Charlotte was canceled. We ended up driving 10 hours through the storm.
All in all, I would do this trip over in a heartbeat. I’ll always remember the colors of the streets, the stunning sunsets, the music, the culture and scenery. Folks there made me feel like I was a part of their community and for that I am thankful for the experience.
Weeks later, I find myself yearning for Colombian coffee and “huevos divorciados” eggs with corn tortillas and spicy salsas.
For now, if you have any suggestions where I can find something similar in Charlotte, let me know!
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Publish date : 2024-08-28 00:00:00
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