Cartagena de Indas - Colombia

Travel: April 2009 Cartagena, described as "a fairytale city of romance, legends and sheer beauty..." was my first stop on the South American continent. It was a pretty decent introduction to Colombia, even if the guidebook was overselling it a bit. Maybe I just encountered too many backpackers and tourists who used the city as a base for picking up cheap cocaine or prostitutes, neither of which are my thing. I guess the other thing is that when I think of romance, its rarely quite so consistently hot and sticky.

There is however no denying, Cartagena is a great place to visit. Its a perfect place to start a trip through South America.

As a photographer there was no shortage of interesting material - bright colors abound and the city has no shortage of interesting architecture due to its wealthy colonial past. There's street vendors on every second corner selling things like fresh fruit (including cashew nuts which I had no idea came as a fruit!) Areapas and particularly shrimp cocktails.

But... is it safe??

One of the things I kept hearing traveling through the US and Central America was how dangerous Colombia was.

After spending several months in Central America, I was pretty accustomed to seeing guns on virtually every street corner. There it would be unusual to go past something like a bank for example and not see at least one guard with a pump-action or semi-automatic weapon. In comparison, Cartagena was quite relaxed. The atmosphere was distinctly Caribbean with plenty of bright colors, music and street vendors selling all manner of things... and there didn't seem to be many guns.

Unlike most of the rest of Colombia, Cartagena is a popular stop-off for tourists. It has a fairly safe reputation, and probably more importantly a harbor that can accommodate large cruise ships from the Caribbean. As a result from time to time you notice hoards of tourists descending on the old town and the main attractions, at which time there is a period of pronounced but temporary inflation. Fortunately such visits tend to be brief and the effect really isn't felt outside a few limited areas.

How Much does it cost?

Cartagena has a wide range of budget accommodation and cheap food is available if you know where to look. For budget travelers, its easy enough to get by on less than $25 per day, although its also easy enough to blow the budget massively with tours and going out drinking!

Useful links for Cartagena:

Wikitravel - Cartagena