I never thought I would say this, but as I left Taganga I felt that I’d had grown tired of beaches. I guess too much of anything gets a little bit tiring after a while. I had also been lethargic for the last three weeks or so, first because of an illness, and then because I had reached one of those points where I had just gotten tired of traveling in general: the hostels, the drinking, the sightseeing, the constant meeting of new people. I knew though from experience during this long journal that feelings like this are only temporary, and they go away after a few days of solitude and relaxation.
Through the last 6 weeks I had been traveling in pretty undeveloped cities and towns. I was very excited to get to a big city like Cartagena. Johan (whom I have been traveling with for the previous 2 weeks) and I took the direct bus from Taganga. It took about 5 hours to arrive. We ended up staying in separate hostels since the one I had booked with (Genoves Hostel) didn’t have any more beds.
Cartagena’s main tourist section is within the walled sections of Centro and San Diego. It is very clean and well maintained, containing countless numbers of boutique hotels and fancy restaurants and shops while retaining its old colonial architecture. I felt motivated to go out everyday to walk and take photographs, things I hadn’t done in a while.
Cartagena is, just like Santa Marta and Taganta, a very hot tropical place. The next destination was going to be Medellin, and I couldn’t wait to get somewhere with cooler temperatures.
