Cartagena

My usual pattern of travel includes long bus journeys and a lot of reading to pass the time, however after bringing three books with me I have only managed to get through half a book and even that has been a struggle. The reason? The roads. The four hour bus journey from Santa Marta to Cartagena (8 hrs if you include the Tyrone to Santa Marta route) was perfect for devouring a book, however the roads conspired against me again. Every hour or so on a Colombian motorway there are toll booths, but I doubt that any British or Canadian driver would happily pay a toll for these roads. Its more like being in a washing machine than a bus - if the roads aren't in a general state of disrepair then the authorities do their best to create the bumps with speed bumps at almost any location - though I cant see how a 8 inch speed bump on a road with a sheer drop on one side can improve safety, if there weren't roofs on these buses then the passengers would get catapulted over the edge. Despite the road woes I arrived in Cartagena after surviving Tyrone, mucho mosquitos! ...to find the heat in Santa Marta to be just a warm up for the real thing... hace much calor aqui! ...can people really live in this heat? With only a day and a half to explore the city it was only going to be a quick peruse, but I found myself heading to bed early (Colombian style) to escape the heat of the evening and catch the cool of the early morning... we are still in the land of cold showers so waking up will continue to be a jolt to the system. When the morning came I had a very productive hour and a half exploring the old city, after the shock of the cold shower that is, finally getting my hair cut after a month (ragger muffin!), until the heat of the day finally hit me with a vengeance - with camera still acting up and at risk of dying in the street I retreated to a cafe then an internet cafe and whiled away two to three hours in glorious air conditioning. I was told Cartagena was the safest city in Colombia, and I know why, there are police or army or private security on every street corner and every 80 to 100m on main roads - its no wonder the Colombian tax rate is +30% with no social security, public health care or public pensions to speak of. Not sure how the police numbers improve security though, they are mostly to be found texting, talking on the phone, eating ceviche or hanging around in packs discussing something with much gusto. Safety is relative and for the first time since arriving in Colombia I felt unsafe, but not for the reasons you may think - the fat bottomed prostitutes in this town are aggressive, I think it was the first time I have been hissed at (Middle Eastern style if you have ever been to Morocco or Turkey)... and if you wont buy sex they will try and sell you cocaine and if that doesn't work they will go back to the promotion of sexual acts but this time in rather good English I must say. Surviving the fat bottomed prostitutes, cocaine peddlers and the heat it is time to move on, to the Zona Cafetera. Before I go, remember that Gatorade (sp?) I had at circa 950m in the rainforest? ...water from my bottle still tastes of the stuff a week and a half later, what the f&%k do they put in it?! ...experiment yourself, I for one am put off the stuff for life. I am definitely looking forward to more temperate weather and a slower pace of life in Zona Cafetera after the heat and the buzz of the Caribbean coast - ironically the slower pace will come with high octane coffee and being chorizo country I expect mucha bueno comida! Who doesnt like a sausage?