Day 462 – Lima to Cartagena, COLOMBIA
Flying to Cartagena
Lima Airport
We are still chilling at the Lima Airport. We went back to the first restaurant we ever went to in South America, Tanta. The restaurant is located inside the airport. Just like 3 months ago, there were no almond croissants. We just had hot drinks instead.
The check in process was smooth (we used the express line this time) and we had no dramas as we flew on our 5am flight to Colombia with Viva Air.
Welcome to Colombia!
As soon as we exited the plane around 9am, it was extremely humid and hot. Immigration was a breeze but the line did take some time. Before leaving the terminal, we could cash out from some ATMs.
There is also a taxi counter, where the staff calculate the fare before you leave. This saves you the hassle of negotiating the price, which is really good in theory.
As we went to our hotel, LuKa Cartagena in the historic centre, the taxi driver dropped us off around 200 metres away. This was alright, since the correct road is only for buses. However, as I left the driver made up a higher price. I had lost the slip from the airport taxi service to argue with him. I advise you don’t lose the slip for reference.
Our next challenge, was to find the hotel. Google Maps was showing the hotel on the opposite side of the road. We walked around but couldn’t find it. Drenched in sweat due to the heat and holding our heavy backpacks, we finally asked some police officers for help. They used their phones and found the hotel after a while. Despite the language barrier, they were super friendly and we were really grateful.
Cartagena Historic Centre
Besides not having a sign outside displaying the name, the hotel appeared nice. There was a massive storage room for us to leave our backpacks in, since it was way too early for check in. We were hopeful that they would let us in early, to rest from our overnight flights.
Instead we got a local SIM from the small shopping centre across the road. At first the pricing was a little confusing. The dollar sign ($) means Colombian Pesos (COP) and the decimal point (.) is the equivalent to the comma (,) in English numbers. The advertised ‘$45.000’ was actually 45,000 pesos and not $45.00 USD, as I originally assumed.
We spent the rest of the day trying to beat the heat by having cold drinks at San Diego Restaurant and finally lunch at La Mulata. La Mulata was recommend as a “cheap restaurant” by our hotel. It turned out to be a moderately priced seafood restaurant! Overpriced for backpackers like us. We couldn’t be bothered leaving, so we enjoyed the fresh seafood.
The streets of the historic centre are very cute and colonial. The houses in the area have overhanging plants, which gives heaps of character.
Following lunch we were able to check into an awesome room with a large private bathroom. After relaxing for a while, we went to a supermarket Exito to buy some groceries for a simple dinner.
The rest of the day was spent backing up a large amount of photos to my cloud storage, before our external hard drive fails. I think my wife was just relaxing today.
Travelled November 2019
Expenses and Transport
- SIM Card – Claro Mobile (1.8GB for 30 days) – 45,000 COP (~$18 AUD)