{"id":413,"date":"2010-04-19T02:15:07","date_gmt":"2010-04-19T09:15:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cruisingdoneright.com\/?p=413"},"modified":"2010-04-19T02:15:07","modified_gmt":"2010-04-19T09:15:07","slug":"cartagena-the-new-face-of-colombia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/?p=413","title":{"rendered":"Cartagena the New Face of Colombia"},"content":{"rendered":"

CARTAGENA, Colombia \u2014 When we first realized the cruise we were booking was going to Colombia, the first thought both of us had was: “Oh-oh, Colombia.” Drug cartels, guns, high crime, etc. We thought a shore excursion might ease the fea\u2026er, uncertainty, so we booked one that was not too exotic and not too extensive.
\nA nice ride on a Spanish galleon to see the sights from the bay. Two and a half hours, for $56. Perfect.
\nColombia, it seems, has changed.\"\"<\/a>
\n“The drug lords are in jail, in the cemetery or in Venezuela,” said the tour guide, Sandy Cuadrado.
\n“For the last seven years we have had the best president from the last 50 years. All we have to do is make people forget.”
\nIf the rest of Colombia is even close to being like this city, the ongoing reputation recovery is working. That’s as clear as the waters of Cartagena Bay.
\nThe Spanish galleon that carried us from the busy industrial pier where the Celebrity Millennium<\/a> docked was populated by a rather sedate group of 25 or so \u2014 one passenger actually caught some zzz’s. Even the colorful dancers on board didn’t wake him.\"\"<\/a>
\nThe galleon was once a sealing ship, which is not politically correct to mention, and a descendant of the Spanish vessels that brought slaves here from Africa about 400 years ago.
\nWhat enhanced the shore excursion was that Sandy had a bus to take anyone interested on a land tour of the Old Town and the New City for an extra $12. Since a cab to the Old City and back was going to be at least $20, this was a no-brainer. It enabled us to see landmarks from two sides, visit an emerald factory, get a close-up of historic Fort San Felipe and the Juan Valdez Cafe, then drive through where Cartagena’s rich and famous (like golfer Camilo Villegas) own homes and where NASCAR driver Juan Pablo Montoya was wed.
\nIt is a country, or at least a city, that has no hurricanes, no earthquakes nor tsunamis, and no drug lords. It does have at least two streets in Old Town that are so clean you almost eat off them, and that doesn’t happen in places of drug cartels and high crime. Just ask Sandy.
\nThat’s it\u2026we’re done.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

CARTAGENA, Colombia \u2014 When we first realized the cruise we were booking was going to Colombia, the first thought both of us had was: “Oh-oh, Colombia.” Drug cartels, guns, high crime, etc. We thought a shore excursion might ease the fea\u2026er, uncertainty, so we booked one that was not too exotic and not too extensive.… Continue reading Cartagena the New Face of Colombia<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-stories","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/vitaluna.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}