Cartagena, Colombia 1

We arrived in the beautiful city of Cartagena, Colombia on August 20.  The taxi drove between the Gulf of Mexico and the ramparts of the old city to bring us to the section called Bocagrande, where a friend I have not seen in almost 35 years has offered us her family apartment here.   The apartment is on the 14^th floor where we have a breathtaking view of the naval base (with pool and track) across the street, and beyond that the city, the bay and the port.  No single picture does it justice, but this one will give you an idea.  In the photo you can also just see the curved roman bridge and an old fortification called Fuerte San Filipe de Barajos that I hope to visit soon.  There is also a mysterious place called Cerro la Popa on the other side of the hill in the background that many street vendors proposed to us yesterday, but I have yet to figure out exactly what it is.

  

We took a taxi into the old city yesterday and walked around in circles a bit looking for the language school, Nueva Lengua, where we will start our Spanish classes next week.  The fortified city is so big that we didn’t imagine it continued across a park and on to the other side.  We definitely have to get bolder about asking for help, but we had a nice tour in the meantime!

 After a delicious lunch of the daily special at a tiny restaurant (hoy:  exquisto - ajiaco con pollo - degustame!) we finally asked directions and found the school. We had to walk through a dance class to the classroom where we took our placement tests.   The tests – written and oral - were humbling but everyone was encouraging and friendly and helpful.  In the meantime we are passing our pocket-sized dictionary and grammar book back and forth.