Well, regardless of last night's funny noises, the ship didn't sink and we docked at Cartagena (Colombia) on time.
We went on a shore excursion today. After yesterday we were both really worried that the heat would knock us both out, as it was supposed to be just as hot and humid in Cartagena today as it was in Aruba yesterday. The heat and humidity were both meant to be around 90, which would make the apparent temperature over 100F. However, it was nowhere near that warm.
The shore excursion was in three phases. First was a cruise around the bay on a small boat - the guide showed us lots of points of interest from the vantage point of the water.
Then, we got onto a bus and went to a shopping area. The best jewellery to buy in Colombia is emeralds and gold as they're both mined here. I intended to buy something with an emerald, but I went to three shops without finding anything I wanted - that is, if you ignore the really nice pendant that was just under $10,000!
In the end bought a nice bracelet and necklace set made of silver and natural emeralds. In doing so, I got into trouble with everyone else on the tour. They didn't tell us a time we needed to be back at the bus, and I took longer than expected because the shop's credit card machine wasn't working properly. They had been sitting and waiting for me for a while. Oops. But, if they had set a time, I would have been back.
Next, they drove us around the old city to give us an idea of what it's like. Then, we went to the Castillo San Felipe de Barajas - a huge fort - where we had a fairly good chance to look around while they explained a lot of detail about how (and why) it was built.
Overall it was a really good tour. Just a few pictures from today:
Apparently their favourite roosting spot - they say that in the early morning and late afternoon, you can't see the trees for birds.
Approach to the Castillo San Felipe de Barajas.
Yup, a gun. Or a cannon. What would I know?
View across the top of part of the fort. It really is enormous.
A local fisherman.
Click on the picture to see where our cabin is.
Back at the fort. Behind Paul is one of the powder magazines - across the bay there were guns permanently aimed here, so that if the fort was ever overrun, they could blow it up. They never got to test out whether it would actually work though.
Part of the city walls.
View of the city - almost all of the buildings are white.
Today's trivia - in Cartagena, the McDonalds drive-through is called an Auto-Mac
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