Tuesday, May 28, 2019

Visiting Cartagena, Columbia/Carlos Pueblo


Visiting Cartagena, Columbia/Carlos Pueblo

Cartagena is the second largest city in Columbia after the Capital city
of Bogota. It is the port before entering the Panama Canal. A couple
from Washington State accompanied to march from the port to the
old city center. We tried to help each other with the local in Spanish.
Columbia is one of the best Castilian Spanish among Latin American
Spanish speaking nations. Actually, we didn’t go that far to see the
difference.

Right next to the pier, there is a zoo full of peacocks, parrots, and other
birds roaming around in the air, land, and ponds. There are also some
small animals in the large nets to show. I took many pictures for memory.
We asked the direction and walking out of the zoo. There are fruits vender
on the street and many trees with green mango hanging, yet there are
ripe mango on the fruit stands. It is one US$ for a small size one that I
can see the diminished dollars. We went to seek a toilet for Sandy in a small
grocery store and found a pocket size local beer asked for a dollar.

We reached the river separated the old city and saw the old sign of castle
and wall built long time ago for some kinds of defense of the Indians. At
the bridge entrance, it is a museum now for the visitors. Many tourists
had already gathered at the city square. There are churches, cathedral,
stores of all kinds, etc. I can feel the old and traditional architecture similar
to the old Taiwan, fading concrete residential buildings. I didn’t see any of
the hat stores where I could get my cowboy hat size fixed. I have a nice Texas
cowboy hat free from Michelle’s client meeting. The Canadian gentleman has
a large size of head. Amy fixed it with some cloth inserted inside the ring and
made it smaller for my medium size head.

Dave was concerned with the earlier embark for the ship to the Canal and
we decided to march back to the pier. We could see the direction because of
the size of the ship. I had had plenty of opportunity to practice my Spanish
and I thought that I could break it this time, yet it was not that easy. When I
returned home, both beginner Japanese and Spanish classes ended and I was
determined to continue my self-study from then on. Actually, I haven’t open
my class note for more than a month. English, Taiwanese, and Mandarin are
still the strong force in my daily life.

    




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