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.
