First off, I have to say studying Spanish is a great way to travel. This is my 4th time studying Spanish in a foreign country. This is also a fun way to take a break while traveling. Typically, I study Spanish in a place I would like to visit for an extended time and then go online to see what school options are available. Sometimes I strike out. For instance, I tried to find a school when I was in Santa Marta but nothing was available. In Cartagena, there are a few schools. I picked Centro Catalina simply because I liked the physical location of the school and it was also the highest rated on Google. There are many things to like about studying Spanish through a school in a foreign country. For me, the biggest plus is they take care of all logistical issues. When I arrive in a big city, sometimes it's hard to know where to stay. Almost all language schools offer accommodation placement. If I were flying to Cartagena, they would have an airport transport service taking me directly to my accommodation. Typically, there are 3 options for accommodation. Placement with a family or homestay, in a shared hostal room or to rent an apartment. The 1st time I studied Spanish while traveling was in Mexico. My Spanish was practically non-existent and staying with a family felt like communicating was going to be too hard for me. On that visit, I asked for private accommodation and this worked out really well for me. This time, I felt like my Spanish is good enough for basic conversation and staying with a family will give me the opportunity to practice. It is also fun to meet and live with local people. I asked to be put with a family within a 20 minute walk of the school. Since I was only going to be in Cartagena for 2 weeks, I wasn't too picky about the accommodation specifics. I asked for a room with a private bathroom but also said sharing a bathroom would be ok. With most home stays you can also request meals with the family. I specified food requirements (for instance, I'm not eating any sugar at the moment) and asked only for breakfast to keep my days free for sightseeing and doing things with other students. During my 1st month in Colombia, I studied Spanish in Bogotá where I stayed with a family and it was a fantastic experience.
One of the my teachers, Miguel, and student, Anna
Taking a break in the school courtyard
My classmates
School Entrance
Ruun, adding a Myrtle the Turtle sticker to his guitar
Studying at a language school also helps to give my days structure. For me, it gives me an additional reason, besides being a tourist, to be in a city or country. I really like this. In fact, this is one of the reasons I really like cycle touring. For sure I'm a tourist but I'm here to cycle not just to stare at everything. For me, I need a bigger reason to travel. I can't just travel to look at stuff. (This is true even at home. I can't go on a bike ride just to go on a bike ride. I need to be going somewhere to do something. It can something simple like stopping at a store to look at something but there always needs to be purpose for the ride.) At language schools, there are people from all over the world. Since I mostly travel alone, it's a nice break for me to be more social. At this school, most of the students were from Switzerland but there were also people from Germany, US, Canada, Netherlands and India. Students were young and old. I later learned that the school is owned by a Swiss couple. Most Spanish schools offer outside activities and excursions. Here in Colombia, dancing is a big part of the culture. The school offers salsa and other dancing style classes. They usually have a movie night, cooking classes and walks to explore the city. There are also often cultural exchanges between students and locals where you meet in a cafe or bar for an hour. One half hour is spent conversing in Spanish and the other half hour is spent speaking English to give locals a chance to practice. The bigger schools also offer excursions to nearby area attractions. In Mexico, I visited the monarch butterflies, historical sites and tequila factories. Here in Colombia, I went on a boat island tour and they organized a trip to Carnaval in Barranquilla as well as neighboring beach towns. Usually, studying a language in a foreign country is also very affordable. I paid $1000 for 10 days of classes, 4 hours per day with 2 weeks of accommodation that included breakfast and laundry. There are cheaper countries to study, for instance Guatemala, but this works out to $72/day for fairly intensive study with accommodation. In the US, that's the equivalent price of a lower level hotel room per day.
Out for coffee with school buddies
After dinner with school friends
My sweet Swiss housemate, Aisha
My room
I loved where I lived in Cartagena. This was a very unique living situation. The house was very old, cramped and my room was crazy small with no windows or even a door that locked. The bathroom was shared with Yahara, the owner, and another young Swiss gal also studying at the school. Since the walls in my room didn't go all the way to the ceiling there was no privacy, not even to make phone calls. My room was next to the bathroom, where the door didn't lock or even close completely. The cold water shower was in a very deep tub that was difficult for me to get in and out of. The house was also directly across from one of the busiest plazas in Cartagena - Plaza de la Trinidad. Every night until the wee hours there was loud music and partying. The whole situation was completely nuts and, yet, I absolutely loved it.
Homestay entryway
Dining room and courtyard
Andrea, little Julietta and Yahara
Everyday, the house activity was totally fascinating. I would sit at the dining room table intending to work on homework, photos or videos and would get nothing done because there was so much happening in the house. Except for the living room, every space in the house is quite small. There are 3 bedrooms, a living room, dining area, bathroom, kitchen, entry way and courtyard where laundry hangs to dry. Every room is small but my room was the smallest. There are 3 women who come everyday to take care of the house; Estelle, Isa and Beatrice. They arrive early, long before I get up. These woman were fantastic. They are always upbeat with a ready smile. But since the house is small with only 3 people living in it, I never understood why 3 women were needed to take care of it - every day. And they worked until about 3 in the afternoon, a full day. At about 7 am, Alejandro, Yahara's 93 year old father, was dropped off. He always sat in a rocking chair in the front entrance with the door open to the street watching all the activity outside. At 8 am, breakfast was served and I was joined by the other student, 20 year old Aisha from Switzerland. She was a gem. We laughed a lot and got along very well. Her Spanish was more basic than mine and I think it was nice for her to have someone else in the house that spoke English. After breakfast, Aisha and I would walk to school together and then after 4 hours of classes we would walk back to the house. Since Aisha was having lunch served at the house I decided to join her. After lunch, I would try to get some work done. But there were so many people coming and going I was always too distracted. People would knock at the door to quickly drop things off or pick things up. Fruit and vegetable vendors would yell through the open front door asking if Yahara needed anything. One time a wedding photographer needed extra room for his shots and finished his job well inside the entryway shooting through the open door. Sometimes people, just off the street, would see all the art work on the entryway walls and walk in thinking the house was a gallery space. Grandpa Alejandro, was very friendly and would talk to everyone as if he knew them. The people were always really nice and quite embarrassed once they learned this was a private home. Yahara is a lovely, generous woman and someone from her family was always coming over to chat and enjoy a glass of wine. It was obvious that everyone really loves each other. It seemed like Yahara's house was family central. Her daughter, Andrea, lives very close and would come over most afternoons. Yahara would often take care of her grand daughter, Julietta, when Andrea had appointments. Yahara is over 70 and still works at a magazine.
Big cathedral in the walled city
Night Zumba in Plaza de la Trinidad outside the house
There was always a lot going on inside the house and then there was always a lot going on outside the house. The house is across from Plaza de la Trinidad. This is a plaza, with a grand church, famous as the beginning spot of a revolution. I think it is busiest plaza in Cartagena. People are constantly busking in the plaza. There was all kinds of music being played at all hours. Sometimes there were big musical groups that also included drumming and dancing. There were always lots of food vendors cooking away all night long. Every Sunday, after evening mass, there is a giant Zumba class with hundreds of people attending. This class is famous and it was fun to watch. But with so much going on, it was impossible for me to get any work done. The only way I could sleep at night was with ear plugs. On my next trip, I'm bringing noise cancelling headphones! Like Asia, Latin America is loud.
Opening of an international film festival
Yara's house is in an area called GetsemanÃ. It is old and historic just outside the more touristic walled city. This is where the servants of the royal family and people who worked inside the walled city lived. The houses are small with wide entries and a courtyard where the horses and burros were kept. It is also very colorful and lively. Yahara's house is painted a brilliant blue on the outside and the inside has dark purple doors with orange and yellow walls. There are lots of paintings and plants which gives the house an artistic feeling and lots of good energy.
Street art
Umbrella street
2 weeks went by very quickly. The 1st weekend was Carnaval in Barranquilla, which hosts the 2nd biggest Carnaval in the world. Many students from the school went. For me, the trip sounded a bit too much. So many people were going from Cartagena that even getting a bus ticket to Barranquilla was difficult. At this point, finding a hotel room at a reasonable price in a safe neighborhood would be all but impossible. I'm sure that seeing Carnaval is special but Barranquilla has a terrible reputation for being a dangerous place. Robberies are common especially during big events. It was recommended to leave anything of value, including your phone behind in Cartagena. I'm not great with big crowds and didn't like the idea of worrying about my safety. I decided to stay in Cartagena. This turned out to be a good decision because a very nice German women, Annamarie who I met in Santa Marta, arrived for the weekend and we palled around. Conveniently, she stayed at a hotel just around the corner from where I was living.
Power kids
Colorful cartagena street
With Annamarie
On my 1st Sunday in Cartagena, we went on a boat trip to some of the neighboring islands together. A van picked us up from her hotel and dropped us at the dock. We paid $25 for the van transport, the boat ride visiting three islands including some snorkling and then had lunch at our final destination. It was a beautiful day and fantastic to be on the water. Since it was Sunday, there were lots of people. It's interesting that there is lots of tourism in Colombia but not that many foreigners. Most of the tourists here are Colombian. On this boat, which probably held 50 people, there were only 2 others not from Colombia. We made a number of stops to drop people off and pick others up and everyone was Colombian.
Playa blanca
Day of beach and snorkling
Playa Blanca from the air
I had an interesting experience at our snorkling stop. There wasn't an easy way to get in or out of the boat. The boat 1st stopped on the sand. We left all our belongings in the boat and then 3 guys helped me down to the sand. I found this to be very scary. We were given snorkling masks that I was sure hadn't been cleaned. We went out into the water and there were lots of colorful fish. Like fish you would see in a home aquarium. The current was quite strong and we were slowly pulled out farther from the beach. One of the tour guides had food for the fish and then there were schools of fish to look at in the water. I actually got a few little bites on my fingers. These fish are used to being fed. The boat was anchored out in the water so we didn't have to fight the current back to the beach. Just as we all grouped next to the boat to get back on, a woman in the boat leaned over and threw up very close to us. I couldn't believe it. I yelled for her to go to the other side. Good grief! There wasn't a ladder to get back on the boat. We each put a foot on a piece of rope that was tied off and then 2 guys heaved us up one by one.
Isla Baru
Video of my camera mishap story
At our final stop, we had a simple lunch. I asked for grilled chicken with a salad. It was a
Rickety stairs I fell off of
lot of food and delicious. After lunch, we had about 1.5 hours to enjoy the beach before the boat would pick us up for the return trip to Cartagena. I walked up and down the beach, flew my drone and enjoyed watching all the activity. This beach is on Isla Baru and called Playa Blanca. It was packed with people. The water was warm and lots of families were enjoying the gentle waves. I took a nice walk along the water. Even though it was quite windy, I flew my drone a bit and then headed back to where the boat would pick us up. I found everyone waiting, standing around. We all stood there for a long time. The boat was late. In the sand, at the water's edge, I saw the set of rickety wooden stairs used to board the boat. I decided to sit on the stairs to wait. While I was sitting on the stairs, a much bigger wave came and, suddenly, the stairs were no longer anchored in the sand. They started to float. Since I was on the top step, the balance was off and the stairs fell backwards. I probably fell 4 feet into the water. It all happened so fast. Many people rushed to my aid to help me up and make sure I wasn't hurt. Aside from a small bit of sand rash on my butt where I landed, I was fine. Unfortunately, everything got wet with salt water. I was wearing a hip pack with my Samsung S8+ smartphone, Removu K1 video camera and my Panasonic ZS200 point and shoot camera. I was also carrying a backpack with my drone and ipad mini 4 inside. Luckily, my Ortlieb backpack is waterproof and the drone was fine. But everything in the hip pack got drenched. I immediately turned my phone off and took the batteries out of the K1 and ZS200 wiping them down with a towel. What a crazy thing to have happen!
Island house
The wind had really picked up since the morning journey out of Cartagena and the 45
My cameras after spending a day in rice
minute return ride was very bumpy. Once back at the house, I used alcohol to wipe down the Removu K1, ZS200 and the charging port of my S8+. After that, I buried them all in a large bowl of rice to try and draw out the salt water. The S8+ is advertised as waterproof but I never believed it. In fact, the phone is waterproof and came back to life quickly. The Removu K1 briefly came back to life after 2 days but, unfortunately, only for one hour. Perhaps it was a last gasp but once it died a 2nd time, it never came back. The ZS200 was completely unresponsive. So, this quick dip in the sea ended up costing me 2 cameras. That was a huge loss. Especially losing the K1 which has served me so well and made shooting video very simple for over a year. It has been so easy to hand hold the K1, talking into the camera or shooting the landscape while cycling. The 4k footage has been very clear and the built in gimbal guaranteed smooth and stable results. It also has an external microphone jack that has allowed me to use a lavalier mic for crisper audio. In the past, I had dabbled in video but these 2 issues, shaky footage and excessive wind noise, were always stumbling points. The K1 gave me the confidence to try making videos again and even start a Youtube channel. If I wanted to continue to do video I was going to have to figure out another way.
Papa sloth in a local park
Baby sloth
Joe Arroyo, very famous Cartagena composer
Lady selling a pudding thing on her head
My other decision was what to do with these cameras. Was there any way to salvage them? I went to the 2 biggest camera stores in Cartagena. It was shocking how poor these stores were. They had so little stock and everything was old. There was a lot of cheap Chinese brands that I was unfamiliar with. No one even knew what a gimbal was and they had no technicians available to fix the cameras. Cartagena is such a photogenic city, I was surprised it didn't have a thriving photography community. I guess people simply don't have money for cameras.
Getsemani street
I have many knowledgeable photography friends and, almost unanimously, they said salt
Colorful Getsemani
water is the worst thing for cameras and electronics in general. Even if I could get the salt water out and somehow bring the cameras back to life, these cameras would never be the same. They will always cause me problems. My friends encouraged me to let the cameras go and start fresh. I had another week in Cartagena and everyday I checked to see if there was any changes or signs of life in the cameras. But there was nothing. On my last night, I asked Yahara if she wanted to take them. We both couldn't stand the idea of simply throwing them in the trash even though that is probably where they belong and will end up. It was painful to lose these cameras and leave them behind.
Flower vendor passing by the house
Fruit vendor outside the house
Puerto del Reloj
What's also crazy is that even though I lost 2 cameras I still had 2 cameras. I still had my S8+ which actually takes surprisingly good video and photos. I also brought with me a very small Sony helmet cam. This camera is so small the batteries are also very small. I brought it to use while riding if it was raining. I've had this camera for probably 4 years and because of the short battery life haven't used it much. I also tend to bob my head a bit while riding and the footage kind of makes me sea sick. But, these are both viable cameras. The bigger issue was how to keep the cameras steady and get decent sound while riding. Perhaps I'll have to rethink how I use the cameras.
Cheerful fruit vendor
Cart pusher
House cat, Luna
When I was looking for a camera shop to, hopefully, fix the K1 and ZS200, I thought I saw a GoPro Hero 7 Black in a window. At the time I wasn't thinking about buying a replacement camera and didn't ask anything about it. This is a camera I was planning on purchasing when I returned home after the tour. I've watched many reviews of the Hero 7 Black on Youtube and everyone raves about the quality and especially the image stabilization. Why not buy it now? And so I did. The camera cost $40 more here than in the US and there are no accessories available. Not even extra batteries. I do have an external battery pack that I can use for charging while on the road if I need.
With Carlos, school manager
In the meantime, I was studying Spanish. I think it was good for me to be in Spanish classes even though I didn't learn what I was hoping to. My idea was to get more comfortable with the 2 most basic conjugations of past tense verbs. We touched on this my last 2 days but not enough to get me where I was hoping to get to. But really, at my level, I need practice speaking with people that can explain, correct and give me more vocabulary and rudimentary grammar. It was all fine and I really enjoyed my classes, teachers and meeting the other students. My classes had anywhere from 4 to 9 people depending on the day. Almost everyday Aisha, my housemate, and I went out to dinner with other students. Aisha is only 20 years old and I was surprised she invited me, someone old enough to be her grandma, to go out together. We really had fun and I will miss laughing with her.
Cart haulers waiting for work
Red Squirrel in Centenario park
I think it is natural to always want to be getting further ahead when learning something. Learning a language requires a great deal of patience. For me, it is like learning a musical instrument. Progress is slow. It takes years and years of daily practice to get to a place where it flows. Even though I am in a Spanish speaking country I don't speak Spanish as much as you would guess. I'm traveling alone and, aside from saying hello, really only interact with locals when I need something. I spend a lot of time by myself. Most of my socializing is actually online through my blog, videos and social media. This is true even at home. I'm not an especially social person who seeks out other people. I like being with people but I also like my own company too. Every day, I walk around and say hello to everyone but I don't really have conversations with people very much. I think if I travelled with someone else we could practice speaking Spanish together but, otherwise, most of my conversations are still in English. I suspect my experience is very common with solo travelers.
Punta Arena fisherman
View of Cartagena from Tierra Bomba Isla
Cartagena from the boat to Tierra Bomba
On my last day in Cartagena I took a boat trip to the closest island, Tierra Bomba. It cost as much to take a taxi to where the boats dock as it cost to take the boat to the island. $3 each way for the 15 minute trip. The view of Cartegena from the island is amazing. This was my 1st time using the new GoPro Hero 7 Black. I was very impressed with how it handled the boat ride. The footage came out very smooth and there wasn't much wind noise either. Maybe this will be a good purchase. I walked along the beach passed lots of hotels and hostels until I couldn't go any farther. It was such a beautiful day and the beach was lovely. The wind was blowing quite fiercely but I still flew the drone for a bit not going far down wind. Coming back into this headwind was going to be a tough ask for this little drone. I first flew into the wind to make sure I could get it back. The return trip by boat was bumpy. The bottom of the boat kept slamming into the waves. It was loud but also fun.
Basket seller
Love these ladies, Estelle, Isa and Beatrice who work in the house
This had been an action packed 2 weeks in Cartagena. I met a lot of wonderful people and saw very cool stuff. Yahara and her family were lovely. Living in her house was a fabulous experience and one I will always remember. I also hope to meet my buddy Aisha again. We need to laugh more. My next big destination in Colombia is Santa Cruz de Mompox. It is considered the oldest city in Colombia and one I have been looking forward to visiting. For me, it will be a 4 day ride and with Yahara's substantial help I plotted a route. But then, Annamarie, my German friend who had already made the journey by bus, emailed saying the road to Santa Cruz de Mompox was under construction and she didn't think it would be safe for me to cycle. The shoulders on both sides of the highway were being redone and the lanes were very narrow with lots of traffic. With this information, I changed my plans and decided to get a ride. Again with Yahara's help, she arranged for a small truck to pick me up on Sunday morning. The truck would arrive at 4 am - ouch!
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