The Aviary and more

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First, another birthday wish to another of Geoff's brothers -- Happy Birthday Andy! And a Happy St. Pat's to all the Irish out there.

Before we begin today's adventure, I want to start with a bit of history about Cartagena. I was waiting for a city tour but I am afraid that will not happen either by bike or guide.  Here is a transcript from Discover Colombia:

Founded in 1533 by Pedro de Heredia, Cartagena de Indias was built on the site of an abandoned Amerindian village, known as Calamarí, located on a small island of the same name. Born into a noble family in Madrid, Heredia left Spain suddenly because of a personal conflict that led to a challenge by duel. Arriving first in Santo Domingo (capital of the present-day Dominican Republic), he later embarked to New Grenada, settling in Santa Marta, where he took up trading with the native inhabitants. After becoming governor, he established himself in the village of Calamarí and founded Cartagena. The little village quickly prospered, with the discovery of numerous treasures in the region, including those in the tombs of the Sinús, an Amerindian people who customarily buried the dead with all their possessions. However, in 1552, a fire reduced the village (whose buildings were made of wood at the time) to ashes, and Pedro de Heredia ordered that all structures be made of stone from that point onward. In a way, this directive enabled the city to preserve its lovely architectural heritage to this present day.

As the Spanish continued colonizing South America, they discovered and pillaged the fabulous riches of various Amerindian nations including the Incas. The port of Cartagena, well protected in a bay, benefited greatly from all of this plundering. Ships loaded with precious cargo arrived from Ecuador and Peru by way of the isthmus of Panama, and stopped at the city’s port to be loaded with other goods from the interior of the country, most of which were brought to the port on the Río Magdalena. Afterward, the ships would continue on their way to Cuba or Puerto Rico, where other merchandise was added to their precious cargo. Finally, fully loaded, they would sail to Spain, the mother country.

Another factor that enabled the city to develop rapidly was the slave trade. In fact, at the beginning of the 17th century, the King of Spain granted the colony a monopoly on this form of commerce. It is important to remember that at the time, the Spanish crown had forbidden the enslavement of Amerindians, but granted certain markets and key figures in its new colonies the right to deal in African slaves. Cartagena thus received the dreadful but highly coveted right to be an official slave-trading centre. At the time, Veracruz, Mexico was the only other centre of this kind.

All of these activities made it possible for prominent locals to amass enormous fortunes and build superb homes and mansions, which still accounts for some of the towns charm today. Thus, within a few years, Cartagena reached a level of prosperity that aroused the interest not only of other colonial powers, but also of the numerous pirates lurking in the Caribbean in search of riches.

Cartagena’s reputation as a flourishing city spread quickly, and the Jolly Mary (the black pirate flag with a skull and cross bones) was often seen approaching the city in search of booty. During the 16th century, Cartagena suffered five sieges by pirates. One of these occurred in 1543 and involved a French lieutenant general and pirate by the name of Robert Baal (aka Roberval). He launched a successful raid on the city and in a surprise attack, the pirate managed to extort 310 kilos of gold from the city while the governor was attending a banquet. This was only the beginning of a long list of attacks by pirates of all different nationalities on the city. They included Englishmen John Hawkins (in 1576) and Francis Drake (in 1586), as well as Frenchmen Jean-Bernard Desjeans and Jean Ducasse (in 1697).

Cartagena managed to fend off at least one attack, mounted by the admiral Edward Vernon sent by King George II of England, along with 15,000 troops, to overthrow the Spanish in 1741. However, the English attackers were in for a surprise since the small garrison, led by General Basco de Lezo, managed to drive them back to sea. This brave general continued to fight even after losing an arm, a leg and an eye in previous battles. With 2500 poorly trained men, General Basco de Lezo managed to fend off 25,000 English soldiers and their 186 ships. He lost his other leg and died soon after, but is now regarded as the savior of Cartagena.

Irritated by the loss of capital to the privateers, the Spanish crown finally decided to fortify the city and its surrounding area. The scale of the project soon converted Cartagena into one of the most well protected colonial cities in all of South America.

Among the numerous armed conflicts that have marked the city’s history, two major dates should be kept in mind. The first is 1741, the year of the famous Battle of Vernon and the second is 1811, when the city was the first to declare its independence from Spain. However, the city came back under Spanish rule in 1815 upon being recaptured by General Pablo Morillo. More than a third of the population perished in the fighting for a total of 6,000 people! Later, during the final war of independence led by Simón Bolívar, Cartagena was once again among the first to declare its independence and obtained its liberty once and for all in 1821. Moreover, Bolívar nicknamed the city Ciudad Heroica (the Heroic City) for its bravery and ability to defend itself.

Cartagena soon recovered and became an important trading and shipping centre again. Its prosperity attracted foreign immigrants, and many Jews, Italians, French, Turks, Lebanese and Syrians settled here.

Colombia entered the 20th century wracked by full-scale civil war, then again in 1948 when the struggle between Liberals and Conservatives broke out with La Violencia, a destructive period of civil strife. Cartagena was not immune from the political violence but economically it prospered, largely on the back of oil exports from its increasingly busy port. Platinum, coffee, sugar, tobacco and textiles were also important exports at the time. In 1974, Cartagena celebrated its pre-colonial past, erecting the Monumento a la India Catalina at the entrance to the Old Town in tribute to the Carib Indians. 

In recent decades, Cartagena has expanded dramatically and is now surrounded by vast suburbs and high-rise buildings. It is Colombia’s largest port and an important industrial center specializing in petrochemicals. Despite increasing urban sprawl, the walled Old Town has remained virtually unchanged. 

In August 2000, USA President Bill Clinton visited Cartagena for talks associated with his government’s 1.3 billion-dollar Plan Colombia aid package to help tackle drug trafficking and armed conflict. 

Hopefully sometime before we leave, we plan to walk the wall. Also hope to have time to visit a museum or two but not sure if there is enough time to do everything.

Marlon and Angela showed up for our trip to the aviary. We passed the open market - which is like the old Quincy market of Cartagena. Spotted this Shalom truck and said stop the car!. Apparently, there is a temple somewhere and the owner of the truck had it painted. Passing through some small villages, even the one where Marlon grew up, to get to the aviary. This place was done really nicely. No one was there which was good. Some of the birds are free range and others are enclosed. Lots to see and lots of photo-ops. This is a private park and it took about 10 years to build, opening three years ago. 

Had a great time but the drive back was painful. The cruise ships were in town and apparently they stop traffic one way to let everyone get back to the boat! We were held up a long time - till me, Geoff & Marlon decided to get out and walk over a bridge and meet Angela on the other side. Just had to get out of the car.

Back safely having lunch at the pool again deciding on what to do next. Marlon told us to go to the Havana Club tonight if we wanted to salsa. We might drop in but I don't think it gets going till 11:30 or so. It is right down the street from us.

Left the pool at about 4:30 and we hit the streets. The temperature cooled off some by then. We went back to visit our hat guy -- got one more request. He was very happy to see us.  After searching for what we thought was the right size hat, he said "get the tape measure". That made us laugh, that he remembered that. So we got out the measure and hopefully found the right hat. There were a lot of good-byes a few photos and we were off to the next stop. Walked through the streets picking up our small gifts for friends and family and those who were kind enough to help during the storm. Everything checked, time to go to the wall.

Walked up the wall to Cafe del Mar for sunset. This is the equivalent of Mallory Dock in Key West. Everyone is there. Although since we have been here, the sunsets have been blocked out by either smog or clouds. Walked around the wall for a bit and headed back down in search of dinner.

A friend of mine wrote and suggested a very good restaurant that was right down the street. It wasn't open yet and the guy hanging outside the door said that they were booked solid. Oh well, too bad. Then he said "uno momento" - told us to follow him inside and another man came out with a large book. We told him we had only two nights left in his city and this place came highly recommended. He showed us the book -- yes they were filled up solid. However, if we came back tomorrow at 7:30 and said we were Jose Fox, we would get in. And if we were happy with the meal, he would appreciate a tip. That sounded like the equivalent of "Joe sent me". Ok, we said "see you at 7:30".  The guy reminded Geoff that he needed to wear long pants tomorrow night.  Geoff said later, you think I'll pass for Jose Fox? I have to say that I was very impressed with the atmosphere of the place - plus there is live music at 8pm. Will let you know how it turns out.

That was all pretty funny but we still needed to get dinner. Geoff had read a review about another restaurant, La Cevichira that was supposed to be good. So we headed over there. The streets were very crowded being Saturday night. We passed by the Chocolate Museum and the guy outside recognized us and said hello. OK, we have been here too long when the shop keeps remember you. Got to the restaurant. There was an available table outside on the street. Took one look at the menu and shook our heads. Apparently, Anthony Bordain has eaten here and that's all it took to raise the prices sky high-saving ourselves for tomorrow night. Vacated our table and kept on walking. Stopped by various restaurants and found nothing appealing. After a while, we decided to just head back to our hood and eat somewhere there. Popped into a place two door down from our hotel and had one of the best dinners we have had since we have been here. Grilled octopus with Colombian mashed potatoes with salsa and Geoff got the fish tacos. It is was a mom and pop place and we were sitting next to mom and pop - didn't speak a word of English but we managed to communicate. Their daughter worked there and did most of the translating. Had a wonderful relaxing time and even got a dessert on the house! Momma's homemade brownies with ice cream. 

Fully sated, we are back in our room contemplating whether to go to Havana Club or not. The daughter told us that the place is full of tourists now since it became popular. Not sure we're up for that. Might go back to Fidel's if we don't fall asleep - after all it is 9 pm. 



Next time... One more day