life on the streets

so we did some touring around town with our fun guide Brayan and his cousin Christian and the driver Caesar.... we did La Popa - the monastery overlooking the city and the Fortress along side the walled city and we had also done some time inside the city walking around and checking out the food vendors on the street...

so here are some photos from our various travels about the city-

up to the top of town-

down to the fortress-

and at the emerald museum and jewelry factory-

a few night time shots - the squares were lit for the holidays-

a few of our hotel - which was extremely charming-

and a farewell sunset from the plane on the return trip to the U.S.- a quick but nice trip- a holiday getaway for the four of us... stay tuned for several good meals upon our return... coming up next!

to market, to market

so on our first full morning in Cartagena we met the guy we had arranged to guide us for a city tour and for a tour of the local market and street food vendors. The guide's name is Brayan and he is showing us around his hometown and at the same time orienting his young cousin Christian to the job of being a guide (Christian graduated from high school at the end of November - just two weeks earlier!)

our first stop is the local market where Brayan knows lots of people and Christian watches out for us from the back of our small entourage...

the market doesn't have divided areas for each type of product or produce but is sort of a jumble of everything - except for one area of sign painting (more on that later)

above and below - you probably don't want to know--- LOL

holiday decorations and candles -

if your party is going to be a successful party there needs to be a lot of people in attendance and so you put up posters all over town announcing it- and these guys in the market paint the signs for the party announcements!

many household items for sale - some fabricated on the spot-

the photo above was by far the widest "alley" in the market - many were wet (especially in the food areas) and muddy... but all were interesting because this is not a tourist market - it is for locals and we saw no other gringos when we were there...

Next up some photos of the hotel (lovely decor and fabulously fun toucans in residence) and the other parts of town we saw... sweets and fruits from vendors - La Popa and the fortress... so stay tuned!