Cannons, Carriages, Chivas, Carts & "Cometas"

The cannons are a great place to hang out!

When I look out of my apartment, I have a direct view to the top of the old city wall. Of course, being the protector of Cartagena, the wall was armed with cannons, some of which are still there. The last part of the wall to be built was called "Las Bóvedas," 23 large vaults originally used to house military while protecting the city, but which are currently nice craft shops. My apartment is not far from Las Bóvedas, a popular tourist destination, and so I often get to hear the clip clop of the horse carriage tours that people take in the walled city; hearing that you could almost imagine what it might have been like when horses were the only mode of transportation. But then along comes the next popular way to tour Cartagena: the Chiva party bus with their music & cheering party people. Sure, I did a "Rumba en Chiva" during the November Parties last year but hmmm....never thought about the people who lived along the route :). Well they end by 10 or 11 so it's not really so bad, and they definitely DO sound like they're having fun!

Clip clopping towards Las Bóvedas

Beyond the clip clopping and the "rumbas", there's a lot more street life to listen to--the fruit & vegetable vendors pushing their carts and calling out their goods and prices (papaya! papaya! a mil a mil a mil a mil!); the newspaper guy telling you what paper he's hawking; the guy pedaling his pedi-cart selling rolls who bangs on the metal top to let you know he's there; there are actually different types of vendors who have different patterns of "banging", but I've yet to successfully differentiate one pattern from another--I need to pay better attention! I do, however, have my basket ready with a rope tied to it. When I hear someone coming by selling what I want, I can now go to the balcony, call down, negotiate the price, pass down my money and bring up my purchase. Haven't done it yet, but I'm prepared!!

Let's go fly a kite!

And it's kite season!! There are tons of "cometas"to be seen out my window recently. There have always been a few but it seems to be more lately. I had noticed them across the wall but it never occurred to me to see where the kite party was really happening til I noticed another friend's blog post about it. So I went out a different way & lo and behold, there was a huge kite party going on! I need to alter my route more so I don't miss out on stuff like this!

More kite flying photos here.

I'm in a horse carriage here!

At the US Embassy

While visiting friends in Bogota in August, another friend who was coming from Medellin for a long weekend said she was going to the U.S. Embassy while in Bogota to renew her visa. That triggered me to think about my situation & the close proximity to the US Embassy and its services. 

My US passport was due to expire in June 2013, which, yes, was nearly a year away, but I was also living in Cartagena. I was planning to leave Colombia for the December holidays and return via Peru; I would need to have a passport that was valid for at least 6 months upon entering Peru and I would not have that. Yes, I'd be in the U.S., near the nation's capital, for Christmas, but you need 8 weeks to get a passport processed; 2 weeks if you pay the expedited fee. I wasn't sure I was going to have that much time!

So...I went to the US Embassy in Bogota with Martha. For the past I don't know how many years, Colombians have needed tourist visas to travel to almost every country in the world (from what I understand it's because of the history of drug lords, etc; Colombians need special vetting as I'm sure other countries do too for other reasons). A lot of countries require visas, but few require them of U.S. citizens who are coming as tourists. We are lucky. For Colombians going to the U.S., they have to apply in person for their visa at the Embassy in Bogota (no matter where they live) and pay about $200 just for the application. If they are denied, they don't get that money back (& of course have already spent money to travel to Bogota if they don't live there). This is similar for people from other countries who have to apply for a U.S. tourist visa. For Colombians, the visas used to be valid for 5 years, but with the passage of the US-Colombian Free Trade Agreement in May, the tourist visas are now valid for 10 years (multiple entries allowed). A big boon for a lot of Colombians! 

Got myself a new one, with extra pages even!

At the embassy, Martha and I each went our separate ways, to different entrances of the complex. I had a 10:30 appt & was out by 11:15. When I finished, I asked for the rest room, and was led through a secured area and then out to the waiting area where the Colombians are waiting to talk to someone about their tourist visa. Wow, the U.S. citizens don't even have direct access to bathrooms at the U.S. Embassy while Colombians do? I thought we were so inconvenienced! And look, the Colombians get a nice cafe, a little restaurant, ice cream shop (Crepes & Waffles!). Nice! Little did I know....

Martha had an 11:00 appointment, for which she was told to get there by 10:30. When I finished, I went to find her and she hadn't even entered the security gate. I was in & out (& used the bathroom!! :) before she even got in. The Colombians were all lined up outside waiting ("Wait by the black fence")--had it been raining, which happens a lot in Bogota, they would have been soaked. Martha was finally done at 1 pm, 2.5 hours later. They all deserve that cafe and ice cream shop, and more!!