Good bye Cartagena, good-bye Colombia

Two days ago we arrived in Cartagena, the last station in Colombia. The old walled city is just as charming as last time we were here with its colourful colonial houses, narrow streets and the thick wall with its fortifications surrounding it, yet I am less enchanted than I was in the spring of last year. It has to do with the heat, no doubt, which is relentless and makes me tired and listless after an hour's walk already, let alone dripping wet in no time at all. I suspect it also has to do with the amount of people, the tourist shops, the constant necessity to say 'no' to hawkers trying to get you to buy anything from cigars to hats, chewing gum to crafts, or to restaurant employees implying you to enter their venue. I believe I'm suffering from sensory overload at the moment.

It's all well enough in a place like this, where we sit on a shady balcony right across from the city wall, a slight breeze sending its cooling breath. Any place with air condition or at least a fan will do to make things more pleasant, as does a walk along the ocean near sunset. The hustle and bustle remains, however. It is time to move on and take a break from populated towns and cities.

Tonight we will set sail for Panama – literally. Well, not we ourselves, maybe, but captain and crew of the 'Vanett', a 72-foot sailboat that will take us, together with ten other passengers, to Porvenir on the Panamanian coast. We will cross open ocean for a day, then spend three days island hopping around the San Blas islands and reach our destination after another day of crossing open waters. I can't really imagine yet what it will be like, but I do look forward to it very much.

We had to check out of the hotel where we stayed the last two nights at noon, and since we didn't feel like spending the hot afternoon walking around in the city we booked a tiny room in a hostel not far away for those six hours until we are expected at the boat.

We didn't do much here this time, but I took lots of pictures of an ever-fascinating subject again: the interesting door knockers that can be found all over the old city. We also found an antique store yesterday that sells them and are now proud owners of a bronze lion head.

Time to go and find something to eat – not at all difficult here – and get ready for the big adventure. There will be no internet on the boat, of course, and thus no new blog until we've arrived in Panama City, but I will have plenty of time to gather new material.