Feliz Navidad! While friends and family back home are settling down to their Christmas Day lunch we’re celebrating by piling our bags into the back of Juan Carlos’ car and leaving Palomino, on a five hour drive. Once past Santa Marta we continue along the Caribbean coast, passing a huge port with automated jetties, which ships Colombia’s vast coal reserves around the world.
Soon we come to the town of Cienega where the road begins to bisect a massive interior lake on one side and the rolling sea on the other. Either side of the highway, and sandwiched between the lake front and the ocean waves, are dirt-poor shanty towns which grew from small fishing communities and now stretch for miles along the road. For years they had no power or water and no local authorities, becoming lawless and hopeless communities, but the populations are finally getting connected to amenities now.
Juan Carlos tells us that three years ago one of the huge gasoline trucks that travel these roads over-turned and the impoverished locals tried to steal all the petrol. Despite pleas from the driver for people to stay away, the truck exploded and 47 people died. The footage made news reports around the world and we drive past a rudimentary memorial on the side of the road. It makes us reflect once more on the immense good fortune of our lives, especially at Christmas.
Soon we get to a toll booth and as Juan Carlos winds down the window we can feel the outside heat and it’s ferocious. The highway continues in long straight lines, with cactus plants and heat haze making the scenery desert-like, until we stop at a service station and treat Juan Carlos to a Christmas lunch of a cheese and pepperoni pastry, plus coffee and coco-cola at a Formica table. He tells us he bought his three year old son, Juan Carlos Junior, a little scooter for Christmas and beams with pride as he shows us a photo of them together.
Just after the service station we cross a huge suspension bridge that transcends the vast Rio Magdalena, which at over 1600kms is one of the longest rivers in South America, and takes us past Barranquilla, the fourth largest city in Colombia, dominated by skyscrapers and famous for its February carnival and being the birthplace of the singer Shakira. In fact, Barranquilla erects a 20 metre statue of Shakira in pride of place at the heart of the city, just a few days later.
We finally reach the outskirts of Cartagena at 2pm, stopping on the side of the road at Playa Marbella so Juan Carlos can search for the address of our hotel in his satnav. While he does so, we take the chance to join the Christmas Day families on the beach taking photos in front of the Cartagena sign and then continue into the city, driving past the imposing Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas and over the humpback bridge to the funky district of Getsemani where sits our hotel for the next five days, the GHL Armeria Real.
We say a final farewell to our amigo Juan Carlos and lug our bags through the front door only to find that, in an unwelcome yet festive turn of events, there is no reservation on file for us and no room at the inn. After a number of WhatsApps and phone calls while we wait patiently in the courtyard, our tour company finally manages to rectify the matter and we are shown to a room on the third floor, entitled Magdalena. The third floor also boasts a rooftop terrace, bar and pool so we waste no time in getting some fries, a passion fruit juice and a much needed dip in the water… followed by a glass of bubbles to toast the fact it’s Christmas.
After we’ve unpacked it’s time to explore the local area and Getsemani more than lives up to its billing as a lively part of town. Within moments we’re caught up in throngs of people and pumping music, with bars and restaurants vying for business alongside street vendors and makeshift bars, all of which boast competing sound systems at ear-splitting volume. The buildings are painted in vibrant colours, murals cover almost all the walls and paintings hang for sale from every shop and doorway.
We make our way through the crazy scenes and colourful streets until we reach the pretty Parque Centenario which sits alongside the Muelle Turísticos de los Pegasuses, a pedestrianised boulevard that runs up to the clock tower on the city walls, marking the entrance to the Old Town. Families are out in force taking photos amongst the huge Christmas illuminations which fill the boulevard, and we weave our way through them, and the hawkers, peddlers and street vendors, taking it all in.
Food stalls grill skewers of meat with smoke drifting across us, and in Parque Centenario makeshift tables have been erected alongside mobile kitchens serving families Christmas dinners of pork or chicken with rice, wrapped in banana leaves. It’s a riot of celebration, noise, crowds and partying that’s almost overwhelming. Rather than continue into the Old Town we turn back into Getsemani and try to find a restaurant that’s suitable for us.
We eventually settle on a rooftop place called El Cabildo which finally has more than one vegetarian option and have dinner, whilst being deafened by its own blaring sound system. The sweltering evening heat is kept at bay with cold beers until we’ve had our food and then we escape the din, making our way through Plaza de Trinidad, where a full street party is underway featuring a Michael Jackson impersonator, to reach the genteel, air-conditioned tranquility of our hotel room.
As Christmas Day’s go, it’s definitely been one of the most unusual we’ve ever had. And without a question, it’s also been the hottest. I’m not sure we’re quite prepared for this Caribbean furnace… the next few days will be tough!
