On the Spanish Main

December 21 and 22, 2012:  Atlantic Ocean & Caribbean Sea En Route to Santa Marta, Colombia   -- Getting Back the Sea Legs

When we awoke late on Friday morning, December 21, we were cruising along the north coast of Cuba heading east-southeast toward the Windward Passage between islands of Cuba and Santo Domingo.  It was a perfect day for cruising with no swell or wind.  Like cruising in a bathtub!

We spent two days getting over jet lag, meeting old friends, and establishing a ship’s routine.  Since we are not playing duplicate bridge on this year’s cruise, we are attending lectures and other events during the day, which we previously missed because of playing bridge a minimum of three hours a day on sea days.  Of course, we continue playing trivial pursuit, and attending evening concerts.  And eating, always the eating!  

For this cruise, J has an exercise routine that was developed for him by his physical therapist; however, he has decided to put off starting it until after Christmas.  J does not believe in rushing into things, especially if they involve physical activity.

E has switched to a Kindle reader, and for the first time is reading her books on an electronic device.  Initially, there was some grumbling, but she has accepted that one reader is a lot less to pack and carry than five or more books.

In the evening, we watched the sun set over Cuba and wondered if we would ever get to travel there.  It is full of godless communists, and no right-thinking American would ever want to go there.  That is one more reason it is high on our list of places to be visited!

Sunset Over Cuba

Small Communists can be seen running along the beach hurling insults at the Imperialists on the ship.

The next morning, Saturday, December 22, we entered the Windward Passage and the Caribbean Sea, setting course due south toward our first port-of-call, Santa Marta, Colombia.  All day, an easterly swell increased, and by evening, we were rolling about between ten and fifteen degrees.   That afternoon, in the Spirit of Christmas, we watched the movie version of “The Grinch That Stole Christmas.”  J cheered for the Grinch and E cheered for Max, the dog.  We were the only two in the theater, so crowding and noisy children weren’t a concern.  It was really a great Christmas experience for, as they say, “children of all ages.”

By early evening, the roll made moving around the ship a bit challenging, but we were undaunted and donned our formal gear for the first time for the Captain’s reception and the dinner that followed.

December 23, 2012: in port Santa Marta, Colombia   -- Paying Our Respects to Simon Bolivar

Silver Whisper was scheduled to arrive in Santa Marta at 1:00pm, however, because of a medical emergency on board, we arrived at 8:00am.  After 10:00am, there was a shuttle bus into the city center, but we decided to stay on board until our city tour which began at 1:30pm.

After lunch, it was onto the pier and into a mini-tour bus which was thankfully air conditioned for our tour of Santa Marta.  Santa Marta is Colombia’s oldest European city.  It was founded by the Spanish Conquistador Rodrigo de Bastidas in 1525.  Rodrigo was an unusual conquistador.  He believed the indigenous people that were settled in the mountains behind his new Spanish colony should be treated humanely and not robbed of their gold.  These novel ideas were frowned upon by his fellow countrymen, who promptly put an end to Rob and then started to “collect” gold from the natives.  Silly man didn’t understand that the only reason a Spaniard would be in the New World was for Gold!

Rodrigo de Bastidas Tomb, Santa Marta Cathedral

Rodrigo didn't even get a return ticket to Spain.

In honor of this European tradition, our first stop was the Gold Museum, which was really less a gold museum than an anthropological exhibit dedicated to the Tairona Indians, whose settlements dominated the mountains inland from the city.  The exhibit, which is normally located in the Colonial Customs House that is under repair, was well done, but the amount of gold involved was minimal.  You will have to talk to the Spaniards about that.

16th Century, Colonial Customs House

Under renovation.

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Tairona Funerary Pots

There were many pots, but very little gold. 

Our next stop was San Pedro de Alejandrino.  The site was a large sugar plantation, where Simon Bolivar was taken by its owner, after Bolivar fell too ill to travel during a trip to Jamaica.  He died there of tuberculosis on December 17, 1830.  The estate’s great house is now a museum focused around the room  where Bolivar died.  There is also a Botanical Garden, buildings associated with the original sugar central, and more recently-constructed monuments to Bolivar, the Liberator of much of South America from Spanish rule.

San Pedro de Alejandrino Botanical Garden

Great house and sugar central in background.

San Pedro de Alejandrino -- Simon Bolivar Monument

Mouments abound at this site.

San Pedro de Alejandrino Great House Chapel

Note: Chairs for very short-legged people in foreground.

San Pedro de Alejandrino, Great House Interior Court Yard

Bolivar's host in his last days was a man of considerable means.

San Pedro de Alejandrino, Monument Commemorating the 100th Anniversary of Bolivar's Death

Definitely no shortage of monuments at this historic site.

Our next stop was the local shopping mall (Buena Vista Mall), which was indistinguishable from any of the thousands of American closed malls from Chile to Canada.  The Christmas shopping frenzy was at its peak, and there was almost nothing for sale in the mall that was reflective of local handicrafts or artisans.  (A pair of Crocs is a pair of Crocs!)

Also, the Christmas decorations were the same as any similar mall in the US.  J suspects the reason is that the decorations are all made in China, and why would the Chinese tell the local malls that they are actually making 20,000 plastic 20’ Christmas trees with blinking lights and rotating stars for thousands of malls in Christendom.  The Chinese have a lock on Christmas, and they don’t even have to put up with all that religious stuff!  (You see why J rooted for the Grinch!)

Christmas at the Mall.

One Chinese plastic Chistmas tree and two mall rats, aka J & E.

Our final stop was the Cathedral.  It was originally constructed in the 16^th Century, but was destroyed by an earthquake and reconstructed in the 18^th Century.  It is an extremely attractive religious edifice, mainly because of its simplicity of design.

Santa Marta Cathedral

Exterior View

Altar, Santa Marta Cathedral

Note the lack of gold ornamentation.  Wonder where the gold went.   

Colonial Buildings Near the Cathedral

Historic records would suggest that the tour buses are recent additions.

More 17th Century Colonial Buildings

The only area in Santa Marta without a traffic jam was the square around the Cathedral.

After our visit to the Cathedral, we were back on the bus for a one-hour traffic jam experience caused by the shoppers in the central business district.  In this area, local vendors of every imaginable type of goods had taken over the sidewalks, and the shoppers were spilling onto the narrow streets, so progress by wheeled transport was very, very slow.

About 5:40pm, we made it back to the Silver Whisper.  This was 10 minutes after the gang plank was to be brought aboard for our 6:00pm sail-away.  Luckily, our next port-of-call, Cartagena, Colombia was only a short distance away, so our 15-minute late departure from Santa Marta was not a major problem for the Captain.

December 24, 2012:  Cartagena, Colombia   -- Visiting the Spanish Dons

We docked at Cartagena cruise terminal on the Isla de Manga at 7:00am and by 8:00am, when we left the ship and walked through the cruise terminal to our baby tour bus, it was already hot and humid.  So, it was to be another half-day on the slightly air conditioned tour bus.  After the usual census taking which established that most people have problems counting beyond ten, it was off to our first destination, Cerro de la Popa.

Modern Cartagena from Cerro de la Popa

Can you find the four other cruise ships?

Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas and City Wall from Cerro de la Papa

All of this expense because of those cursed pirates!

Cerro de la Popa is a 17^th Century Augustine monastery, which no longer functions as a monastery but as a tourist attraction, largely because of the spectacular views of Cartagena from the hilltop on which it is situated.  Beyond the panoramic views, the still-active chapel contains a beautifully carved altarpiece, and the interior garden of the building provides a wonderful respite from the sun and heat.  Cerro de la Popa is the kind of site that fulfills one’s imagined image of a medieval monastery, excluding the tourists, of course.

Cerro de la Popa Chapel Altar

Sadly, no miracle.  The Virgin is glowing because of sensor saturation.

Cerro de la Popa Monastery Courtyard Covered Walkway

J got this shot after speaking loudly in Chinese to scare off the other tourists. 

Cerro de la Popa Monastery Doorway

There were no monks making cheese or wine anywhere to be seen.

Cerro de la Popa provided a comprehensive view of the old walled city of Cartagena and the Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas.  The walls, built between 1600 and 1796, were intended to make the city, which contained the collected South American treasure of Spain prior to transport on Spanish treasure galleons, invulnerable to looting by the Pirates of the Caribbean, excluding Johnny Depp, of course.  San Felipe fortress, the largest fort on the Spanish Main, provided the teeth (guns) to punish buccaneers from England and France who dared to steal Spanish treasure.

Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas (Fort Saint Philip), positioned on a rise landward of the walled city, mounts 60-plus cannon on several levels behind extremely thick battlements.  The 360 degree positioning of the guns makes assault from land or sea nearly impossible. 

In the heat and humidity, it is a heroic effort just to climb to the top of the battlements.  With the help of bottled water, J & E made the climb and reached the top.  After an hour and a half of climbing among gun ports and firing positions, we made our way back to the bus.  Luckily, neither of us was overcome by heat stroke, because this was truly a “Mad dogs and Englishmen” adventure.

Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas Battlements

E to J, "You go ahead and climb up there.  I will call the ambulance now."

Castillo de San Felipe de Barajas Cannon and Guard House

"We climbed all this for that!  Where's the water bottle?"

The Cartagena Cathedral and The Walled City were our final stops.  Tour buses cannot enter the walled city (the streets are too narrow).  After leaving the bus, we walked through the Puerta del Reloj with its 19^th Century clock tower and into the Ciudad Amurallada, with its colonial houses and buildings.  Regretfully, we only visited the Cathedral and the attached nunnery garden.  But, the old city would be an attractive place to stroll on a cooler day when there were less than 5 cruise ships in port.

Puerto del Reloj and Clock Tower

Hurry up, there are 7,000 more tourists to go through the gate today.

Walled City Interior Buildings

Building with Covered Walkway is Cartagena City Hall.

Cartagena Cathedral from Plaza Simon Bolivar

By this time, you could fry eggs on the plaza tiles.

Cartagena Cathedral Interior

A wedding had just ended, so interior fixtures were covered in white lace. 

Nunnery Garden

Shade and peace at last. 

Being a Silversea tour, we had to have a shopping stop.  Since we were in Colombia (the emerald capital of the world), we were deposited at a local mall with one jewelry store after another.  Having no interest in green rock easily confused with a part of a broken beer bottle, J promptly wandered off, and E, who was not much more interested, went with him to keep him from getting into trouble.  After too much time at the mall (30 minutes), we returned to the cruise terminal and the ship, arriving ten minutes late for the scheduled “All Aboard.”

Arriving after the “All Aboard” is a very poor practice, but our tour group was saved from the Captain’s wrath by another group of hapless souls who did not arrive back at the ship until ten minutes after “Sailaway.”  Now that is NOT GOOD!  We sailed about 15 minutes late, cleared the harbor in good order, leaving behind the four other cruise ships, and set course for the Panama Canal.

Fortress at Entrance to Cartagena Harbor

Fortresses just aren't what they used to be!

By now it was too hot and humid for neither man nor beast.  But lunch and a long nap in our air conditioned suite revived us, and we went to play trivial pursuit.  As usual, our trivia team did well, and we received more shipboard points for Silversea logo t-shirts and other such essential items. 

Since it was Christmas Eve, J and E exchanged gifts.  E received a custom-made necklace and earrings, and J received the complete James Bond DVD set which will provide many evenings’ entertainment on the cruise.  Then, joining some of the other guests, we sang Christmas carols, or rather tried to sing. After a leisurely dinner, we watched the Christmas Eve Show presented by the ship’s entertainers.