Playing Bingo in Cartagena

Suggestions for a tropical, urban vacation and hosting friends

This is Clouds Form Over Land, a weekly newsletter about life at sea and going ashore.

View of Castilo de San Felipe from the bridge between Getsemani and Manga.

The authoritative tone required to define a location has often alluded me while traveling around on a sailboat for the last two years.

Surely I could suggest Baja, La Cruz, Barra, Huatulco, Isla Tigre or Isla Caño, Golfito, Panama City, Bocas, or the San Blas for a break from the daily grind. I could recommend restaurants, give a bit of historic or geographic context, and perhaps compare them all to each other. But the heart of any of these places south of the border, or really any place at all, is known through community and staying awhile. And the act of summing all of that up may just be a full-time job.

We have moved at a pace and budget that hasn’t always been compatible with knowing the places we passed through — if such a thing is even possible.

Our mission is to deliver this sailboat to the other coast and to see and feel what we can along the way. This requires a lot of time at sea, and even more recovering from and preparing for passages. Steely-eyed determination and a loose grip are a must to ebb and flood with the current circumstances.

The yo-yo of saying hello and goodbye to so many safe harbors has been eased by the steadying presence of these two big American continents. Accents and culture shift alongside biomes and human population size and our pace of 5 miles per hour allows time to take in the difference. Many of us of the United States have a tendency to generalize the peoples of other continents, while not seeing ourselves as a piece of a larger puzzle than our oft-divided states.

Traveling by boat means the destinations are chosen based on the weather, the current capacity of the crew, and the offerings of the next port. Diesel availability may overtake considerations for a tourist attraction. We hasten or delay departure to align with seasonal shifts in weather, which has only gotten wackier in the past few decades when voyaging aboard private vessels has gained accessibility. Now that we are back in a city, we are beginning to realize just how desolate much of the Pacific coast felt. The coastline is younger geographically, which means the ocean has had less time to shape safe anchorages. We had a lot of ground to cover and our pauses between passages focused on rest and required repairs, rather than revelry.

But then there’s Cartagena.

We joked that it wouldn’t be a sailing trip without at least one big plot twist, and that’s exactly what these past nine months of lingering in the Western Caribbean have been. Last April we had to decide if we would stay in Panama for another week or another six months, and we chose the latter. Our savings accounts had been holding up better than expected and some friends offered a work/trade situation that allowed us to continue breaking even. Accepting the opportunity to live in the jungle for such a stretch seemed like something we were unlikely to regret, so we jumped on it. This stretch has allowed us to rest up and take an easier path across the Caribbean by heading east to Colombia.

Last week we received visa extensions that align with the spring changes in the trade winds. Our time here provided the opportunity to get the grasp on Spanish I’ve been yearning for since before we crossed our first border, as well as try on urban life for the first time in a while. We are now surrounded by familiar faces and more ready than ever to make our longest crossing yet.

We washed a few layers of real and metaphorical salt off ourselves and our sailboat while docked in Cartagena and shared and grew our knowledge of the city with several visiting friends and family.

I’m still at a loss for defining this place but here are some suggestions and strategies:

Early in the trip, take a lap or more around the city from the comfort of a shady and breezy seat on the Hop On/Hop Off Bus. Numerous vendors sell access around the city and $15 provides access for 48 hours of hopping. This also includes a rum & chocolate tasting at the stop by the convention center and a few other add-ons like a walking tour.

Anchor the trip with a guided experience like a cooking class at Caffe Lunatico. They also host a salsa night every Thursday. $14 gets you one hour of instruction, a mojito, and a bottle of water.

Airbnb Experiences have always been a hit when I’m traveling, especially with a group. This day hike with Olinto was a great way to get out of the city and experience the dry tropical forest. We were picked up at 6 AM, watched the sunrise in an air-conditioned van while eating arepas and sipping OJ, and arrived at the trailhead around 7.

If time and interest allow in your itinerary, ECOS Spanish School can help with conversational confidence. The week-long programs include museum tours, salsa classes, and cooking classes. They can also arrange homestays with local families.

Watch the sunset at Mabare above Club Nautique marina and dine at Sr. Miyagi sushi.

Celebrate a special occasion with the best meal I’ve ever had at Carmen.

Bring home some spices and new knowledge from Spicarium. Stock your bookshelf and grab a coffee at Abaco. Shop for clothing at the Boca Grande mall and other souvenirs at Casa Abba.

One of the best ways to see the city is to stay out after dark and enjoy the pleasant climate. Our preferred method is the “bang bang”, taught to us by our friend Ananda while hosting us in LA. The aim is to stop at multiple locations and for a drink and an appetizer. This city is full of delicious options, but don’t miss El Baron for cocktails and a street beer in Trinidad Plaza in Getsemani.

Take in a 360-degree view of the city and sea from La Popa:

Photo by my sweetie @lumonaut

Overplanning a vacation can really suck the air out of the room. Take it from me, a person who has a proclivity for imagining future plans. Trips can also be wildly unpredictable — when the entire routine is tossed out the window, it’s easy to get sick, experience stronger emotions, or simply need to rest. It’s vacation after all! When playing host recently, I created some bingo cards to add a dash of order. These acted as a guidepost for some fun options, without the need to maximize or overly pack a schedule. I included some favorite spots, places we wanted to go, and local favorites like limondada de coco, tinto, and arepas. I also included some trickier things like ordering in Spanish, crossing the chaotic streets, and sunburns — just in case.

Can Do List:

1. Show up for something tired this week if you can’t show up rested.

2. Schedule some time off work.

3. Make a bingo card for your current location for guests or for a personal burst of late-winter motivation.

Written in the spirit of not letting what we can’t do get in the way of what we can.

Did you try any of these? I’d love to hear about it.