My motorcycle was left in the ANSWER workshop over night to see if he can salvage my battery.
First we need to move out of our hostel. It's booked out for the next couple of days. So we found a new perfect place just a block and a half down the street, and for only $10 more it was like $100 better! Since we will be gone all day, we moved our gear over this morning before setting off.
This room totally says... Come in!
Kevin takes me in to the moto shop on his Buell to see what the progress is in the morning. What did we find??? Answer Motos was working on Dan's bike and not mine!?! Well!!!! Gui, who had come with us the day before had told Dan where the work shop was, as we was having trouble starting his bike this morning too. My battery was still screwed, and there was nothing more he could do until he talked to me anyway, so I'll let Gui and Dan off the hook.. ha! ;-)
My bike battery was not going to charge. Kevin has a voltage reader thingo in his tool kit and the numbers are all over the place. So we decide for me to be safe is to just replace the battery. They don't have one in stock and he wants to go track one down. Kevin suggests we go and explore together today and worry about my bike later.. Really? You want me on the back of your bike, again?!? I certainly didn't mind, and we are not fussed about how long we stay in Cartegena, so we set off to explore the old town first (fast becoming Kevin's favorite place) for lunch and then the old Castle (Castillo San Felipe de Barajas)
.
We've walked this area enough at night to know to park the bike on the outside old town walls closest to the plaza where lunch just might be waiting.
Inside these old stone walls there is plenty of life and color.
It's so easy to feel comfortable in old town Cartagena. It's one of those places we talked about being able to 'live here'....
And in to our favorite plaza for lunch. This is the plaza de Santo Domingo, where placed is one of Colombia's most famous artist Fernando Botero's sculpture, "Gordita". His paintings and sculptures are well known for being large.
Kevin's photo of the lady.. and Kevin's photo of his lunch.... mmmmm fish, with lots of little teeth!
No point in taking a photo of mine. Not quite as interesting, but tasty none the same (pasta with pesto and cheese..) While eating I was watching a pigeon coming down to look for scraps and crumbs. It had string tied around both feet, completely tangled and disfiguring it's little legs. I felt so sorry for it, that I couldn't eat. I went into the cafe and asked the cooks for a cardboard box. We emptied all the Corona bottles, and the cooks looked at me strangely. My grand plan was to catch the bird and cut off the string.
Kevin would bait the bird with pieces of his bread, and I did my best to box it before it flew away. Everyone was watching and laughing. I was quite embarrassed, but I tried and tried. No luck, or I should say skills in pigeon catching with a box. It eventually got annoyed enough with me that it completely flew away. I'm so sorry I failed at helping that bird. What a miserable life to have your legs tied up like that.
More photos as we wander our way back to the bike. I'm not the most romantic person on the planet, but you can't help it in this town... even if we are carrying our motorcycle helmets... ;-)
Back to the bike and on to the Castle!
This is the fortress, Castillo San Felipe de Barajas. It was built by the Spanish on a hill to watch both land and sea. Eventually taken over by the French and then again by the British. After military use ceased, it was lastly taken over by tropical vegetation! UNESCO made it a world heritage site in 1984, and since then became a popular stop for visitors.
There were lots of tunnels to explore. Plenty of war history here, so I'm sure they served the people well.
I think we covered every corner of this castle. It's so fun to explore and imagine what it would have been like to be in the military here.. seeing the first glimpse of the ships sails, preparing the canon's...
As the sun was getting low, I eventually came back to my senses and wondered how my motorcycle is doing.
The prince awaits on his chariot to take me back. Kevin put a message on this photo on my facebook page.. "How you doin'?" How many times he would say that like Joey on Friends will always be ringing in my ears.. ;-)
At least this guy is wearing a helmet ON his head, but it's soooo small!!! It nicely protects his teeth though? ;-/
I'm still enjoying the last bits of pleasure of being a passenger rider and taking lots of photos without having to worry about traffic. Watch out for the Jesus bus!
My bike has a new battery, a big heavy one, but the good news it works. I rode it around the block to test it just to make sure.. On turn number three of the tiny block, the dag gone thing died again! Panic went through my head. What if it wasn't the battery after all! Right behind me was the owner of the shop. I didn't know he was following me, but sure glad he was! I hadn't paid for the service yet, so maybe he was more interested to see if I would do a runner. We pushed it back to the shop, opened it up and it was simply the seat pushing down on the wires he hadn't tucked away properly, and it pulled the connection loose. We pushed the wires back in and I was free again.. I paid and left and hoped for the best!
Followed Kevin back to the parking garage... and then made it home to our little rustic heaven.
I got the hammock first... ha! Shocked the hammock man so much he took a photo. He did deliver both wine and beer, so all is well (or will be shortly.. ;-)))
Have a good night!!
First we need to move out of our hostel. It's booked out for the next couple of days. So we found a new perfect place just a block and a half down the street, and for only $10 more it was like $100 better! Since we will be gone all day, we moved our gear over this morning before setting off.
This room totally says... Come in!
The Princess room... again!
Not really the princess room. All the rooms here are like this. The shower floor has those wooden slats and the water goes to the tropical plants below..(they provide chemical free soap). Very eco-friendly and I love the rustic style..!!! My life is certainly different compared to when I was traveling alone. Feeling a bit spoiled, but very much loving it..
My bike battery was not going to charge. Kevin has a voltage reader thingo in his tool kit and the numbers are all over the place. So we decide for me to be safe is to just replace the battery. They don't have one in stock and he wants to go track one down. Kevin suggests we go and explore together today and worry about my bike later.. Really? You want me on the back of your bike, again?!? I certainly didn't mind, and we are not fussed about how long we stay in Cartegena, so we set off to explore the old town first (fast becoming Kevin's favorite place) for lunch and then the old Castle (Castillo San Felipe de Barajas)
.
We've walked this area enough at night to know to park the bike on the outside old town walls closest to the plaza where lunch just might be waiting.
Inside these old stone walls there is plenty of life and color.
It's so easy to feel comfortable in old town Cartagena. It's one of those places we talked about being able to 'live here'....
And in to our favorite plaza for lunch. This is the plaza de Santo Domingo, where placed is one of Colombia's most famous artist Fernando Botero's sculpture, "Gordita". His paintings and sculptures are well known for being large.
Kevin's photo of the lady.. and Kevin's photo of his lunch.... mmmmm fish, with lots of little teeth!
No point in taking a photo of mine. Not quite as interesting, but tasty none the same (pasta with pesto and cheese..) While eating I was watching a pigeon coming down to look for scraps and crumbs. It had string tied around both feet, completely tangled and disfiguring it's little legs. I felt so sorry for it, that I couldn't eat. I went into the cafe and asked the cooks for a cardboard box. We emptied all the Corona bottles, and the cooks looked at me strangely. My grand plan was to catch the bird and cut off the string.
Kevin would bait the bird with pieces of his bread, and I did my best to box it before it flew away. Everyone was watching and laughing. I was quite embarrassed, but I tried and tried. No luck, or I should say skills in pigeon catching with a box. It eventually got annoyed enough with me that it completely flew away. I'm so sorry I failed at helping that bird. What a miserable life to have your legs tied up like that.
More photos as we wander our way back to the bike. I'm not the most romantic person on the planet, but you can't help it in this town... even if we are carrying our motorcycle helmets... ;-)
This is the fortress, Castillo San Felipe de Barajas. It was built by the Spanish on a hill to watch both land and sea. Eventually taken over by the French and then again by the British. After military use ceased, it was lastly taken over by tropical vegetation! UNESCO made it a world heritage site in 1984, and since then became a popular stop for visitors.
There were lots of tunnels to explore. Plenty of war history here, so I'm sure they served the people well.
I think we covered every corner of this castle. It's so fun to explore and imagine what it would have been like to be in the military here.. seeing the first glimpse of the ships sails, preparing the canon's...
As the sun was getting low, I eventually came back to my senses and wondered how my motorcycle is doing.
The prince awaits on his chariot to take me back. Kevin put a message on this photo on my facebook page.. "How you doin'?" How many times he would say that like Joey on Friends will always be ringing in my ears.. ;-)
At least this guy is wearing a helmet ON his head, but it's soooo small!!! It nicely protects his teeth though? ;-/
I'm still enjoying the last bits of pleasure of being a passenger rider and taking lots of photos without having to worry about traffic. Watch out for the Jesus bus!
My bike has a new battery, a big heavy one, but the good news it works. I rode it around the block to test it just to make sure.. On turn number three of the tiny block, the dag gone thing died again! Panic went through my head. What if it wasn't the battery after all! Right behind me was the owner of the shop. I didn't know he was following me, but sure glad he was! I hadn't paid for the service yet, so maybe he was more interested to see if I would do a runner. We pushed it back to the shop, opened it up and it was simply the seat pushing down on the wires he hadn't tucked away properly, and it pulled the connection loose. We pushed the wires back in and I was free again.. I paid and left and hoped for the best!
Followed Kevin back to the parking garage... and then made it home to our little rustic heaven.
I got the hammock first... ha! Shocked the hammock man so much he took a photo. He did deliver both wine and beer, so all is well (or will be shortly.. ;-)))
Have a good night!!
Sherri, would you be so kind as to give me the name of the place you stayed at in Cartagena
ReplyDeleteThanks
Bob.......haysandy@gmail.com
Hi Bob, look under Cartegena Part 2. There is a photo of the front door with the sign "Casa Hotel El Pedregal". Hope this helps and have fun! SJ
ReplyDeleteSherri....is Casa Hotel El Pedregal the second place you moved to that was $10 more? Headed to Cartagena shortly and looking for a good place to crash.
ReplyDelete