Cartagena, Colombia - April 29th

As we’ve passed the 100 day mark on the Pacific Princess, I’m finding it more and more difficult to write about the ports because we’re just not doing a whole lot of sightseeing.  At this point, I’m not too interested in old ruins, old churches, old museums, old stuff.  But, nevertheless, Michael and I had a good time here anyway.

Cartagena, Colombia (not to be confused with Cartagena, Spain we visited a few weeks ago) is located in the northwestern area of South America.  Cartagena sits on the northern coast of Colombia and shares its borders with Venezuela, Brazil, Ecuador, Peru and Panama. 

The “Old City” with its Museum of Archeology, Museum of Cartagena, Cathedral, etc. was not very far away but we chose to stay close to the terminal and visited a one of the best souvenir shops we’ve come across in our travels. 

What made this one unique is that it was surrounded by lovely grounds, a café and coffee shop.  The grounds were inhabited by all sorts of wildlife, including, an iguana sunning himself on the rocks, flamingos, black swans, very handsome peacocks, peahens who were being wooed by the handsome peacocks, dozens and dozens of colorful parrots, a rabbit (yes, one rabbit), howler monkeys, deer, vultures and a macaw.  

We spent a lot of time with the animals - snapping loads of pictures.  As you all know, Michael has the patience of a saint and he was actually able to photograph one of the monkeys with a baby sitting in the nearby trees.  The peacocks were on full display and we loved watching how the males, dressed in what I call their colorful silk shirts, would shake their tail feathers to catch the eye of one of the peahens.  As with humans, all the male has to do is sit there and look good --  the female has all the power and choice:  select the most attractive male. 

In the gift shop, we bought our magnet and a few extra last minute gifts (not that we really needed any more) but Michael enjoyed himself looking at emeralds.  Ninety-five percent of the world’s emeralds come from Colombia.  Those set in silver were not particularly good quality and those that were set in yellow or white gold were way overpriced.  I’m sure they count on tourists to over pay for something they know very little about.  Michael has seen gorgeous emeralds while visiting the Tucson Gem Show over the years and knows a good emerald when he sees it.  I, myself, could even tell that some of the emeralds were not set properly or were not of a rich green color.  But we had fun. 

Transit of the Panama Canal the following day. 

Michael’s Observations:   A lovely port with a free bus from the ship to the shopping area.  I had fun scrutinizing emerald prices – gemology has been my hobby for the last 20 years, and, like opals in Australia, prices are high because tourists naturally want to purchase opals in Australia and emeralds in Colombia.  Word to the wise:  Find a good jeweler and trust his expertise.  I came across only one emerald that really was of a high quality, slightly more than half a carat – they were asking $2,000.  Definitely overpriced and I didn’t buy but I had a lot of fun.