The Arrival of the Fourth Amiga

After three days of travelling on planes and buses, I arrived in Cartagena on the Caribbean coast of Colombia. I somehow got a flight that was 30mins earlier than my actual flight and then Stacey, Claire and Sylvie's flight was late so I was waiting at the airport for about three hours wondering whether I should be getting a cab and finding a hostel before it got dark. The airport had absolutely no customs of any sort so I literally picked up my bag off the conveyer belt and walked outside into the 40 degree heat.

I found the others in the end and we headed to the Medialuna hotel, a bit pricier than other hostels at $16 per night but really nice, with a pool, free wi-fi, free laundry and free coffee. Unfortunately we didn't get to experience the free laundry or free coffee because the next morning when we woke up there was absolutely no running water in the entire city of Cartagena. I asked the laundry woman when she thought the water might be working again and she said 'Don't know. Maybe tomorrow?"

We decided to go to Santa Marta, about three hours away on the bus. I got off the bus tired and confused and inadvertedly paid 5000 pesos for a packet of gum, which has been my biggest regret so far. 5000 pesos is almost $4, which is more than 5 times the price that it was actually worth. I bet the gum-selling woman who ripped me off just couldn't believe her luck when I actually paid it. Anyway we checked out a couple of hostels in the 'prostitute district' (apparently where the best hostels are). The first hostel we checked out was called the Hotel Titanic which was totally devoid of people but had a live iguana on the reception desk and some odd-looking animals in cages. We went across the road to the Hotel Miramar instad, which is only 8000 pesos (double the price of my packet of gum!) so about $6.50 a night each, plus about 50 cents each for internet. No air conditioning, which means it's almost impossible to sleep, but at least there's no weird animals in cages.

Nicola