National Parks and Recreation

In honor of us returning from our second international trip of the year (and recovering from a bit of jet lag), I’m ready to post about the trip abroad we took back in March for James’ sister’s wedding. (I know this isn’t a National Park–though it does include a Colombian national park–but we had so much fun and I want to share the experience!)

It was also our first time using the Chase Sapphire Lounge at Logan! We’ve come a long way in 2024 in terms of using our credit card perks and points, and were able to pay for a lot of our trips that way in 2024. A lot of this is thanks to my cousins’ influence. You can check out their travel hack YouTube channel here! (Rumor has it I’ll have a cameo appearance on the next episode.)

This post is going to be a little different than usual ones because I also want to offer some tips and tricks for a visit to Cartagena (and I HIGHLY encourage you to go!) as well as the usual photos and stories. So if you don’t plan on ever visiting, feel free to just scroll through the pretty pictures!

We arrived at the tiny Cartagena airport in the early afternoon and had to wait in the longest customs line I’ve ever been in. By the time we got through, all our luggage was just sitting on the ground in baggage claim. Luckily, it was all still there!

Here’s Tip #1 for visiting Cartagena: beware of people hounding you on the street EVERYWHERE, from the very second you step into the baggage claim area at the airport. Know your plan and don’t let people scam you. Getting from the airport to the walled part of the city (which is where you should be staying!) should cost 20,000 Colombian pesos, or about $5USD. Have cash! You’ll get conned into paying more by people grabbing your luggage from you and carrying it to the cabs for you. Don’t let them (unless you’re prepared to tip). Make sure you agree upon getting in the cab the final cost (it’s all preset pricing there).

Tip #2: We used Banco Caja Social ATMs the entire time we were there with zero ATM fees (as long as your card doesn’t have foreign transaction fees). There’s one in the walled city and one at the airport in the departures area. I think this is a far more economical way to get pesos than doing cash exchange.

The taxi brought us right to our AirBNB (again only for $5USD) and then we didn’t need another one again until we left for the airport nearly a week later. Everything is walking distance within the walled city! It took us a little maneuvering to find the AirBNB since we didn’t pay for cell service, but we eventually figured it out. Which brings me to Tip #3: Get an eSIM anytime you travel abroad. We just did it for our trip to Europe and it was so cheap and easy! You can get 3GB in Colombia for just $13 through aloSIM. If I’d known this at the time, we definitely would have done it and saved ourselves some stress.

But anyhoo, the AirBNB was amazing! And I HIGHLY recommend getting an AirBNB or hotel with a pool. It may seem like a splurge, but it is SO hot and humid there that you underestimate how much you’re going to need to jump in. We ended up there most nights. Most houses have air conditioned bedrooms, but the rest of the house is mostly outside or unairconditioned, so just be prepared. I didn’t take a warm shower all trip (mostly because most houses don’t offer them, but also because I certainly didn’t want to!)

One follow-up note on plumbing and I guess Tip #4: A lot places don’t want you to flush toilet paper. (This is true in most of Colombia.) Yeah, I know. It’s not ideal. But please follow these signs anywhere you see them or you could do serious damage to the city’s sewage system.

Our first full day in Colombia brought us to the Rosario Islands. It was about an hour and a half boat ride to the nationally-protected land and once there, we spent the day kayaking around the island, wading in the ocean, and then–consequently–desperately trying to stay out of the sun.

Which brings me to Tip #5: WEAR SUNSCREEN. Okay, I know. I KNOW. This is an obvious one. You’re so close to the equator, of course you need sunscreen. But I made a dumb mistake that cost me greatly. See, I knew we had a covered boat ride out there so I figured I would put on sunscreen once we got to the island. (Luckily, I put it on my face with my normal moisturizer.) The issue was, as soon as we got to the island you could immediately jump on a kayak. This seemed like a great idea for us to do it first and get our lay of the land, especially while the sky was still overcast and it wasn’t too hot. So we immediately jumped on a kayak. And then as we started paddling away, James’ aunt so graciously agreed to take my bag from me so that it wouldn’t get wet. Excellent idea! I tossed it to her and off we went. About five minutes later it dawned on me…the sunscreen was in that bag.

No matter. At least it was completely overcast, we’d only be out for an hour or so. It’ll be fine. Wrong. The only saving grace is that it was very easy to find aloe vera in the bodegas and this was far enough away from the wedding that I wasn’t a complete eye sore by the time we got there. And I relearned another important life lesson that for some reason I seem to keep needing to learn again and again. Perhaps one day it will actually sink in. (pun intended)

So, needless to say, I spent the rest of the afternoon under an umbrella, COVERED IN SUNSCREEN, sipping mojitos by the beach. Not a bad life at all.

I have another generic life tip for you: If you ever find yourself getting on a boat and the crew has put raincoats on every seat on only one side of the boat, maybe don’t sit on that side of the boat. The ride back was…rough, to say the least. But the left side of the boat definitely got the brunt of it as James and I laughed and laughed for the entire hour and a half straight from the safety of the right side.

Pictured above: the lovely bride and groom, already completely drenched, with a giant wave incoming to hit them again.

After this excursion, we spent the rest of the trip exploring the main city center, including a long, sunburnt day through Getsemani.

Getsemani is the artist neighborhood just outside the walled city (still super walkable!) The streets are painted bright, vibrant colors with thousands of local galleries and shops selling paintings, murals, sculptures, anything you can imagine. We could’ve strolled around for hours, if not for the heat.

Luckily, many of these streets have some sort of covering overhead to try to provide some shade. And I, perhaps, would have been much less miserable had I not gotten heinously sunburnt the day before.

You absolutely cannot come to Cartagena without walking through Getsemani.

Meet Juancho:

He scared the crap out of me, just staring at us as we walked by, not a care in the world.

Now, in order to get from the walled city to Getsemani, you have to walk through the Parque del Centenario. I had heard that there were sloths living in this park and we’d probably have a pretty good chance of seeing them. This became my new mission. Unfortunately, I also knew there were a lot of monkeys in the park and for those who don’t know, I am TERRIFIED of monkeys. Luckily, my desire to see a sloth won out over my fears. Though, of course, guess who we ran into first?

So. Many. Monkeys.

I kept my distance, though, and persevered and was heavily rewarded!

If you want to see some of the million videos I took of this little guy (and the babies!!! on another tree), you’ll have to go to my Instagram and watch through my Cartagena story highlights. You won’t be disappointed. In fact, I’m going to make this Tip #6: GO FIND THE SLOTHS!

(You can also see a more in-depth look at everyone getting SOAKED on that boat in my IG stories. Highly recommend.)

We also got to see this big guy just baking in the sun.

From there we headed on over to the Castillo San Felipe de Barajas, but not before popping into a gas station and grabbing the biggest bottles of water we could find.

No…YOUR arms and shins are hideously sunburnt. Shut up.

I’m not going to lie, the sun and heat exhaustion was really setting in for me here. I was glad we made the trek because the castle was really cool and you could get a panoramic view of the city, but I spent a good chunk just lying down in the shade while James, his brother and sister-in-law explored a little more.

I managed to rally and make the mile walk back to the walled city though.

Tip #7: The drivers in Cartagena are CRAZY! And that’s coming from a Bostonian. Keep your head on a swivel and be very careful if you’re going to jaywalk. But also, do NOT get your own car. The taxis are cheap and easy and, as I said, it’s super walkable!

When we got back to the walled city, we had the best meal of the entire trip. Now, hear me out, because we were about to go on a string of really fancy dinners as the wedding festivities kicked off, but this was still by far my favorite. And truly the best a bottle of Corona has EVER tasted. It’s amazing how good food can taste when you’re the most exhausted you’ve ever been. (Also, said fancy food was about to take out half of my husband’s family, but that story is coming.)

The next day we spent our time before the rehearsal dinner walking along the wall of the Walled City. In my opinion, this is a great way to get a lay of the land and see a lot of the city!

It isn’t a super long walk to get all the way around either.

While we’re here, I’d like to discuss walking around. This goes off Tip #1, but I’m also going to add a Tip #8. I wouldn’t walk around by yourself as a young woman. And that feels shitty to say, but I felt pretty uncomfortable any time I was alone. I definitely never felt in danger, just icky. The men (of course it’s the men) treat you soooo differently by yourself. When we were walking around as a group, it was mostly just harassment from street performers and buskers, which is annoying, but this city got hit particularly hard by the pandemic and a lot of locals are really struggling.

When I was by myself, though (which was very rare), people were just gross. Just a lot of yelling and harassment in general. When I had James, people mostly kept to themselves, but being a young woman out alone was not a comfortable experience. I don’t say this to dissuade anybody from going, it’s just a harsh truth that people should be aware of. And, of course, everyone’s experience is different. I probably would’ve felt better if I didn’t speak the language and know what people were saying to/about me, but as it were… Okay, that’s all I have to say about that.

Let’s move on to Tip #9: the Palenqueras! Statue shown below.

If you’ve seen any Instagram post from Cartagena, I’m sure you’ve seen tourists posing with these beautifully-dressed women with bowls of fruit on their heads. The Palenqueras come from San Basilio de Palenque, just south of Cartagena, which was the first free town formed by freed African slaves from Cartagena. In the past, these women would make most of their money selling fruit through the streets, but these days they make money by posing for photos with tourists. So just remember: if you want this iconic photo, it’s customary to tip them 20,000 Colombian pesos (or $5USD).

The rest of our trip consisted of wedding festivities, kicking off with an amazing dinner atop the Hotel Movich! I highly recommend either staying at this hotel or just getting a day pass to use the pool and rooftop. I think it’s one of the best views in the city!

And look at this beautiful married couple to be!

Here brings me to Tip #10: have a strong stomach. Hah, I’m kidding. Mostly. Just be mindful of what you put into your body. It’s not advisable to drink the tap water here, which includes any ice you may get in your drinks. Now, I have no idea what actually caused James to get as sick as he did, it could have been anything. But I do think it’s a hilarious coincidence that we ate like street rats all week and then the second we get to the weekend of high-end, fancy dinners, he got sick. Note: I found it hilarious, James…did not.

Also, please note: I ate every single thing he ate AND I drank tap water for most of the trip (because I’m stubborn and read it was technically safe) and I did not get sick at all. Thus why my ultimate tip is to just have a stomach of steel and you’ll be fine. But yes, as is the case when you travel anywhere, be mindful of the water and risky foods.

That being said, James and his brother rallied like champs and everyone made it to the wedding ceremony! Please enjoy the below picture as the last time I was ever not complete drenched from head to toe in sweat.

You may be thinking, at least it was a nighttime wedding, it looks so pleasant! Unfortunately, it was at least 85 degrees even in the dead middle of the night and the humidity never relented.

But we still had a blast! We made a pact with the aunts and uncles ahead of time that we would all make it to the 2am end time (an early end time to the Colombians), but those cowards all left by like 10pm. And honestly, I thought James might be close behind them with the state he was in, but he was a trooper!

And honestly, once you make it to midnight and the Aguardiente necklaces come out, you’re golden. For those who don’t know, Aguardiente is basically Colombian Jagermeister, except way better. And at a certain part of the night, this stuff starts coming out by the bottle on tray after tray carried around by the waitstaff. They even give you the little shot necklaces to make it easy. And boy, was it easy!

And it’s very important to note that we DID make it to 2am like champs!

Even though we spent the entire next day, and I mean literally the ENTIRE day, in bed. I wandered to the bodega for ginger ale and crackers at one point, but it was roughly 7pm when we finally got dressed and met up with the rest of the family to eat some dinner…and then immediately got back in bed.

We spent our last morning stopping at our favorite coffee shop, Época, one last time and picking up some coffee to-go for presents! I’m not usually a coffee snob or one who can really even tell the difference between good and bad coffee, but trust me…this stuff is GOOD! Even for me.

We then did one last little wander around town to say goodbye to the beautiful colored streets and sweat out the last of the Aguardiente before boarding our flight.

Ta-ta, South America. We will definitely be back soon!

Maybe turn the humidity down a little bit next time. Thanks.