Robbin’s Journey

We are on the last leg, Panama Canal itinerary, of our world cruise! Our first port is Cartagena.

Bet you didn’t know… • Colombia is the only South America country with coast lines on both the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea.

• 95% of the worlds emeralds come from Columbia.

• Only Mexico and Spain have more Spanish-speaking citizens than Colombia.

• Cartagena was center for slave trade during the colony era. After arriving from Africa, slaves would be sold to work in the silver mines of Peru or Panama’s sugarcane plantations. The gold, silver, and slave trade made it a favorite target of pirates.

•Pre-Columbian civilizations cultivated about 200 varieties of potatoes. 😋😋😋

•Colombia is one of the most biodiverse places on earth. Amazon rainforest, Andes Mountains, coastlines, grasslands, etc.

We went a tour around the city. First stop the old fort. Built because of the pirate attacks. Sir Francis Drake attacked in 1586.

It started to rain during the dance show. We all moved indoors and the show went on… 😎😎😎

We should have gone to a museum but that would require walking for 12 minutes in the pouring rain! 🤔🤔🤔 We went to an Emerald Museum/Jewelry Shop instead. There was also a souvenir shop next door, where I bought Colombian coffee! 😎😎😎☕️☕️☕️

After driving through the city rivers, I mean streets, we walked through a “National Park.” A very small zoo/garden type place with monkeys, flamingos, peacocks, parrots, and sloths (we didn’t see these!). Small but nice. All in all, a lovely tour.