Thank goodness we visited during the dry season said our guide…. Today’s temperature was 88, but felt like 98.

A beautiful city on the Caribbean Sea, Cartagena is an intact colonial city & considered to be Colombia’s cultural treasure. And it’s the home of Colombia’s most famous (Nobel Prize in Literature) author, Gabriel García Márquez (Love in the Time of Cholera, 100 Years of Solitude).

Today’s walking & sweating tour included the San Felipe de Barajas Fortress (runs for 7 miles & its walls are 25’ thick) and Ciudad Vieja (a UNESCO World Heritage Site). The Old City is beautiful - architecture, flowers, interesting looking people (like the Palenque woman in the photo below). We heard the story of San Pedro Claver, the patron saint of missionary work. A Jesuit priest, he saved & freed 300,000 of the 1 million African slaves brought to Colombia in the 1600s by nursing them back to health & teaching them about the Catholic Church. He tied a rope around the upper arm of each convert, which signified they were free & protected by the Church.

Our last stop was a fun small “zoo” right by the ship.

The rest of the day was spent rehydrating with lots of water…. Okay, and one beer each.