Cartagena, Colombia

Another hot, sticky day in the Caribbean. We had a 9:30 Panoramic tour of the city. We met our bus and were off on our tour. Roosevelt was our guide. We first stopped at the fort built to protect city from pirates. We were allowed to walk around and take photos, but not go into the fort. The plaza was filled with peddlers selling all sorts of touristy things. We had 15 minutes, then back on the bus to go to a shopping area. It was very crowded. The building used to be a prison so the shops were in the old cells. We walked through a couple the headed back to the bus. Too many people! We took a slow drive around the outside of the old town. Guess I’ll never see it up close. Last trip here we did the same thing.
‘The bus dropped us off at an aviary/gift shop. We walked through the aviary. There was an ant eater, peacocks, even a white one. There were lots of parrots. I got out my camera to get some good shots of the birds. We walked through the gift shop. I must admit I bought my first turtle of the trip. I’ve been collecting turtles from all my travels for several years. I hope to restrain myself and not go overboard with them.
‘it was so warm, we were happy to head back to the ship. Fortunately, they had a shuttle to the ship. Our first priority once we got back to the ship was a cold drink! We then headed to the World Cafe for lunch. I had a big salad, very tasty. Then we had gelato for dessert. We crashed in the room for a couple hours, then went to a lecture on the formation of the Panama Canal. The lecturer was a British gent and very entertaining. We again shared a table for 6 and had wonderful conversation along with our dinner.. I had a yummy fettuccini with carbonara sauce..I was good and had fruit for dessert. Got to get rid of the 2 pounds I’ve put on so far!

I took lots of photos with my big camera, then had trouble with the WiFi connecting to transfer them from camera to iPad. I’ll keep working on it.
Tomorrow we’ll be in Colon, Panama.