Once in the old city, the Spanish colonial architecture is everywhere. A UNESCO World Heritage site, the old city has a remarkable number of restored doors and courtyards. The plazas host very old banyan trees and fountains. A downside to the old city is the number of people hustling you to buy everything from bracelets, to hats, to figurines and cold water. And while a firm “no thank you” usually gets them to stop, there is another person right behind them to try to sell you something else. This constant bombardment really takes away from the beauty of the city. Despite this, we charged on and stopped for a cold brew in the heat and humidity of the day. Little did we know what we’d find in our final stop.

Anyone that has been to my home knows I proudly display a piece of original artwork over my family room fireplace depicting three Columbian musicians wearing sombreros. We purchased it from a young street artist when we visited Cartagena in 2017. Today we found another piece of artwork, from Columbian artist Luisa Carlota Alvarez Mendoza, hanging in a restaurant which we had stopped at to escape the heat. I inquired about it and the next thing we knew, Luisa was standing next to me, beaming. She was lovely and we enjoyed talking with her, using google translator. We settled on a price and the piece was ours. They brought it down from the wall, detached it from the stretchers, rolled and wrapped it, and it now sits in the corner of our cabin, ready to be brought back to Ohio. Wow…didn’t see that coming!!

Next port tomorrow: Panama Canal transit