My Birthday Trip, Cartagena, Colombia

Cartagena

Transportation. Flew Latham airlines from Medellin, airport pickup by Freddy Paz, around town taxis, Uber and pre-arranged tour.

Accommodation. I wanted to experience the charm of the historic walled city alongside the extremes of the ultramodern skyscraper-filled Boca Grande. So I sourced an Airbnb studio in the walled city for 2 nights and a condo in Boca Grande for 2 nights.

Day 1, Tuesday

Evening arrival, picked up by Freddy Paz Tours. Checked into Airbnb and went straight to dinner as I was starving. O. M. G. LaTinaja Cartagena/can shut up n take all my damn my money.? ? ? ? ? See this fish was just what I needed. Starting out the old city experience the right way. Listen if you're visiting Cartagena and not hooking up with this brother Freddy Paz right here and his crew you ain't living right!!

Day 2, Wednesday

Boat party and tour day. 90+ degrees in Isla Barú, Isla Del Rosario, Cartagena De Indias, Colombia.

Hold up wait a minute, no conference calls, no kids, no cooking, not even an email in sight? Yes Lawd, this is the life! Partied on the boat, stopped for swimming, snorkeling and other water sports. It was my birthday and I got spoiled I got to pick my own fresh baked cake at the bakery and had a bottle of champagne too. Did I say Freddy Paz Rocks?

I learned about the genius level defense system to keep the pirates and British army out of the Caribbean seas. One of the heroes was Blas de Lezo a Spanish navy officer best remembered for the battle of Cartagena de Indias. He's also known as the guy with 1 arm, 1 leg and 1 eye that defended the city against pirates. Using creative ways of blocking the main ship entrance forcing them to go work harder to gain access.

We ate lunch on the beach while island hopping to Rosario islands, Cholon, Playa Blanca Beach and Boca Chica. We had an endless supply of premium alcohol, ice and sodas. The boat was great and came with a captain and an assistant who made sure cups were always full.

Music playlist was fayahhhh. Music is truly universal and everywhere I go, I always Rep Naija??. It was a beautiful thing to see a couple from NC, 2 Chi Town sisters, ATL guys and the Colombian fam singing and dancing to Burna Boy?. Who says good music is not universal. Vamos a empezar esta fiesta!!!

Boat shenanigans. Video here

With so much sun, good food and dancing, I needed a nap once we got back to the old city. Refreshed and ready for some food and action, I took an Uber to explore the new Cartagena. I walked all over Boca Grande and bought a LOT more organic coffee at the local grocery store. (Yes, it was

Can you tell I love seafood? Now off to walk all over the walled city where my fist observation was that Melanin is seriously popping in Cartagena and this Naija girl is happy.

See The streets and colors of old Getsemani

Colombia produces the highest amount of emeralds. Colombia, Brazil and Zambia are the top known emerald producers. The emerald is the only stone with inclusions. 3 things to remember about emeralds; color, quality and transparency. The deeper the green, the better in emerald. Ever wonder how some of the biggest emeralds ended up in the west? The Spanish traded emeralds across Europe and Asia for precious metals, which opened up the emerald trade to the rest of the world.

Cleopatra was the first woman in history to wear emeralds as it was one of her favorite stones and her passion for emeralds was well

Day 4, Friday

Photo-shoot, Pink Sea, Volcano clay and Palenque tours. First, sunrise mimosas then, fresh brewed coffee in this beautiful beach-side condo and my morning view. My hosts were great and had a welcome note, fresh coffee beans and the fridge stocked upon arrival yesterday.

Good Morning Cartagena!

Next, Sunrise photo shoot with Mark at CTG He was a delight to work with and knew his craft. He also knew the best spots to capture my melanin self in the essence of Cartagena. See Video

Cartagena Photo shoot

Freddy was double booked so the groups were split, we had an amazing driver. Eduardo was funny, helpful and on point in driving, at no point was I anxious and that is not an easy feat! Eduardo our fab driver's details

Eduardo! 😊

After pickups, we set off for the Pink sea tour, about 1.5 hours away. Connected Spotify to Bluetooth and we had an Afrobeats party. Naija stand up! P-Square "personally" track came on my Spotify playlist and Eduardo knew the lyrics and said this is a classic. Meanwhile he sang to it with his spotty English! ??