In Santa Marta Old Town
We were the last people for breakfast. Only emerging onto the rooftop restaurant just before 9.30. I don’t think we were very popular with the staff. Pleasingly is was fine and sunny. It remained this way almost all day. Just the odd drop of rain in late afternoon. The forecast is obviously not to be trusted!
Beach art
Street art.
Last night we had walked past the main police station. We decided we would go there this morning to try and get a document signed. Dennis needed to return a document to the New Zealand Pensions Department. When you are overseas for a lengthy period, they require proof you are still alive, to continue paying your pension. The document needs to be signed by a professional person, a lawyer, doctor, police chief etc.
Santa Marta Police Headquarters
I had prepared a Google Translate explanation of what Dennis needed, in the event we could not find an English speaker. Unnecessary. A senior office emerged who spoke excellent English. He was very happy to sign the document. He had, apparently, learned English in school and had then spent 4 years in Haiti working for the U. N. He was very jovial. As he didn’t want payment, Dennis rewarded him with a souvenir $20 NZ note.
Unfortunately, Dennis’s upset tum has reappeared. This meant another chemist visit. A lovely, bubbly lady served us and much hilarity occurred with her limited English and our equally poor Spanish. We did manage to secure some medication and electrolytes for rehydration, though. We had a similar interaction with a young lady in an ice-cream store, last night. Dennis asked her for the spade device she was rolling the ice-cream with. She was uncertain and a little reluctant and when he showed her he wanted to lick it clean, she nearly had a fit.
Old City Streets
We wandered through the maze of streets, full of cafes, restaurants and tourist shops. The Colombians love music. It never stops. Even at breakfast. It is lively, Central American, Mariachi type music. Each restaurant and cafe seems to try and outdo the next. I think we must be showing our age, as we struggle to find somewhere we can stand the volume!
Inside the Cathedral
As it was lovely weather, the Cathedral square was a completely different place to yesterday, in the pouring rain. Crowds of tourists and stalls selling tourist ‘tat today. The Cathedral was also open and some sort of ceremony was taking place. Everyone was dressed in white and carrying blue and white flags and banners. A casket was carried in a procession from the Cathedral, put into a truck, then removed from the truck and taken back into the Cathedral. We couldn’t find any information explaining what the ceremony was about.
We stopped and had a coffee break before making our way back to our hotel. On arrival there was a truck outside and repairs were being made to the overhead electrical wiring. Wires had been hanging down, somewhat dangerously to large passing vehicles. The wiring is an unbelievable mess of tangled wires, everywhere. I’m amazed that anything works, or if there is a breakdown how it’s possible to sort it out.
Another hazard is the broken pavements and ruptured sewers. You have to watch where you are walking constantly, or risk breaking a fetlock or falling into a hole. Outside the police station this morning, evil looking water was belching from a broken pipe. The stench identified it as sewerage water. Most unpleasant. 2 suction tankers were trying to deal with the mess. No doubt releasing the liquid into the nearby ocean. We won’t be swimming here.
Lazy Afternoon
We spent the afternoon lazing on a daybed on the roof terrace reading. I was even too lazy to get changed into swimwear for a dip in the pool. Only dangling my feet in for a while. We had an early dinner at the hotel and decided we would have a walk afterwards, so as not to retire on a full stomach.
We walked along the Malecon (esplanade). The best time of the day for a walk, as it’s beautifully still and cool. Ambling as far as the illuminated Santa Marta sign, before retracing our steps. At the end of the Malecon the sludge gulper was still at work on the sewage spillage. The smell stopped us in our tracks forcing us to beat a hasty retreat back to the hotel.
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