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Colombia Field Trip / Embedded Travel Guides / Nightlife / Jaunted in Colombia / → All Tags

Shake It All Night Long in Cartagena

All this week, Amanda Pressner will be bringing us reports from her recent trip to Colombia. Was her adventure more "Romancing the Stone" or more "Medellin"? Stick with us this week to find out. Any questions about traveling to Colombia? Let us know.

Unless you’ve downed a few of the super-octane coffee drinks at Milas around 4 or 5 pm, we highly suggest catching a nap before attempting to take on the nightlife in Cartagena: it starts late (most clubs don’t even open until 11:00p or midnight) and ends when you might otherwise be getting up to start your day.

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Colombia Field Trip / Embedded Travel Guides / Restaurants / → All Tags

Wanted: An Authentic Taste of Cartagena

All this week, Amanda Pressner will be bringing us reports from her recent trip to Colombia. Was her adventure more "Romancing the Stone" or more "Medellin"? Stick with us this week to find out. Any questions about traveling to Colombia? Let us know.

Ask a local in Cartagena to describe the flavors and dishes that make up his city’s cuisine (or better yet, as a head chef in one of the city’s myriad restaurants) you’ll probably be met with some quizzical looks, or as I did, blank stares. Define the local cuisine? ¿Cómo?

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Some Starbucks Alternatives in Cartagena

All this week, Amanda Pressner will be bringing us reports from her recent trip to Colombia. Was her adventure more "Romancing the Stone" or more "Medellin"? Stick with us this week to find out. Any questions about traveling to Colombia? Let us know.

Pop quiz, caffeine junkies: What’s the only coffeehouse that’s actually headquartered in a coffee producing country? It’s Juan Valdez Café, a multinational chain created in 2002 by Colombian National Federation of Coffee Growers. Named after the country’s longtime java icon (you know, that mustachioed guy with the donkey who hand-delivers beans to sleep-deprived Americans in commercials) the company has locations in 25 Colombian cities, nine countries, including the U.S.

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Getting What We Paid For On Avianca

All this week, Amanda Pressner will be bringing us reports from her recent trip to Colombia. Was her adventure more "Romancing the Stone" or more "Medellin"? Stick with us this week to find out. Any questions about traveling to Colombia? Let us know.

After traveling to Ecuador last year, my guy Jeff and I volunteered to give up our seats on a very overbooked Avianca flight from Bogota, Colombia back to New York City. The incentive: a total of four international airline vouchers, good for anywhere in the world that Avianca flies, plus a free night in the InterContinental Bogota Hotel. How could we pass up such a deal? We didn't.

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Love For Cartagena Continues

November's issue of Budget Travel reminds us all again of how vibrant Cartagena, Colombia has become and how it only seems to be gaining in popularity. A first-person feature on the seaside city explores some of its coolest must-dos--and dispels petty myths about crime.

Cartagena's tourist scene seems to be an authentic blend of the city's old and new, with funky, bright guesthouses springing up all over (read on for some recommendations) and Cuban- and Spanish-influenced restaurants and after-hours spots for passing the evenings.

We think we might need to break out our guyaberas pretty soon and head there!

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Cartagena's Cuisine Revival

When Cartagena, Colombia comes up in a convo it's often replete with references to Pablo Escobar, marching powder and imitation accents. It's hardly ever paired with hip bistros, authentic seafood fare, bright veggies mixed with pungent spices and refreshing mojitos.

But The New York Times begs us this week to look at that side of Cartagena, one that's rapidly making a mark on the (very) competitive foodie scene. The tropical city is home to some of the area's freshest fish, inventive, hip chefs and discerning diners. Folks that once headed to Paris and Rome for culinary vacations, the Times says, are re-thinking Cartagena.

Read on for some of the city's most amazing (and upcoming) new restaurants, and trust us, drop the "Romancing the Stone" references when you make your reservations:

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It's Summer Somewhere: Romance in Cartagena, Colombia

In Cartagena, the average high throughout the year is around 88 degrees, and the temperature doesn't often drop below 77. Sure, there's 90% humidity for most of the year, but that's just part of the joy of the eternal summer.

With the expected influx of tourists after the release of the movie Love in the Time of Cholera, which was largely filmed there, Cartagena is ready for visitors. Parts of Cartegena are already World Heritage listed, including 500-year-old forts and the old town center. It's also interesting to visit museums such as the Palace of Inquisition, and to stop in to some of the beautiful churches like the Iglesia de San Pedro Claver and the Iglesia de Santo Domingo.

Cartagena is turning up on travel trends lists everywhere for 2008, so try to get there this summer before it starts to get overrun. And if you believe in the magical romance of the Garcia Marquez film, perhaps Cartagena is the perfect place for a summer fling, too.

Related Stories:
· Films Will Inspire Tourism Boom [UK Independent]
· Why Cartagena is the Next New Zealand [Jaunted]
· Colombia Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: drpritch]

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Why Cartagena is the Next New Zealand

If you haven't read Gabriel Garcia Marquez's fantastic book Love in the Time of Cholera you should, now. It's about to become for Colombia what Lord of the Rings was for New Zealand: a major tourism generator. The nice part is that Garcia Marquez really did set his book in Colombia, whereas the whole Lord of the Rings thing was kind of a scam, really.

Anyhow, the town of Cartagena on the Caribbean coast of Colombia is the setting for the film of the rather magical and romantic novel, to be released in January 2008. It's a pretty town with interesting architecture and dozens of book-related spots to check out. Following the spirit of Colombia's tourism campaign Colombia is Passion, we're happy to put a Cartagena stopover on our next jaunt into South America: All that love and passion's gotta work for us somehow.

Related Stories:
· Love in the Time of Cartagena [UK Times]
· What About Juan Valdez? [Jaunted]
· Colombia Travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: jschneid]

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Sophistonauts Are Marching to Colombia

The latest issue of the New York Times Style magazine dropped this Sunday, and we dug in to find out where the beautiful people are maxing and relaxing these days. Turns out Cartagena is the newest hot spot for:

'sophistonauts' -- those wide-roaming urban nomads, often third-culture kids, expats or grown-up diplo-brats who tend to live outside their countries (plural!) of citizenship and bounce around a social web connecting them to equally geographically flexible, curious confreres

Pardon us while we stop laughing over this contrived trend. Now, we'll give some credit to Tim Parsa, who fancifully discusses Cartagena's past as a slave-trading center. He even talks to the mayor's press attache, who rips out some choice anti-U.S. government rhetoric: "You gringos give us these narco-problems because you love our cocaine."

Guess that explains all "sophistonauts" we meet in the article. There's the half-French, half-Mexican party princess from Buenos Aires. There's her friend, the Colombian who gets wasted, dances all night and hangs on the beach. And don't forget the Swiss-Mexican photographer who thinks the city's beyond chic.

Just remember, none of them are there for the Colombian Marching Powder--"cheap, pure and easy to procure." Got it?

[Photo: *L*u*z*a*]

Related Stories:
· Colombian Gold in Cartagena [NYT]
· Colombian Plastic Surgery Vacation Packages [Jaunted]
· Jaunted's drugs coverage [Jaunted]

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Colombian Plastic Surgery Vacation Packages

Did you know the Colombians are promoting "body alteration vacations"?

Yeah, CNN reports that one girl recently flew to Bogota for liposuction, a nose job, and a boob job. Total cost? $8,000. Estimated cost to have similar work done in the States. $25,000, or so.

"Of all those people coming to Colombia, at least 3 percent come to get medical treatment, said Antonio Crespo, head of the Colombia Tours Solutions travel agency.

Columbia Tour Solutions will take care of the travel details, you just decide what body part you want reconstructed.

Couple caveats--First, U.S. laws do not protect patients treated outside the country, so if your breasts come out looking like flapjacks, or your nose still has that annoying bump, don't count on the malpractice money to ease your shattered self image. Two, this whole come-to-Columbia-for-plastic-surgery phenomenon got started by Diego Maradona, the former soccer star, who had become obese, and ended up getting his stomach stapled in Cartagena.

We are sure, if you do your research, your time under the Colombian knife will go just fine, however, we are going to stick to the beaches in Cartagena instead of the hospitals, if that is ok with you.

[Image via Colombia Tour Solutions]

Related Stories:
·   Nip-tuck tourism growing [CNN]
·   Cartagena Information [TripAdvisor]