The Fiddler made his first trip to Cartagena this past month. I had the pleasure of meeting Bruce, who introduced me to an old friend of his in Cartagena. I had a most enjoyable time getting to know them. I saw Bruceís apartmentóvery nice. I also met Tommy and Surfer, and a few other TSMers. All very nice people. Mery is sweet, dependable, and very helpful. I would rent from her again.
Summary Points:
Note to self, must learn Spanish. I was surprised how few speak English, far less than in SE Asia. Hey, I am the dumb one.
I am in their country. I wish my 4 years of French were convertible.
Cartagena is a Unesco world heritage city and the old walled city is very beautiful with a
great atmosphere. 
Surprisingly clean. The air is good to breathe. The beach is OK, nothing special for a resort.
The touristís areas in Cartagena are very safe. I was told by a local not to walk around at night in the Getsemani area, except for the main streets with the nightclubs.
Prices in Cartagena in the tourist area are higher than SE Asia, but also much less expensive than USA. Overall, P4P prices are generally in the same range as SE Asia. Again, this is hard to compare, as there are many variables of quality and quantity.
ToutsÖare mainly in the beach area, and the thickest near Tonyís chairs. The touts did not bother me much. I have seen much worse in most other places. (I know that most seem to disagree with me about this.) My strategy for dealing with touts is this: I make them invisible and generally I totally ignore them. I wear a hat, sunglasses, and a watch, so they cannot see my eyes to make eye contact with me. I do not look at them, I do not walk away from them, and I do not walk to them. I do not try to be rude, but saying ìno graciasî every 30 seconds is more energy than I want to expend on them.
Tony the beach tout will try to overcharge you for everything if you do not know prices.
That includes the cost of chair, canopy, drinks, girls, buying him a drink, etc.
I would advise that you ask him in advance what everything costs and bring correct change. When you get asked to buy him a drink or to pay him a bonus for something, just tell him ìNo.î On several occasions when he asked me for things and I said NO he looked very annoyed and I just said, ìTony, this is my first time to Cartagena, but this is not my first time being born!î
Tommy and I thought that someone
should follow Tony around for a few days everywhere and write his biography on the
TSM board... Continued...