Getsemani

 I never heard of the Getsemani neighborhood in Cartagena until I went there.  It is south of the downtown area.  Once you walk through the Clock Gate, cross the street, walk past the Parque Del Centenario on your left, veer to the left and you are into the neighborhood.  It used to be a crime-ridden area and was in danger of gentrification, until the residents fought back and refused to sell to developers.  It has developed into a popular tourist area with restaurants, coffee shops, hotels, hostels, etc.  

I took a Free Walking Tour (FWT) with Arturo.  It was another energetic tour through a colorful neighborhood.  Arturo stopped to explain some of the murals and buildings and the history behind them.  He introduced us to some of the restaurants and coffee shops and his neighborhood friends.  I will let the following pictures tell the story.

Getsemani Mural on one of the buildings

Paintings of Women

A Colorful Street

Local Resident Relaxing and Reading the Paper

A Fruit Seller

A Drinks Seller

A Restaurant with Many Food Options

Murals on Buildings

Colorful Umbrella Hanging Above the Street

Our Guide, Arturo

Plaza de la Trinidad or Holy Trinity Square

Neighborhood Board Game

Popular Street Vendor at Holy Trinity Square

Mural of Gabriel Garcia Marquez, 1982 Nobel Prize Winner in Literature

A Getsemani Tourist Sign

Haido, Empanada Vendor

Delicious Empanadas

A local artist at work

Our Group stopping at this coffee shop

We came here for dinner after the tour

It was a wonderful tour through a colorful neighborhood.  After the tour I treated Arturo and his assistant to dinner at the restaurant above.  The food was delicious.  What I paid for 3 people is as much as what I paid for a seafood paella dinner the night before.

The next day it's finally time to leave Cartagena and Colombia.  I asked the hotel to have a taxi picked me up at noon and take me to the airport.  It costs 20,000 pesos, about $5, for a 15-minute ride.  It'd have been cheaper if I called Uber but I want the hotel feel like they were of service to me and make some money.

I flew from Cartagena to Bogota, have a nice dinner at the food court, because there was no Priority Pass lounge at the International Terminal.  I checked into the Delta Airlines counter about 3 1/2 hours before flight time and soon I was on an almost 6-hour flight to JFK Airport in New York City.  I was the only one to go through the Global Entry lane and in five minutes I was at the luggage carousel waiting for my luggage.  From the airport I took a taxi to my son's apartment on the Upper West Side of Manhattan.  The flat-rate fare is US$65 from JFK Airport to anywhere in Manhattan.  I gave the taxi driver $70 and he was very happy.  That ends my wonderful journey to Quito, the Galapagos Islands, Bogota and Cartagena.